Family in the summertime

We were a weekend pit stop for family going to weddings this summer, so here are some of the cutest shots of that weekend. We had tons of people here. I think it was the week after the Christmas in July party. Dada's parents, Grandma Barb and Pap, were here along with uncle Rob and aunt Jana. Pap's sister Evelyn and her hubby Leon came, and so did Dada's cousin Sherri and her hubby Doug. They slept all over the house and we goofed off all weekend- it was great!

I'm not sure, but I think Pap and Evelyn are making fun of my leaning Rose of Sharon bush...

Sherri and Doug. Aren't they so cute!?

Grandma Barb, Pap, uncle Rob and aunt Jana. They all clean up pretty well, don't they? ;)

These are Evelyn's "lellow clogs" and of course Liam stole them. Everyone got a big kick out of him clomping around in them!

As long as we're doing blasts from the past...

Anyone want to hazard guesses as to who is in these photos? Time for audience participation!

Check these out, y'all!

This is so funny to me. This is my childhood home, in a picture taken in early November of 1977. Thanks to my Grammy for taking it, and for my aunt Chris for mailing it to my parents, and for them for forwarding it on to me. Now I get to play with it.

The first thing that strikes me is is that the holly bush beside the porch is MUCH taller than that now. The Halloweeny tree that is spreading its limbs across the front of the property has been affectionately called Stick Tree for a long, long time. My parents have had numerous branches removed over the years, and a tree surgeon doing the pruning once remarked, "my goodness. This tree is completely hollow!" Sadly, Stick Tree had to be removed entirely (well, what was left of him) within the last two years. The whole front of the house looks naked now...

The porch and trim have been a chocolate brown for as long as I can remember. We moved in when I was about one and a half, but I have no memories of it being white like this!

Dad's old car cracks me up, too. PaPa, was that your Duster?

On the back of the second photo, there's a note from my Grammy saying that's my Dad and my uncle Jeff working in the garage. Dad is the one bending over in the hat. Guess that means that all you can see of Jeff are his legs. Hehe! And I have no earthly idea what that old fence is from...

I'll have to take pictures of how the house looks the next time I'm "home" so we can all compare! Enjoy! =)

Just for kicks

PS Yes, that box in the middle of the stairs is a milk box. That I do somewhat remember. We actually used to get milk delivered- how cool is that? My kids would love that!

My mother's been waiting for this story

Tigers

Part of the 40th anniversary weekend for Dada's parents involved taking the entire family to a Pirates game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. They were playing the Detroit Tigers that night, and wouldn't you know it, we ended up sitting right in front of some boisterous Tigers fans. They would holler and cuss and carry on until Liam turned around with his hands over his ears and scowled at them. He said, "stop yelling!" There were about four of these guys and they all cracked up. The loudest one said, "sorry, little buddy. I'll try to stop. I get excited sometimes." All would be fine for a few minutes, and then there would be a call they disagreed with, so there would be more creative yelling at the umpire or at the ref or whatever seemed called for. Again, Liam would turn around and admonish, "you're yelling again!" They'd laugh again and console him, "sorry, little man. I won't yell anymore, I promise. Shake on it." He held out his hand, Liam grabs it to shake, and notices that this guy's index finger is missing at least one knuckle and fingernail.

"Hey! Your finger is short!"
"Yeah, I know. I cut it off."

(Insert Mama mentally smacking herself in the forehead AND the Tigers fan. She knows where this is going...)

"You cut it off!?"
"Yeaaaah. But it's okay now."

Oy vey.

Every so often, Liam would turn back around and announce, "your finger is short!" And the guy would answer him. And it would start all over again.

The yelling would resume and then the scolding would be followed by more promises. The Tigers fan even let Liam wear his hard hat, but the condition was he had to cheer for the Tigers. Liam was adamant that he was a pirate. He simply could not grasp the idea that one of the teams was the Pirates. He kept hunting for men with hooks on their hands, parrots, and torn-up clothes and hats. It was pretty funny.

The Pirates did a number on the Tigers, so the Detriot fans left before the game was done. They were clomping down the stairs past us and stopped and said goodbye to all of us. I thought that was nice, that they made an effort, you know? Liam talked about the guy with the short finger a few times since then, but thankfully it hasn't been discussed anytime there have been scissors or knives or anything you'd associate with cutting. I thought for sure there would be all kinds of issues later on, but I was wrong. Whew!

This musician was entertaining all the ballgame goers by playing on the bridge.

Uncle Kelly is laughing about something...

"Take me out to the ballllllll game, take me out to the crowd...."

Uncle Rob & aunt Jana are such cuties!

Big ball game smiles from aunt Becky and Mama and Liam

Care Bear sporting the tousled summer 'do

And of course, everyone's favorite, the Pirate Parrot!

Teaser

I know I already promised to relate the story about Liam at the Pirate game, but I'm blogged out for today. So here is a teaser photo along with the promise that I WILL get to it soon!

40th anniversary pictures

For Grandma Barb & Pap's 40th wedding anniversary, we had a lot of fun things planned over a weekend. On Sunday, we got pictures taken. These are the ones we did behind the photographer's back. He is awesome! You can check out his work at www.jacksfoto.com and you might even see pictures of some people you know!

This one was setting the scene at the old family homestead...

I absolutely love this one. One of my favorites from the entire day!

Uncle Kelly, aunt Becky, and cousin Lizzie

We4 at the gate. Dada and I got our picture taken forehead to forehead on this very gate when we were engaged. Jack got a picture of it for us, but we don't have one on our camera...

The Guys

I love these. I had a hard time deciding which one to put on here, so I got the best of them. It was SO hot and sunny, someone almost always had their eyes shut. You can pick which one you like the best.

And Liam had totally had enough. I just like the randomness of this one- Dada checking on Liam, uncle Rob having hair issues, Pap trying to get Liam to cooperate, and Liam himself just crashing. Hehe!

I love these two of the kids!

All the girls.

All the boys.