birthday week

ever notice how fast the years start going as soon as you get over that hill? I certainly have, and this is kind of a nostalgic week for me. My mom's birthday and my dad's, as well as my own "somethingth" have all occurred, and I realize how much I miss them. Mom has been gone for 10 years and Dad has been gone for 13, and there are days when I would like to speak to both of them. Sometimes I think about calling Mom up to ask her advice, or for one of her recipes, and whenever I think of making comfort food I think of her kitchen, or of her sewing room. I think of my dad when I look at the bookcase that is in my bedroom filled with "church" books. I wish that I had spent more time with them than I did. I wish that my three children had known them better. I appreciate their sacrifices for their seven children as I reflect on my childhood, and I admire them for the lives they lived.

The older I get (and I speak this as the youngest of the seven) the more I realize how great my life has been because of the heritage I received from my parents. I hope that I can be remembered as well-loved as my Mom.

Summer Cometh

This is pretty embarassing to see how long it goes between posts on our blog. I spend a fair amount of time at the computer, but you would never know I ever look at blogs by this. (So for all of you blog-stalkers out there...here are some of my favorite family pix and events of the past month or so.) In May B and I had an enjoyable trip to Williamsburg Virginia/ Washington DC. We spent the week playing tourist around Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown, and learned a lot of previously unknown (to us anyway) history. Our one day in DC was not sufficient to see everything we wanted, but we did a quickie tour of some of the Smithsonian exhibits, and walked (and walked, and WALKED) to see some of the main tourist attractions, like Washington Monument, the WWII memorial, the Lincoln memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the White House, as well as the Ronald Reagan building (where we parked.) Don't know how many miles we logged on our shoes that day, but the memorials are best available on foot. It is so amazing to see the green in Virginia. The woods reminded us of our time in Clifton Park. It was a great taste of our nations's history, and we'll go back again to see it again. Our trip to Jamestown was just one week after the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. Pretty cool. We went to President's Park, a really nifty statue exhibit of 18-foot tall busts of all the POTUSes, and were told that Geo Bush I was coming "next week" to see his newly renovated statue. It figures, always a week before or after...

We had an eventful June, with three birthdays and Father's Day, plus the departure of Phil to New Zealand, and the arrival of the Buffalonians. For Brian's b-day we saw Wicked at the Buell Theater. Wow, what an amazingly clever story of how the WW of the W became wicked-out. K and C Wads joined us in the place of K and A (who did not arrive until midmonth and thus missed out), and we had a great time. Phil flew halfway around the world just a few days later, and assures us that NZ is a great place to be for the best part of a year away. We hope that he has found gainful employment by now and is pursuing his dreams of movie production. He calls every few weeks or so. Michelle's b-day is always right around Father's Day, and soon after that K/A/C flew "home" for a month, and then it was Kristen's b-day, which was also the day that Michelle received her asociates degree in massage therapy...and then before we knew it we hit July, and the Fourth has already come and gone. Wow, time goes by fast. We have had a great time watching the progress and development of Chase. He is almost 7 months now, and of course is the brightest, most beautiful, and bestest child. Something new to enjoy every minute we spend with him (and parents...)