Here are a few pictures of Mary and I on vacation. The first is last year at Big Sur. The next 3 are from last Monday and Tuesday of this week. We have our first view of the Grand Canyon and two pictures of Mary and I playing golf in Sedona, AZ.
Charlotte 10th: Party #1 & #2
Had a little ice cream cake with Nana last night. Tonight the big party, a sleep-over of 10 girls. Whee!!
Tonight, in lieu of cake, Charlotte decided to have the chocolate fountain.
My 60th Celebrations!
Decided to keep the 60th a small celebration (unlike the 40th & 50th). Had dinner with some close friends last weekend. Note the beautiful orchid arrangement Dawn made (and small bouquets for each lady). Kenny, I do look much better when pictures are taken out of the sunshine, don’t I?
Dinner on my birthday was at Dawn’s. Reid was sick, so he went to bed early. Blake helped Mommy decorate…he especially loved the balloons and the Mickey Mouse cake.
Shannon put together a little book of “60 Things I’ve Learned from My Mom”. Some were pretty standard things a mother should teach a child i.e., “Patience”, “Work Ethic”, “Pride” etc. Some were things our mother taught us i.e., “Kill them with Kindness”, giving people the “Benefit of the Doubt” etc. Some things were applicable to just us i.e., “The Fall Family Lazy Gene – it does exist and I’ve taught her how to combat it”, “How much she loves Mickey Mouse cakes”, “How to pronounce things correctly – The ‘Mary’ test is a perfect example”, and of course “Family – Nothing matters more”.
It was a great birthday and would only have been better with all of you here. We got close on Christmas…we need to keep trying!
Happy Birthday Sweet Sixty
MARILYN, THE UTAH FALLS HOPE YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC SIXTIETH.
IT’S NOT ALWAYS EASY BEING THE SECOND SIBLING.
THE SECOND CHILD FOLLOWING SOMEONE AS CONFIDENT AS LARRY.
THE SECOND PRETTIEST CHILD (FOLLOWING GARY).
THE SECOND SMARTEST (FOLLOWING KENNY).
AND THE SECOND CLASSIEST (STEVE & RONNIE TIED FOR FIRST).
BUT MARILYN, YOU ARE SECOND TO NONE WHEN IT COMES TO LOVE AND DEVOTION TO THE FAMILY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
KENNY, LISA, ELLIOT AND NATALIE
Xmas Vacation 2008
We had an awesome trip to Chicago! Could only have been better if UncleLar had been there.
• All the cousins were together
• Some of us saw The Waco Bros. and ate “Slingers”.
• We skated at “The Bean”
• We went to Shedd Aquarium
• The kids & I went rock climbing
• And Lex returned to the scene of the crime, “The Assault of the Portal” and cursed the gate with his middle finger
My skinny photos
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My friend Tom Minsker took these shots. I Â spent the last few days babysitting him. He had a hip replacement on Monday and needed to have someone stay with him until he was self sufficient. I’ve heard stories about how quickly people recover from hip replacements and always thought they were slightly exaggerated but now that I’ve witnessed it, I am truly amazed.
Tom had his surgery midday Monday. I picked him up at the hospital Tuesday afternoon about 24 hours after his surgery. He was in a little discomfort Tuesday but had no trouble sleeping through the night (which is a surprise unto itself because he often has sleep issues). Wednesday, less than 48 hours after the surgery, he was walking around his house with the aid of walker. By Thursday, he had gotten rid of the walker and was just using a crutch. Today, he was walking around without the crutch (although he did use it when we went to the grocery store this evening). Just unbelieveable.
I probably could have left him by himself after the first night because he was 99% self sufficient then. The only thing that he had problems with was bending over far enough to put his support stockings on (he has to wear supports for four weeks to prevent blood clots). This afternoon he mastered that so I left him on his own (but I will check in with him daily).
Merry Christmas!
As usual, we were a little late mailing Xmas cards this year… technical difficulties, a fairly funny story really, but for another time.
State College Santa Crawl
This was the night of our annual Santa Crawl. I decided to make a token appearance by heading to the Tavern around 11 PM and surprising the crew as they came through. They arrived about 11:20 and it only took about 15 minutes for me to realize I’m not ready to resume a full social slate yet. I was busy trying to catch up with people that I hadn’t see in ages and a minor coughing fit came on quickly. Fortunately I had my senses about me and didn’t leave with them when they took off for the next bar about a half hour later.
The event has grown considerably since I started it with five people back in 2004. I’d say they had about 45 people tonight. A couple of people took photos of me and as soon as they send them to me I’ll post them
At least you can see how thin my face is in this photo. I’ll post a full body shot (without the Santa suit) in a day or two.
It Just Doesn’t Get Any Better
than this….. The Best Team in the NFL, the NY Football Giants 44, the Seagulls 6.
Lex’s first game.
Idea, tickets and photos courtesy of my buddy Doug.
A Baseball Weekend
A fond farewell.
