Happy Leon Day

I just learned, or in my case, remembered that I forgot,

that today is Leon Day.

Leon...Noel spelled backwards.

It's exactly six months to Christmas...

I'm getting excited!

How about you?

Garage Party

Mark (my late husband, Andy and Tony's father) and his friends had a long standing tradition...

Garage parties!

It didn't matter the reason, the weather or the season,

the guys met at someone's garage for beer, snacks and usually

 ping pong.

Tony sent me this photo.

Tony and Henry  wanted to give Mindy a break, but it was raining so they decided to have a garage party!

Just reminds me of Tony!

Speaking of Henry and sports...

Isn't he adorable?

~sigh~

I love being a grandma!

River Rats, Unite!

A few weeks ago, Andy got a new pellet smoker.

He played with it at home, and offered to make us pulled pork at camp.

It was delicious!

He decided that he wanted to try a brisket.  Andy, Tony and I went together and bought one.

He started it at 3AM on Saturday and by noon it was ready and incredible.

I was so busy eating I didn't think to take pictures.  Next time.

Mark's brother and nephew came, his wife and daughter came later.

Tyler, my nephew, had a blast on Cody's jet ski...

A few months ago, my oldest son, Michael, gave Andy an old lawn tractor.

He cut it apart and reasseembled it for Locklan.

They brought it to camp so Locklan could move fire wood.

Everyone else took a few trips in the boat, 

Locklan went tubing.

I didn't go out at all, my back was killing me.

Henry loved Andy's beat up hat.

Don't you just love his smile?

Little by little, everyone was tired and started to slow down....

Michelle got this photo of Locklan and Teagan sitting on the steps to the dock...

Another happy day at Camp Manfred...

A Whole Lot of Nothing

As long as I've been gone, you would think I was accomplishing something.

Not true...but things are happening...

Do you remember this?

When that ginormous branch fell on the kids' trampoline?

You can read it by clicking here..

We have had quite a few trees in our neighborhood that needed attention.  

The tree guy came to cut down several trees in the neighbor's yard

and came to clean up all the dead branches from our tree.

Locklan spent the night before and was up with the chickens and ran 

outside in his pajamas!

He was even more excited when they brought the bucket into our yard.

I'm happy to say that the yard is safer and yes,

we are poorer!

Anything for my little angels.

Some People's Kids!

Michael, my oldest son, and his lovely wife, Catherine, just came back from their vacation.

They take a fun trip every year and they take their 'daughter' Sophie.

Sophie, the Papillon,  has even traveled to Canada!

Catherine is an excellent planner and those plans always include Sophie!

This year they decided to go to Deep Creek, MD for a relaxing get-away.

Catherine sent me this...

I

I think they had a good time.

We're glad they are home safe and sound!

This and That

 Mark's brother, Uncle Mike, invited Mr.K and I, Andy and Tony and their families down for a swim and cookout.  Michelle, Mike's wife, made us Primanti Sandwiches, made famous by the restaurant in Pittsburgh.  They looked kind of like this...

Yes, there's french fries (and Michelle made the real deal fries), coleslaw, cheese, tomato and meat...

I never had one, so I made a deconstructed sandwich (no bread).  The combination was heavenly!

The main focus for the kids was...

The pool, of course.

Although it was a fairly nice day, as soon as the sun went down, it got chilly.

Even so, the kids didn't want to stop swimming.

It was a great night, good company, good conversation and 

great people.

I feel so blessed to be included in this family!

Rolling on the River!

The weekends are flying by,

I'm never going to find the time to sort through stories and photos...

We've had two fun filled weekends, lots of kids playing in the yard...

A plugged up toilet...

If you've been around here for any amount of time, you know that when my family gets together, we get crazy!

Of course, we had Cody and his family there...

And Locklan grabbed my camera and snapped this photo of a giant flag...

Teagan loves the boat!  When you ask her if she wants a boat ride, she says, "Go fast!"

She'll sit with anyone as long as we go fast!

Of course, we have to wave our arms and scream...it's a tradition, you know.

Locklan loves to drive, with Andy's assistance, of course!

It took Henry a while to get used to the wind and sound, but by 

the second time he went out, he loved it!

 This last Saturday, Andy and kids ventured out on the raft.  Not me, way too cold!

~sigh~

The only thing I like more than boating season is Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

If you see Ashley out and about, 

Stop her and wish her a happy birthday!

Now THAT'S Corny!

Tony sent me this photo of Henry and I thought it was too cute not to share...

That kid loves his 'corn on the bone' as Tony used to say...

What Happens at Grandma's

On Thursday, Locklan came to spend the night with Grandma!

He hasn't done that since right before Christmas.

He had a long list of things we had to do, 

But first, he wanted to check my 'roof' to make sure it wasn't leaking

(he never seems to understand the difference between 
roof and ceiling

not to mention that my bedroom is above our family room).

So he drags the ladder in and sets it up...

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear my roof is fine.

We had to head down to his house because he forgot to pack his tooth brush,

When we got back, he set up the inflatable bed in the living room.  

He was up at 6AM!  I'm an early riser but I really enjoy that quiet time before Mr. K wakes up.

Locklan woke up talking!

First thing on our list was to bake cookies...

I am not a cookie maker, it takes too long.  After the first batch, I used my 1/4 cup scoop and we had huge cookies for him to take home.

Then we used the big boy paints (not washable) and painted cars for our wooden railroad.

Since we were using acrylics, he had to strip down to his undies!

The whole time we were doint things, he talked and talked and talked...

At one point he said, "All these stories are old ones 

but they are very true!"

He almost fell asleep before getting the train track set up.

He amazes me, we have so much fun, but I had to take him home because we were heading for the river in the morning!

So Far Behind!

I'm not sure I'll ever get caught up around here...

But, before I forget, Locklan graduated from Pre-school!

They usually have a graduation ceremony, but the school year was cut short

and there was no time for that.

Andy and Ashley took him to the school where Miss Mary

presented him with his diploma...

And more important, he got to put his handprint on the wall.

Miss Mary has each 'graduate' sign the wall with their handprint.

Andy held Locklan up so he could 'sign' up high!

Isn't that a wonderful tradition?

As you can see by the dates, this has been going on for a long time!

~sigh~

He's growing up way too fast!