Fun with Lilly!

Dan and I had the privilege of watching Lilly this weekend. Peter and Meg went to Chicago for the weekend and the Cubs game Saturday afternoon. Lilly wore her Cubs outfit in their honor. She does a great rendition of take me out to the ball game. She loves!!!! stickers as you can see from her face. We took her to the little park nearby for some recreation. She is a swinger who likes to sing. She sang her A,B,C's and wanted lots of songs sung to her. It was a treat to have her spend the weekend.

Lilly's 2nd birthday

We had fun celebrating Lilly's 2nd birthday. She enjoyed all her friends who came her to her party today. She laughed and squealed for joy!

Lilly and I visited Liz's work place earlier this week. All the residents were delighted with her! She gave them all high 5's. A few of them sat out on the patio with us. Lilly sat in a rocker and rocked and rocked while we sang songs to her. It was so neat to see how much the residents loved having her there.

Pete's 2nd birthday

I thought it would be fun to see how Peter looked when he turned 2. I was delighted to see that Peter got to be with all his grandparents that year, 1979. We think I flew out to SF with Pete and then we flew to Utah. Dan drove out to meet us in Provo so that we could visit with Grandpa George who was suffering from lung cancer. He was blessed to get to meet all his grandparents.

I also wanted to remember my mom and dad. This week would be their 57th anniversary and my mom's birthday. It is so neat that Lilly's birthday is so close to her great-grandma's birth date.

And while I was looking at pictures I came across these pictures of Carolyn. Big similarity to her Jane! Especially with her thumb in her mouth!

Camping in Tennessee

Dan and I had an awesome time camping, fishing, hiking, etc. The fish eluded us which was disappointing, but we had a awesome camp site right next to Gee Creek. The pancakes and cherry pudgie pies were my favorite part of our menu! We hiked on the John Muir Trail. I guess he hiked through Tennessee on his way to California! Our campground was real close to the Hiwassee River which is a recreational fishing, tubing, kayaking area in the Cherokee Forest. It was very beautiful. Lots of rivers including the Ocoee where the 1996 Olympics took place. We hiked 6 miles on the Chestnut Mountain right above the Ocoee. Lots of beautiful mushrooms grew in its deep forests. We found a couple favorite spots of the locals. One was the Gee Trail which had a deep swimming hole called the "Blue Hole". We got caught in rain so we didn't get to try it out. The other spot was off of the Cherohala Skyway. We rode down along the Tellico River and just beyond the Bald River Falls there was a small falls called the Little Tellico Falls. It was full of teenagers jumping off the rocks--very exciting.

After 5 nights we headed for the Smokey Mountains where we camped by the Little River. We tried out the Appalachian Trail, and hiked up to Laurel Falls where we were treated to a bear sighting! A mamma and her 2 cubs were eating blueberries down the trail from us. Danny and I had just read "Blueberries for Sal" which is about a mamma and her cub eating blueberries! We awoke to a big downpour which didn't dampen our spirits but we did have a wet load coming home!

More fun with the grandkids

Dan and I had a great time with the grandkids! They kept us entertained with their shenanigans. And we did our best to entertain them with stories, George time on the computer, snow balls, etc.! Our favorite was the morning we kidnapped Danny and Jane while mom and dad were sleeping. We went to the French Quarter and got beinets and walked on the mighty Mississippi. Carolyn and Bill had a nice sleep in!
Dan's big project while we were out there was to paint the deck. Notice the change in the pictures!
Also, take note of Jane's "serious face". This is her take on how to "smile for the picture"!!!

Good news!

Peter is such a good baby! We almost forget he's around. Jane, the one year old, keeps us all entertained and happy! Danny, the three year old, has been really sick with an ear infection. He's still laying around recovering.

We had po boys for dinner one night--yummers! And Beth W. brought us snow balls one sunny afternoon. We all sat outside with Ang P. and enjoyed the ancient New Orleans treat. All the while Danny slept. The good news was that during his few waking moments he was not in pain!

Today it is pouring and thundering. The back yard has become a swimming pool--remember New Orleans is below sea level. Another back yard phenomena are the lizards. They scoot across the deck and then stop and do sit ups and fill up their throat and do deep breathing! Yikes.

Peter William

Here's a few pictures to enjoy! The kids are adorable! I had a special afternoon at the hospital hanging out with Care and Peter. Then Bill and the kids came back with some pizza and we had a fun evening laughing at the kids. Tomorrow I get to play GM and spend the day playing house with them.
Lots of people dropped by today so I got to chat with old friends.
Neat to be able to share Peter with all of you!
Lots of love,
Anne