Wednesday, August 11, 2010

4th of July: Summer at its best!

I love "4th of July" in Wyoming!  It is so, so, so much fun- in a small town sorta way.  And of course I might mention- the parade goes right in front of our house- now hows that for a celebration! But before I talk about the "4th of July" and the visit by Brandy et al and Amber et al, let me tell you about my PROJECT!
I got a little carried away.  The story starts in San Fran. Don I would often visit the open air market across from the Ferry Building.  Sometimes Don would even surprise me when I got home from work with jewelry he'd find at the market during his daily lunch walks!  Now that was wonderful!  But in addition to the gifts of jewelry from the market, I found some delightful clothes for children- "homemade" clothes- so appealing with their "quilted" appearance.  I'd look at them each trip and think- "maybe I can do this".  Well this was the year!  I'm retired- and now was the time! It started as a 4th of July outfit for Mikayla- and then I thought- well maybe I can do a top for Brandy- and then well- I couldn't leave Will out!!!???!!!

So I cut squares- 600 plus squares! And then sewed the squares into a dress for Mikayla, a top for Brandy and shorts for Will.

And I did it! Now it does always help to have Don in the background mumbling... Such a doubter he is!
Drum Roll Please...

But let me start at the beginning- not the beginning of the project- the beginning of the celebration! Now I'm not confused- Cincinnati is not the summer vacation destination for most- but my, oh, my- how much fun I have when the kids- and the "grands" find their way for a summer visit.  And having the visit over the "4th of July" is icing on the cake!

Summers in Cincy are about a trip to the zoo...Just for a slight detour down memory lane- Brandy's birthday is in June- and every year on her birthday from her 1st through her 19 just before she left for the Air Force Academy- we would take a trip to the zoo- the first in Hawaii- then one year in New Orleans- and finally many, many in Oklahoma.  This was the first trip with Brandy with my newest Grand- Mikayla! 
So we were off.  Of course we had to pause just a bit for a little tidying up.. Good job Daddy!

Now Mikayla's favorite animals- were the goats in the petting zoo.  The goats had been Brandy's favorite as well! I'll never forget the infamous moment at the San Diego Zoo when I turned just in time to see Brandy plant a BIG KISS on a little goat's butt- just showing her love!
Now Mikayla wasn't into any of the kissing- but she did "warm" to the idea of little touches...


And she is not at all fond of the snakes...Grandpa sure agrees with her on that one!
A good time was had by all! Especially Grama!
And Grandpa was a good sport despite his decidedly less enthusiasm for zoos!
Our serious baby!
And of course you can't come to Grama's without a trip to the local bakery!  For a cookie!  And this was Mikala's first trip!
And we found time for a trip to the Cincinnati Children's Museum (I might brag a bit here- it's ranked in the top 10 in the US since it's open in 1998! Amber's love of museums was nurtured here as one of this museum's very first teenage volunteers!) Now I have to apologize ahead of time for pictures at the museum.  It is really difficult to get good pictures at the museum- the lighting isn't perfect- and the kids are in constant motion- and not all interested in "pausing" for photo ops- but I tried!
We did finish at the ice cream shop!  Yum!
Notice the Rookwood Pottery Wall behind Brandy and Mikayla!
Now what would summer be without the POOL!  And we were off- again and again.  We love to go to the POOL!
Mikayla loves the POOL!  And so does her Mommy and Daddy!



And of course Grama was never far away!
And Amber and Evan tried the slide!
Evan is the last- he goes down too fast to photograph at the end.

And check out the "mother/daughter" look!  I love it!

And we had a barbeque- hamburgers/hotdogs/bean burgers- tons of salads- And the best part- Great friends and family! Though most of the following pictures are of the party- some are of the 4th of July Parade that goes right in front of our house!  We have the parade in the morning and then the party in the evening- before the younger ones left off for the fireworks!  What a wonderful place to live!



I bet you're wishing you could have been at our house for this 4th of July!

Monday, August 2, 2010

A June Wedding!

I know! I know!  I know!  It's already August and I'm still stuck in June.  Well, just suffice it to say that sometime I just get distracted.  But I'm back and we had a most wonderful wedding in June of a dear friend Erin- who just happened to have our beautiful daughter-in-law and granddaughter in her wedding.  Now how's that for a trefecta! 
Now it was a whirlwind.  Marianne and our babes were just barely here before they were off again for the desert.  But we loved it for a little while (and PS- you're going to see a whole lot more of them on these pages because they're moving back to Cincy at the end of this month- Clint will be deployed to Afganistan- more- a lot more- of that later- but Marianne et al will spend the time here in Cincy- close to family- and friends.  The upside of a really, really, really DOWN situation!) But I digress....

What is summer without a trip to the The Root Beer Stand! With the games to play...  Gotta admit the Root Beer Stand is a favorite.  They make the root beer on site and it is very good.  Eden didn't have any trouble realizing that this was good stuff, and Hayes soon followed suit.  With her brother and cousin sampling the nector, Reeder finally decided that she might b e missing something, so she too eventually sampled the Root Beer.



But it's ALL ABOUT THE ROOT BEER!





Now this cuter than cute little blond (I asked her where she got those freckles and she said "From my Daddy"...) is Eden our "granddaughter-in-law".  And aren't we lucky! She'll steal your heart in less than a minute!

And of course there was a trip to the pool!


And a trip to the park...  Not much for me to comment in this blog except for maybe the fact that we bought this bike trailor so I could take little Anthony on bike outings.  Now Anthony weighs 25 pounds and pulling him around isn't too bad.  But now Max had me pulling Reeder and Hayes, the two of which weigh closer to 75 pounds.  To say the least, we rode very slowly, very slowly with my bike in low low gear.

But the best part of this adventure wasn't the park- now- as is so often the case the best part of life is the unexpected!  The surprise! The day was hotter than hot (we've had a lot of those this summer!) and we couldn't even go down the slide it was so hot.  So we stopped off for lunch at Gabby's- always our favorite.  And then when we loaded up to head home the skids opened...
Well Marianne picked up the babes and me- and eventually Don did manage to get the bikes home through the rain.  But what fun!

AND I MADE REEDER A PRINCESS DRESS!  OH YES!  A PRINCESS DRESS!
Last winter during our trip to the desert we stopped off at a Walmart to pick up fabric to repair George! Well Reeder found some "princess" fabric for Grama to make a dress- and I brought it home.  Well after several (whose counting) trips to the store for more fabric- didn't quite have enough- and trim- and gold thread... I MADE THE DRESS! COMPLETE WITH JEWELLS!

And isn't Reeder the prettiest princess ever?
But enough of all this!  It's time to get to the main event!.  THE WEDDING OF ERIN MORLEY AND CHRIS WARMAN!  BEAUTIFUL!  And I might mention that a grand time was had by all!

Our beautiful Marianne- with the "baby bump"..
Our beautiful Reeder...
The Big Girls...
And the little ones...
Cousins (Reeder and Eden)...


The Big Picture!
And of course there were more (and more and more and more) photos..
And Don and Marianne had to try on the flower crown...

And OF COURSE Chocolate!
PERFECT NIGHT! PERFECT COUPLE! PERFECT FUN!