A few special pictures

The house is very quiet now. I miss the kids a lot. They left at 4:15 this morning for their 16 hour drive home. We so appreciated the time they spent in the car to spend a week with us at Christmas time.

I remember driving many hours from Michigan to Iowa when our children were small, to visit our parents at the holidays. Actually, only tried coming at Christmas once. Weather was always too tricky. Instead, we would always spent Easter and Thanksgiving with our parents. Twice a year, the kids got to know their grandparents. Now, I can understand a little better how our parents felt at this time. They got to hug and love the grandchildren for a short time and then it was only by phone calls the remaining time of the year. Now, I understand the feeling. The only thing that could have made our Christmas a little better would have been having our other daughter and her family join us for this week. Maybe next year.

Josiah with one of his fish

Noah looks quite proud of his catch also

The boys proudly announced at the end of the week that they had caught 43 fish in our back pond and some of the other ponds around where we live. All were placed back into the water to grow bigger until the next time they visit. I thought I heard a large sigh from the pond this morning. The fish are looking forward to some rest.



And then a rare picture. This is my daughter, Angie, and myself. For some reason, we just don't have pictures taken together much and that is something I need to remedy. I realized this when I didn't find any pictures of me with my mother or father.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a list of 'things to do' that can be accomplished in 2010.

Wowwie! A blog I absolutely love, Once Upon a Plate has just reached her 600,000 hit by visitors like you. Mari is a terrific cook and her photographic is totally professional. In honor of having so many hits on her blog, she is giving away a beautiful Johnson Bros. Blue Willow tea set that would look very nice in my home!! Please take a look at Once Upon a Plate and see what magic Mari produces in her kitchen.

Bar Harbor

We did some more clam chowder testing and blueberry pie testing on our drive to Bar Harbor (Bah Hah bah) Maine. Both were excellent. I then told the cashier that we had been judges for the Crisco Great American Pie Contest last month, so we were judging blueberry pies in Maine. You could see, she seemed nervous. Then slowly asked if we thought the pie was alright. I hated to tease her like that, but we had fun and the pie really was very good.

Walked this beautiful little town of Bar Harbor and stopped for oysters on the half shell. We were so anxious to dive into them, I forgot to take pictures. They were very good with a locally brewed beer. Next time, I hope there will be a next time, I'll get a picture.

Today is May 26, and it is the birthday of our youngest daughter, Angie. Angie, bless her heart, is a paraprofessional working with special needs children in the school district. She works very hard but has such a heart for these special kids. She has given us a son-in-law, two grandsons and she is also a stepmother to a son. She is also taking care of our special kid, the Bichon, while we are on this trip. We thank you a lot, Angie, and hope that you have a very special day today.

Surprisingly, this is the first time we have come across accents on our travels. I expected to hear something in Vermont, New Hampshire, and all of Maine, but it wasn't until we got this far north that you can hear a little something in the accent. I just love it!!

Last night we had went to dinner way south of Bar Harbor and we decided to have LOBSTAH!! No surprise there! We also had a pound of clam steamers which was very good. Just have to fill up on this delicacy because it will be a very long time until we eat this again. Unless you count tomorrow. Maybe one more time before we start heading home and then one month of only salads and veggies before we start heading west to Montana.

I promised myself that I would not tell you that we had to test another blueberry pie this evening. smile, smile, snicker. Now you know why we face a month of salads, but it is so worth it.