A Family Christmas

We're having a great time being together! It has been very eventful since an intestinal bug has swooped through the house--part of the family bonding experience! We're mostly recouped so we headed out to the Football Hall of Fame for some punting and running. And then we went over to the Choco Cafe.

Thankful week in New Orleans!

Dan and I enjoyed every moment of our wonderful trip down south. We drove the scenic route through Kentucky, Tennessee (where we had a flat tire!), and Alabama. We spent 2 nights in a little cabin in the woods in the hills of Alabama. It was a good way for Dan to "rest-up" after his busy nights in the hospital. We paid a visit to Mother Angelica's Monastery which is a huge edifice in the middle of nowhere in Alabama. Then we headed down to fun times with the Reinhardts. My brother, Mike, from SF, and Liz flew in to join us. (We really missed the presence of Dan's sister, Ellen, her husband, A.J., and our nephew, Adam. They were detained in Texas with a virus.) We had relaxing walks at the zoo and the sculpture garden, some delicious po' boys!, a Thanksgiving feast hosted by some of the Reinhardt's friends, and lots of time just sitting around loving up the 3 kidlets!

Favorite moments:
Danny crawling in to bed with Dan and I early in the morning.
Danny asking grandpa for "dam"(graham) crackers first thing in the kitchen.
Jane, singing her A, B, C's and The Wheels on the Bus.
Watching Jane trying to twirl around in her pretty Thanksgiving dress.
And we had a great time playing Ring Around the Rosy, over and over!
Peter is sooo sweet. I loved going in after his nap and being greeted by his quick smile!

Birthday fun!

Thought I'd share all my fun times with you! Dinner with Peter, Meg and Lilly, fun evening with my Women's Group, and a great trip to Indy with my two friends, Nancy F. and Betsy. Trish gave us the royal tour. Thank you Lord for another birthday to celebrate the life you've given me!

Thinking of my dad on my birthday!

From Grandpa videos

One of the amazing things about my dad was that singing was a part of who he was. I remember him singing as he drove and singing as he worked. He loved to sing at church. So I thought I'd share one of his favorite songs with all of you! He's painting the finial of our victorian style house in SF--way up on the scaffolding!

Ready or not....

Here I come! Lilly has learned the fine points of Hide and Seek. She was at our house for dinner this week and discovered the small door to the ironing board closet. She positioned herself behind the door and started counting. Meg and Sheila hid in the living room and after counting to 10 and saying "Ready or not, here I come!" Lilly ran looking for them. It didn't take her long to unearth them. Wow! That's a little girl in action!

October Fun!

Big news! Our household has expanded. Liz has joined Dan, Sheila and I. She is full of energy and life so we are all enjoying her presence.

We got to go apple picking with Lilly and Peter and Meg on Saturday. It was a beautiful fall day! We picked lots of apples. As you can see Lilly was too busy to pose with us!

My cousin, Mary, came down from Dinkytown, Minnesota, for the weekend. She and her friend spent this morning with us. We took them up through the woods on our Holy Cross College walk. It was great to see Mary. We listened to Hawaiian music while having breakfast together and talked about our great 2002 visit to Hawaii.

Household Reunion

We had a very fun weekend with Jenny who came all the way from Portland to visit us! Friday night we had a big party. We spent the weekend in South Haven enjoying the beauty of Lake Michigan. Gretchen and Sean joined us for Lord's Day, and then we ended the evening with a fun trip to Sherman's for ice cream. Monday, Gloria gave Jenny and I a tour of downtown Goshen. The highlight was the chocolate soda at the Soda Shop!

It was very encouraging to hear of all the great things going on in the Portland/Vancouver branch. It was a refreshing weekend for all of us. We missed our dear friend, Madeleine. We enjoyed some goat cheese in her honor. She's at Harvard working hard on her qualifying paper.

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

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day is a great day to especially thank God for our dads. Grandpa George and Grandpa were both great men. I know my dad used to rock us to sleep singing, and I remember being so impressed that George was so affectionate with his girls and was a good back rubber.

Both of our families treasured vacations every year. We have so many fun memories of car trips (lifesavers), little cabins in Santa Cruz, swimming, fishing, and playing games. We were blessed by dads who made family time a priority. And now we see our children doing the same for their children!

Thank you Lord for our fathers. Thank you that they put their trust in you and were not afraid.

Weekend at the Lake

What a great time we had with Peter and Meg and Lilly hanging out at a little cabin near Lake Michigan. We had fun digging in the sand and watching Lilly revel in climbing the sand hills. The weather was cool but crispy clear and beautiful. Liz and Trish were able to join us for Sunday brunch and we celebrated Liz's birthday. It's so great to live so close to the Lake!

May Flowers and Lilly

Grandpa and Lilly had some great bonding time Monday. They stretched on the grass at Pete's house and looked at the sky and the clouds, and listened to the birds. Dan and I had a fun walk at Bendix woods. We enjoyed seeing the "Jack in the Pulpit", Trillium and other neat spring wildflowers.

Danny and Jane's Visit

We're enjoying fun times with Danny and Jane. We love having Carolyn and Bill here also! It was wonderful seeing all the cousins together. We've had dinner at Peter and Meg and Lilly's house, Liz's house and Trish's house. The kids are doing great now in spite of a few days of bad coughs and fevers. The temperature rose to 60 degrees today. It's been great to play outside with the kids. And Danny and I saw my first robin since last year, a sure sign that spring is on the way.

A snowy day here in the Bend

Liz and I enjoyed a fun trudge through the snow. It is beautiful here.

Happy Valentine's Day

Two fun pictures--mom relaxing in the backyard, May 1968, and dad hard at work, December 1977. Dad's tile helper took this shot.

SF Anniversary Trip

Dan and I joined my brothers Mike and Pat, and Pat's wife, Jean, in SF to celebrate the one year anniversary of dad's death. We were able to attend his daily morning mass and enjoy pancakes at the corner resturant. Then we all went to Denise's mother's funeral mass and said hello to all her family. It was such a blessing that we were able to be there to honor Denise's loving and friendly mom.
We had a wonderful time in Carmel with Mike. We saw tons of sea life!!! Each elephant seal weighs 2 tons and we saw 4 four of them! Then we returned home to more rain and more favorite SF things to do.

A year ago....

A year ago my dad cut his finger. I thought of him all day today. Dad was a very organized man but I never appreciated that fact. But he had to be organized to lay tile as well as he did. So one day when I was out visiting he woke up and told me the plan. 8:30 mass, followed by a trip down to Kaisar to get his blood work done. We had to walk to Kaisar of course. Before the blood work he turned in his perscriptions at the pharmacy and delighted in telling me how they would be ready after his appointment and that would save him waiting in line. So that all played out exactly as he had planned. Then we proceeded walking further down Geary Street to the glass place where he got a piece of glass made for Clement St. He joked around with the glass man who knew him well. And then we walked home. Mission accomplished all in dad's timetable. Today as I did my mundane errands I thought of that day and how fun it was watching him delight in checking off his list of things to do. And I prayed, "Jesus, Jesus" just as he taught us to do. Thank you Lord for your presence with me as I go about my daily work and thanks for such a great dad and mom who taught me to work hard and take delight in the small things of my day.
Mike adds, "Dad didn't waste much time in his life. When we were doing a job together and we were near the finish of the job he'd tell me to take something down with me if I was going downstairs - not to waste a trip. He said he learned that from Carrington Cook, the guy he worked with for so many years."