Thanksgiving in the Bend

We have so much to be thankful for! Baby Zach tops the list.

Lilly kept us entertained. She and Carl had a fun time painting. Carl painted a beautiful picture of the mountains in Provo so Lilly could see where he lives. Then Carl went on a bike ride with Trish. They braved the 40 degree weather and came back in one piece.

Our neighbors, Paul and Anne, joined our feast. Pete fixed us a plate of one of the Bowler long time traditions of Velvetta stuffed celery!!! That was the mainstay at our Bowler/McCabe gatherings.

God bless you all.

Birthday Weekend

I haven't posted in quite a while so I thought I'd share some fun times with everyone. I had a wonderful birthday thanks to all the fam and the beautiful weather. Meg, Lilly and I sat out by the St. Joe River and played animal charades. Dan fixed a wonderful lasagne dinner, and we enjoyed a video chat with the Reinhardts while eating dessert.

Then Dan and I went to the ND game yesterday. That was a treat to have a very surprising win!!!

Thank you Lord for all your many blessings!!!

Arkansas

We had a wonderful time camping at Devil's Den! The weather was perfect altho a little chilly at night. The coyotes howled, the owls hooted, the raccoons snacked, and the bugs stayed away so we were surrounded by nature. The kidlets are natural born campers. They loved it all even the 3 hour hike! We had s'mores 3 nights! What a treat.

Tomatoes Galore!

Fun times in Darby!

We were treated royally in Darby by the Host and Hostess Extraordinaries, Jim and Mary! We had a mighty guide who muscled us down the Bitterroot River! Here is a few words from him:



As it turns out Bill dug out the scoop on Mike Fink himself:

• Mike Fink on Wikipedia
• Mike Fink's Song on Youtube

Glacier National Park

These pictures tell the story! The temperatures were cooler than we expected but we had some wonderful hikes to several waterfalls. We saw a moose taking a bath in a stream and bears along the road--both grizzly and black bear. We enjoyed our stay in the cabin with the fireplace especially on the rainy cool day we hiked along the Two Medicine Lake! We saw 4 of the great lodges. And drove along the Going to Sun highway several times. Dan kept reciting, "I lift my eyes to the mountains!"

An Irish Girl

Here is the awesome song that my cousin Tom wrote for his mom, Delia. He mentions many aspects of her life growing up in Clooncurreen, Co. Galway.



Here's a note from his daughter Becca and the lyrics:

"My dad, Tom McCabe, wrote this song for Delia McCabe's (my grandma) 90th birthday. My sister Becca is playing the keyboard and my sister Christine is playing the flute. :)"

Here are the lyrics:

A child of the land of her fathers,
Daughter of fields and of streams
No matter how far she may wander in this world,
She'll always remain in her dreams...................An Irish Girl

Walking to school every morning,
Through fields touched with green and with gold
By winding roads bound with hedges and stone walls
Beauty that cannot be told...............................An Irish Girl

Hauling a full pail of water
From the well at the end of the road
She learned at a young age the meaning of family
With everyone sharing their load...................An Irish Girl

Like the rolling dark mists of the bog land
Her mood can be easily turned
Like the shamrock used by St. Patrick himself
A myst'ry not easily learned........................An Irish Girl

As a daughter she learned of the strength of the stone in the castle field
As a sister she laughed with the music of the church bells as they pealed
As a wife she loved with the softness of the rain in the near high land
As a mother she cared with the closeness of a loving Irish hand.

Old Ireland is surely a blest land
And you its daughter blest, too.
With beauty and strength, wisdom and grace
Qualities that all make you....................An Irish Girl

Delia's Bash!

"You popped out of the computer!!!"

"Grandma, you popped out of the computer!" This was Jane's explanation of my appearance in New Orleans! So now I have popped back in. I feel like Mary Poppins!

We had such a fun time! Danny, Jane and I made Carolyn's recipe for all time delicious chocolate chip cookies. We paraded down the block to sing to Angela and her neighbor Pat. They both share July 3rd b'days.


Vocabulary to know:

Danny--First you do this, "click", and you "cluck", and then "click". He's very "clicky", not "cliquey", just like his dad.

Jane--"Dad, I'm told."; "First, you get the took book and then bake some cookies."; and "Grandma, can I have some "toke"! I had to keep translating those "t's" into "c's" to get the gist of her requests.

Pete--Sings the last word of every line of lots of songs. This is the "day", this is the "day", that the Lord has "made". He is a great singer!!!

The three of them LOVE to play together. Their mom and dad give them frequent refreshers on how to play together, but it's all good.


Saturday night we enjoyed music and fireworks at the "Uncle Sam Jam" with some of Carolyn and Bill's friends. Then Sunday night we had a front yard picnic. The water balloon toss evaporated into a very fun fight.


We had our traditional trip to Cafe Du Monde for our powdered sugar fix. And we stopped in to see the Argos' new house which is a beautiful gift out of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina.


And we had lots of fun in the backyard: swimming, mud pies, water plungers, t-ball, and more!!!

Hamming it up!

Celebrating Peter!

Peter is enjoying being two! He loves to sit and read books.

We are in the middle of the effects of the tropical storm, Alex. So it is raining a lot. We have a little sun, the kids run out to the pool in the backyard, then the clouds roll in and the rain starts pouring! Yesterday the kids ran around and around in the rain and had a great time. Today we were out in the pool by 9:00 a.m. We had about 45 minutes with sun and the rain started up. So we're inside playing.

Happy Birthday to Danny!

Thinking of you as you celebrate being 5 years old. I remember vividly the day you were born! It was so exciting!!!!

Here's a cool picture of a turtle swimming just like you can swim!

Love,
Grandma and Grandpa

From Make a Bear

Pizza and Pancakes!

Lilly "in the middle"

Liz taught Lilly a life changing concept, and the whole crowd of us came to life!

It was so fun to be together having fun!

Fish and more fun!

We're having FFT here in the Bend. Today is Meg's birthday. We're celebrating tonight.

Here are the Fishermen and the fish!!!! They had a great day out on the lake--no rain and no sunburns! They caught 7 salmon--2 King and 5 Coho. We're cooking up some tonight. Can't wait to taste it.



Update: Here's a video documentary of the fishing trip:



While the guys fished the girls signed up for the Sunburst Fitness Walk and had ice cream with Lilly. Ellen and Lilly had a dance at the Hall of Fame. This morning everyone woke up early! The guys went golfing while the gals participated in the walk. The weather was perfect.

Honoring Delia

Happy Birthday Delia!

90 years! And enjoying time in Hawaii. We are all proud of you!

Here are a few pictures. But I've got lots of sweet times in my memories! You were always such an encouraging "auntie", and you always made me feel special. We shared our love of books. I used to love picking out a new book from your collection. My favorite memory was on my 16th birthday when you invited me to have a sleep over at your house. That was a big deal for me!

God bless you in this coming year!

Mother's Day Brunch

Lilly loved the bunny family! She also had a great time taking pictures herself. Check out the picture of Dan looking grumpy.

Afternoon Tea

I had a lovely afternoon sharing tea with my neighbor Anne and her daughter and friends. So wonderful to have the time to take out the china and make scones and hear stories of earlier times! What a privilege!

Happy Easter!

Lots of fun celebrating with the South Bend fam! At Pete and Meg's we were greeted by funny bunny with very big glasses. Meg and Peter had a delicious brunch prepared for us. And we got see Lilly ride her new bike. It was a beautiful day to be outside.

Reinhardts March In....

We had a great visit with Bill, Carolyn and the Kidlets. There was lots of singing all week as you can see from the photos! There was a little snow on the ground when the southerners arrived so we collected more from the neighbors' house to make a snowman!

Trish was in town for the weekend so we had the whole family together for brunch on Sunday to celebrate Jane and Bill's birthdays. Lots of "3's" this year. Jane turns 3, and Bill will be 33. It was a great way to celebrate great grandpa's 91st as well.

Thank you Lord for such a wonderful family! And Happy St. Pat's to all.

Anne

Celebrating Pete!

Grandpa George

George would be 104 this Sunday. George was always a gentleman and always had something funny to say. When dancing with him at our wedding he told me that he was "a hellava dancer!" after he stepped on my toe. As you can see he was enthralled to meet Peter. We stopped in Provo on our cross country trip in 1977. So glad George got to meet his first 2 grandchildren, Adam and Peter! One of the first things I noticed about George was how affectionate and loving he was. I am very grateful that I got to know him.

Happy Birthday to You!

Thought I'd post a tribute to Oliver on his birthday. We all have fond memories of your teeth trick! You also gave great horsy rides. You always have the quick quip to fit the moment, "Fit as a fiddle and fit to fiddle!" And what a dancer! Thanks for all the good memories!



And here's my all-time favorite from Delia and Oliver's 50th.

From Oliver

Christmas Season at Brian's House

Brian treated our Thursday night HH to a wonderful evening of good food and lots of fun!

SF between the drops!

Here's a few of the highlights of our trips. It rained every day! But we still had time to do all our favorite walks: Baker Beach, See's, Clement St., Mountain Lake, See's, USF, Land's End, See's! Three trips to See's. We probably gained 3 pounds as well. We also got to visit several times Oliver and Delia, and we got to visit with several cousins. We ate at Video Cafe, Yet Wah, and an Italian resturant in the North Beach area. My favorite though was the delicious dungeness crab dinner we had at 21st Ave.