Family Fun on the Fourth

 Celebrating holidays with family is always fun.  Over the Fourth of July weekend, I celebrated with the Pennsylvania part of the clan.  As always there was good food and good fun.  The children kept us entertained and busy, too.  All of the children are growing so quickly.  It had only been about five weeks since I saw this crew, and already the previously toothless Abigail has several teeth.

Sister Emily wasn't feeling too chipper, but she seemed to enjoy arranging things in and around the doll's house.

 Elizabeth is our drama queen, and she plays all kinds of roles from comedy to that of a model.  (You should see the video of her descending stairs posing as a model.  I haven't mastered the best way to share videos yet, but take my word for it--she could have a career that way!)

Ava is our budding young lady and is so good with brother Jake--at least most of the time.  She is also good at swimming and bubble-blowing!

Jake is full of joy and energy, and he loves doing things with his daddy.

While Daddy Len entertained the troops with bubbles, the sisters had time for a chat.

At some point they decided to celebrate my birthday since I wouldn't be there on the actual date.  What a beautiful, delicious cake that was!  It should be illegal for anything so beautiful to taste that good.  There were even sugar-molded birds as part of the decorations on the cake.  And of course I had plenty of help with the candle.

It was a great way to celebrate the holiday.  For more pictures of the weekend, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2

ARGH!

If I could figure out who the culprit is, I'd give someone a piece of my mind!  What a dad-blamed nuisance!  Someone started using my credit card number over the weekend--apparently to try to buy an Iphone, because that's the kind of charges that were made (apps and equipment).  Fortunately, I monitor that card fairly carefully because it WAS my primary card, so I've gone through the rigamarole of cancelling the card and trying to remember who has charges outstanding (season tickets for a couple of things for next season, for example) and giving them a valid card number.  When I get the new card, there are several places like my prescription place that have to be notified!  What an aggravation.  At least I caught it before too much damage, but...  This kind of crook needs to get a job--and a CHEAP phone with their own money!

Rattling Around

The house seems almost empty this morning.  Steve and Julie were here from Saturday until this morning, and it was so great to have them.  We did the Annapolis Secret Garden Tour on Sunday, which was nice, but it was VERY hot and we didn't quite finish it before we had to search for cold drinks and less heat.  Yesterday we cruised around downtown Annapolis, checking out the shops.  I should do that more often.  I discovered a neat tea and spices shop I didn't even know was there!

This morning they left for Michigan and a visit with Julie's mom Joan.  I miss them already, but I know I have to share!

 Safe journey, Steve and Julie. 

A Week at Nags Head

A delightful way to spend a week in late spring is to be at the beach with family whose company you enjoy.  I was blessed to have this chance at the end of May, spending that week in Nags Head, NC with sister Pat and her husband Bob, two of their children and the spouses of those children, and five of their seven grandchildren.  We had a spacious house on the beach and a swimming pool just out the back door.  Dolphins swam by and put on performances that seemed to be just for us, sometimes for twenty minutes or so at a time.

The first night we celebrated Emily's second birthday.  She hasn't quite mastered the art of blowing out candles, so Ava and Elizabeth helped out a bit.

The children (and adults) enjoyed the beach in the morning before the days got too hot and the little ones got too tired.  Emily and her bucket and shovel were very busy.  Sometimes she did it solo, sometimes with the help of the cousins.

Elizabeth had a whole village of sand castles, and she decorated them with shells and whatever else she could find.

Jake liked the ocean as long as he was close to daddy--or the waves didn't come too close to him!

When the sand and heat got to be a bit much, the gang retreated to the pool, where they were content to spend hours.  The pool came equipped with a slide, and with a daddy or mom at the end of it to catch the younger ones, they had a splashing good time, although Ava and Elizabeth could also manage splashes into the pool on their on, too, thank you very much!

Baby Abbie got some pool time occasionally, but she was most often found snuggling with one of the grown-ups.  Here she's getting a big kiss from her Aunt Jen in one shot and sharing deck time with Grandmother Pat in the other.

We fed stale crackers to the laughing gulls and watched the beach replenishment process(toward the end of the week, thank goodness).

The "mother ship" that hauled the sand from far out and then piped it back to the beach

Moving the retrieved sand into place

A good time with loving family and good weather--even if there was occasional smog from a forest fire to the west of us across the sound. This group offered lots of opportunities for photos.  If you are interested in seeing more of them, try:  https://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2 .

Birding Trip to Chincoteague and Beyond

Each year in May I have what I call my "bird-my-brains-out" weekend that goes to Chincoteague with numerous stops on the way at specific habitats.  The goal is to see how many bird species I can identify in that weekend time frame.  Eighty species is acceptable only if it rains the whole time.  One hundred is okay; 110 is very good; and 120 or more is "splendiforous".  This year, however, my birding weekend had to be modified because of the trip to NC for Mother's illness and funeral, so I tucked it in as a mostly-one-day activity in conjunction with a trip to Nags Head with sister Pat and family.  Total count for the one day plus some fragmented other birding resulted in 108 species, with which I am content.  There are some species that I either see in May or I don't see during the year, and I was able to get most of them plus a couple of bonuses--a white ibis I didn't expect to see in northern NC and a peregrine falcon.

Photographing wildlife with my "big" camera (which is "big" only in relation to the "pocket camera" is rather difficult unless said wildlife obligingly poses by the side of the road. A couple of them did that for me this time.  The glossy ibises seem to be practicing synchronized feeding.

Great egrets seem to like to pose where they can admire themselves in their reflections.

The little snowy egret wears her golden slippers when she goes out for dinner.

The laughing gull hoped in vain that someone would offer a bite of sandwich or some other tasty morsel.

Some of my favorite birds for this trip--the summer tanager, the blue grosbeak, the indigo bunting, and the orchard oriole--are beyond the reach of my camera lens, so I'm glad the binoculars were working well.
On to Nags Head!

Family Gathering for the Funeral

One of the things that happens during and after funerals is the gathering of family and friends.  Since my little camera isn't usually very far from my pocket, I brought home pictures of a grandniece and grandnephews I don't always see on my trips south. 

Chase is very active and has a huge grin when he chooses to share it.

Holly gets prettier every time I see her, and her brother Tyler has grown so much I hardly recognized him!

And then there is the great-grandnephew Bentley--our tribe continues to increase!

It is rare to catch sister Nancy resting, but the call of the rocking chair out on the porch was too strong to resist that afternoon.

 A peaceful afternoon in the country after a rugged couple of weeks was welcome for us all.

A Farewell

I've been away from the blog for a while.  Circumstances have kept me hopping for the last few weeks.  In late April my mother fell, broke her leg, was hospitalized and developed pneumonia.  On May 6 her suffering ended and she is at peace.

The picture above is of her blowing out the candles on her birthday cake celebrating her 90th birthday.

She and my father had 59 years together before he died in 1996.

Rest in peace, Momma.  You earned it.