The Running of the Calves

Hi all,

I didn't actually take pictures of John's birthday party, but I did get some pictures of him opening Ryan and Joy's gift - a very nice, official looking briefcase. And Ty and Jerilyn, he's loving the man book!





I thought ya'll might also enjoy this endearing little video. I call it "The Running of the Calves."

Boston

I couldn't think of a good way to begin this post, so I thought I'd let Caleb start things off. He looks prepared to give a history lecture or two.


Since we were in Boston for a conference on history, we thought we'd see some history ourselves. Neither of us had spent much time in the northeast, so everything was a new experience. The first few pictures were taken at Lexington at night, just a few hours after we flew in.

This is a sign for the Hancock-Clarke Parsonage. John Hancock and Sam Adams were sleeping here when Paul Revere rode through town sounding the alarm.


Here's the parsonage itself, or at least the rear part of it.


After our drive through Lexington and Concord, we wanted to do some hiking. So after a stop at the ubiquitous (i.e. everywhere) Dunkin' Donuts, we drove up to southern New Hampshire to the Monadnock Mountain area. It was a good place to get out and stretch, although at parts, the path was completely covered in ice.


Me in my winter gear, which doesn't get out much in Texas.




The diner in Peterborough, NH where we ate. It was very quaint, local, and affordable. Who could ask for more?


Mom, I thought you'd like this. It's actually only a few years old.


Back to history. . .
The Minute Man statue at Concord. After a brief battle at Lexington, the British took Concord easily. But across the Old North Bridge, some patriots who had previously fled decided to take the offensive. They sent the British back across the bridge, thus starting the British retreat all the way back to Boston.


Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous "shot heard round the world" poem, engraved on the monument.


The Old North Bridge itself, reconstructed.


You can see the old house in the background. It had seen a lot. Click on the picture and read the sign to find out.


Our historic rental car.


Walden Pond. Henry David Thoreau thought deep thoughts here.


Paul Revere's house. This was the house he lived in during the American Revolution. It even has some of the family furniture in it!


Another view.


The best picture I could get of the Old North Church, from the steeple of which a patriot hung two lanterns ("two if by sea"), which signaled Paul Revere and William Dawes to start their ride to warn the colonists. William Dawes was just as instrumental as Paul Revere, but Longfellow didn't write a famous poem about Dawes, only Revere. Poor Dawes. . .


The U.S.S.Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), so named because in the War of 1812, a British vessel couldn't penetrate her old oak sides even at point-blank range!


I stumbled upon this site while following the Freedom Trail (explained below).


Boston Common - it's an active city park, complete with an ice-skating rink.


The Freedom Trail. The city has mapped out some of its key historic sites and maps them out with a red line (or sometimes a line of red bricks) that you can literally follow from place to place. It was wonderful! John is holding a box of canolis from the Italian area. They were oh so good. I also had Boston Cream Pie while I was there, which was good, but not as good as my canoli.


The view out our hotel window. Loved the snow!


John enjoying a gyro at the Quincy Market (from sometime in the early 1800's)


Panama City. My plane stopped there on the flight back to Houston and it was so pretty!

Okay, so it's been a while since we've posted. No argument here. To make amends, here are a few pictures and videos of our time in MO at Thanksgiving. These aren't even substantial enough to be highlights, but they're entertaining. The house was full - on Friday, even Dave and Erin made it up for the day with their two boys - so there was plenty of commotion to document!

So welcome to the style. . .


the trees. . .


the cooking. . .


the oh-so-cute puppies. . .


the fatigue. . .


and the action!



And finally, here's a cute little snippet. Caleb's big thing right now is to say "Yeah" to pretty much anything when he's in a good mood. So listen closely and you'll hear the magical word at the beginning.

Missouri vacation

Great friends. . .if only for that pesky glass barrier!


Hi everybody!
I just got back from a wonderful, if solo (John was in Colorado) trip to Missouri. Amadeus kept me company on the road, and when we got up there, I got a chance to visit some college friends. Mel's husband, Bert, fixed us up a tasty sushi dinner. It was very fancy, complete with a menu and tags to tell us what we're eating!


Went and watched the kids while Jeff and Steph took an evening out for their anniversary. Noah tried on a bomber jacket that Nana and Papa bought for Audrey when she was a toddler. Many of the other grandkids have had their pictures taken in it, but Noah missed the boat when he was younger. So we squeezed him into it and snapped a picture.


But it is summertime, after all. Time for climbing trees, not bomber jackets!


And also time for extreme close-ups. . .


Backing up a bit, here are Jackson and Tyler enjoying the municipal pool.


Meanwhile, Natalie kept us company on the porch, exploring new countries like "Lahn Chere."


and "Kamra."


Fortunately, the natives were friendly.


As usual, motors were running at Papa's casa.


Seth enjoyed a ride on Papa's bike.


Off they go!


And what is this? Are they waving at Seth on the bike? Of course not.


They're waving at Seth in the plane.


The appreciation on the ground was high for the aerobatics.


Particularly with one young man, who experienced his first fly-by and followed it with his gaze long after it was done!


While Seth was cruising around at high altitudes, Audrey and I took Amadeus down to the pond for a walk.


With a few tag-alongs to keep us company.


Ah, the noble Labrador!


Let's watch as he short-circuits. . .


Ryan and Joy came later in the weekend, but time enough to hang out with everyone else before the first shift went home.


Jackson expressed his delight with the general situation by filling the dog bowl with rocks.


With Caleb happily following suit.


Here's a nice shot of all the kiddos on the bench up in the pine trees. Note how Natalie's chatting with Steph.


Actually, Steph and Natalie had quite the good time together. Steph taught her how to wave like a celebrity.


No summer weekend with Joy would be complete without a golf-cart ride or two!


The G's, the G's!!


After everyone else went home, Katie wanted to go fishing. Caleb went, too, but after an initial, unintentional dip in the water, he had to go back and hang out with Nana.





Here's Ryan showing us how it's done.


There were some frogs living under the dock. While Papa fishes, I'm trying to point them out to Katie, but for some reason, she was reluctant to dip her head right over the water.


Actually frogs were about the only thing we came close to catching.


As well as a few calories. Don't know why this picture turned out so large, but it's a sweet shot that I couldn't pass up!