Gentle Years

One afternoon this week RB and MB came home with us and the older boys refused to come inside.  It was just too nice out to sit on the porch and bask in the March sunlight.

MB stayed inside with me.  Doesn't he look happy?

Yesterday we stopped to see GB and he and his family were not home-they had gone to visit PB and her family.  So we stopped in and all four kids were in the same place at the same time.  Those are the best of times!

On Wednesday we got a little over a foot of snow, so school was canceled.  I had already agreed to watch RB and MB for the afternoon so that their parents could make a treacherous drive to their mortgage appointment, and then JC called and asked if I could watch BB while she went snowboarding (our house is on the way to the ski area).  So I had all three boys.  Aidan and RB napped most of the time, which gave me time alone with the little ones.

G's sister and her husband have now been married for 25 years, so we celebrated on Saturday with a surprise party.  They did very well, despite the loss of their 20 year old son last summer.  Here are some photos of various family members and friends celebrating.

It is rare and special to have all four kids at the house at once.  Here are some pictures from Sunday-both a morning visit by GB and PB and their children, and then an afternoon visit by RB alone.

Okay, but seriously-the top photos are great grandparents of G-yes, the woman is American Indian; two of his great grandmothers were.

The second photo is of my grandmother-she is the second to youngest girl in the picture.

We've been playing around with old photos and were actually photographing photographs with our camera, hence the flash over my great grandparents' faces.

Now, on to the intended photos:

Aidan got to play at his grandparents' house, showing off his mechanical expertise (G already has RB pegged as a future race car driver, since he's small, and Aidan as his future mechanic or pit crew chief)

This weekend was our annual family retreat, a tradition we began in 1993 and have only missed once since.  The first year was white water rafting on the Penobscot.  Each year we go to a different place within a few hours drive as a maximum, and we always have water-fresh or in the pool.

The number in attendance varies from year to year.  This year we had about 35 total.  I didn't get any shots of the people attending, but had a good time.  We went to an Oktoberfest celebration, the cider mill, a chocolate house, and the Cabot shop (yes, we were in Vermont).

Yesterday all three "kids" were together-it was time to update our cell phones and replace them with newer versions.  Seems strange to think that our first cell phone was the one that GB got before heading off to law school in New Orleans.  Now we all have our own.  GB and LB got the fancy versions-with keyboards, etc.  The rest of us got plain old cell phones and don't know our own ring tones yet.

This afternoon we paid a visit to GB, JC, and BB.  The top photo is of RB holding his little cousin, BB.  Then he's getting a hand from GB at putting the ball in the hoop.  Below he is trying it on his own.

Although we do have Old Home Day, people don't come home for it.  Instead, they come home for Grange Fair Day.  This year it started out wet, broke for the parade, rained again, then broke again.  The day starts with a pancake breakfast at the elementary school and ends with a street dance.  In between there are all sorts of other small town country events, including a white elephant sale, baby show, live music, bed races, horseshoe tournament, ham and bean supper (I made two salads), and tractor pulls (it used to be an ox pull but some people complained about animal cruelty through the newspaper and they decided that it would be changed to a tractor pull-what did those people think the Grange stood for, anyway?).  So we all have a good time visiting with our neighbors and people we haven't seen as often.

Starting off with the color guard.  My little brother (Army and Navy veteran) and my first nephew (Army veteran).  The "boys" are two years apart in age.  My nephew's brother usually is with them but his daughter burned her hand and they had to take her to have it looked at.

This year's theme was "Yankee Ingenuity" so my sisters created a float that advertised all the small businesses operated by family members.

RB and his daddy won a blue ribbon for their tractor.  RB was told to wave to the people. LB said she didn't know if he understood, but when he saw me with the camera, he waved like crazy!

Halcyon is a Greek word meaning golden.  These days will never come again; the leaves will die, the snow will come, the snow will melt, the sun will return, but each moment is special and unique.

Mom turned 80 this summer-here she is swinging on the zip line at her party

At my niece's ball game-Mom and another niece

My sister with one of our great nephews

My sister coaching her daughter's ball game

My niece, the ball player

The old veteran ball players-G in the background, my brother in the foreground

The slide was a big hit with RB!

My girls

Our first son

My nephew's beautiful family