Geocaching

We introduced some friends to the fun activity of Geocaching. It is such fun sharing caching with other people. I think they are hooked.  The first cache of the afternoon.  It was in an area that I'm guessing was flooded by hurricane Irene.  The container was a bit damp, but not too bad.

We found four caches, two of them in cemeteries.  Gabe thought this headstone looked like a Guillotine.

Wonderful afternoon spend with special friends.

Lynda's Birthday Dinner

Had a terrific evening tonight with some wonderful ladies. We took Lynda out to dinner for a belated birthday celebration. We went to FGI Fridays and had a very enjoyable time. The food was good, the company, well, you ladies are the best. Lots of laughs and good fellowship.

Lynda, the birthday gal.

All smiles after a great time.

Visit with the "B" Family

We arrived at the "B" families late morning. It was so nice to meet baby Jae and to visit with Jon, Felicity, Randy, Fern and Angeline. Jae wasn't too keen on visitors yet, but he was so sweet and adorable, that we didn't hold it against him.

Angeline has changed so much since we saw her last. She was talkative, so sparkly and a delight to us all.


Jae, keeping a watchful eye from across the room. Felicity was on the phone and was very curious of what was going on, but did not want to join in. I can't say I blame him....new family, new home, new language, new food...absolutely everything different and very strange from what he had known. I'm sure all of us would be a bit insecure with the situation.

The rest of the gang had no trouble interacting and enjoying the company. Poor Fern had been sick during the night, so she was being very careful to not get too close to us. We were glad she was feeling better and could join us.

We brought gifts for Jae and the other children. He enjoyed the wrapping paper, just like all babies.

Even not feeling well, Fern is gorgeous and has one of the most lively personalities of any child I know.

We ordered out for pizza and then left the Beedes. Felicity's sister and her two boys arrived shortly before we left...talk about us all overwhelming the little guy.

It was wonderful to see them all, even if for a short visit. We will most definitely be planning another trip soon. Welcome to America, baby Jae!

SHS Gals Meet at BMOS

We love acronyms in the family...military and all. Support4HomeSchool (SHS) is an online yahoo group that I have been a member of for 8+ years. It is a wonderful group that supports and encourages those of us that are homeschooling.

Cynthia, one of the group owners and her family were planning a trip to the east coast and wanted to know if some of us could meet and that was the start of a plan to get together at the Boston Museum of Science (BMOS).

So, on February 26th, Brian took the day off and we kept Rachel, Hannah and Dan out of school and made the trip to Boston. The weather was iffy at best, but decided to make the trip. The roads were marginal in places, but Brian did a great job. We made it to Boston without incident.

It was a great day of meeting old friends for the first time. We spent several hours exploring the museum, hooking back up with each other, chatting and trying to get in as much visiting as possible. It was all too short and I would really enjoy meeting these ladies again.

Here is most of the group, Laura from CT, Jeannine from NH, Jodi from NH, Lisa from ME (Lisa and I have met many times before and it was great to see her.), Me from NY, Rene from MA and Cynthia from MT.

Cynthia and her family (Minus Amanda, who had to head back home.) with our crew.

Lisa, her youngest son "J" and me.


We met up with Christy later on and took this picture. Me, Cynthia, Laura, Lisa and Christy.

I know I lot of people would never dream of meeting "strangers", but these ladies are so dear to me and have been a tremendous source of support and encouragement over the years through all the ups and downs of life.

Cookies and Gingerbread Houses

The afternoon of December 20th found us at Wayne and Liz's home.

We had a wonderful lunch of spaghetti and meatballs (made with venison), bread and salad.

After lunch we decorated cookies and gingerbread houses.

Wayne wisely assembled the houses the night before.

The cookies were made and ready for yummy frosting and decorations. Everyone had a turn or two, except Wayne I think. He kept up with the dishes. :-) Ashley was home and Trent joined in the fun.

Here are a few of the finished product. The children had so much fun going wild with the decorations and of course, the cookies were so good.

Next came the houses. There were piles of goodies to put on the houses and each one was uniquely different.

Some were much more careful with their decorating, others had quite the free for all.

Look at all those happy faces and finished houses.


Wayne and Liz, thank you so much for a terrific afternoon. We had so much fun and as always enjoyed the wonderful company.

An Evening on the River

It is sometimes hard being an "older" couple with younger children. Most of our contemporaries have children in highschool, college and or even married with children. We often laugh that we are raising our "grandchildren" age wise.

Brian and I are not the type of people that spend a lot of time socializing with other couples or families. It happens occasionally, but not often. I think the main reason is that Brian has a very demanding (time wise) job and we tend to cherish any family time we get. That being said, I do enjoy very much getting together with people and we are blessed with some wonderful friends.

Recently we enjoyed a wonderful evening with Wayne and Liz. They have a beautiful home on the Hudson River and invited us for an evening of dinner and boating. We had a terrific meal on their screen porch and then went out on their boat.

Brian is a boat lover. He loves to look at boats, read about boats and work on boats.

Wayne and Brian enjoyed talking about their boats.

Our Filipino children had never been out in a boat before and they were so excited and maybe a bit nervous about it all. What a joy to cruise up the river. Their boat is a nice sized cabin cruiser and you sit up high above the water. It was a perfect evening to be out on the boat.

Wayne found a wider spot in the river and Liz dropped the anchor. She went in the water with Dan as he was a bit nervous. Swimming in the river is very different than the pool...you can't see the bottom. Even though the three older children are very good swimmers, everyone put on life jackets. It is very fun to just "hangout" in the water.

The swim platform off the back is perfect for jumping and diving. The children climbed up and jumped over and over.

Gabe and Rachel decided that jumping a bit higher would be fun and they started climbing up onto the deck and jumping off the corner. What freedom!

The older children finally took their jackets off and enjoyed riding the waves as the other boats would pass.

Thank you so much, Wayne and Liz, for opening your home and your hearts to our family. We had a tremendous time and appreciated your hospitality.

Picnic with the "H" Family

The "H" family once again held a summer picnic for several families that have adopted children or are waiting for their children to come home.

The day was perfect, nice warm temps and plenty of sunshine. As always, the food choices were wonderful and the fellowship was so sweet. It is such a joy for me to be with other families that are dealing with similar issues.

After lunch, we walked up to their pond and the children had a terrific time splashing, floating, and jousting with noodles and floats. Some of the little guys played in the sand and most of the adults enjoyed conversation in the shade.

And the view...this alone makes a visit here a blessing. I really love long views.

Thank you "H" family for another terrific day.

Get Together

Tuesday evening we had a joyous gathering of friends at the "Os" home.

We try and get together with these families a few times a year. Each family has at least one adopted child and the four families combined have children born to five countries, the USA, Haiti, Guatemala, Korea and the Philippines.

We had wonderful fellowship, delicious food, lots of conversation, games and laughter. It is so fun for our children to be around other adopted children and for us to share the trials and joys of being adoptive families.

9/26/08-Camping in Maine

Well, I am very behind in my blogging, but hopefully I can get caught up soon.

We had a very full summer this year, especially Brian who was TDY quite often. We finally had a stretch of a few days when we thought we could get away and we headed to Maine.

It rained on and off most of the day traveling. We knew the forecast was not great for the next few days. Hurricane Kyle was heading right for the northern coast of Maine, but we have been camping in bad weather before. We just wanted to get away and enjoy some family time, so rain or no rain we were going.

The drive up was uneventful. We have a new van to pull our trailer this year and it did a great job. There is a lot more room for everyone and the kids did great for the drive.

We stayed at a new campground this year. It was very quiet and seemed quite nice. Being so late in the season, we were not able to enjoy a lot of the amenities of the campground, pool, mini-golf, snack bar, but it was clean and the sites were reasonably good-sized. At that point, we didn't much care...we were in Maine.

After a very quick set up of the trailer, we drove to a neighboring town for a visit with our friends Felicity and Jon and their three children, Randy, Fern and Angeline. We had a lovely evening at their home with a terrific meal of lasagna, salad, garlic bread, fruit, veggies and the kids had dog dogs. Bessie had made an ice cream cake at home and we brought that along for desert. The company was a blessing and the children had a ball.

Brian and his boys

Rachel and Fern
Sweet little Angeline
What a crew
Felicity and Bessie
Bessie and Me
Enjoying Bessie's ice cream cake Jon with Hannah and Dan
Brian and Me (I love this picture)

It was the perfect start to our camping holiday. We left the "B" home around 9:30pm, quickly set everyone up for bed when we got back to the camper and it wasn't long before all the little snores were heard. A very full and enjoyable day.