Strawberry Days and Reunions (finally)

I don't want to hear about it-

how I'm so slow in getting

Strawberry Days stuff posted.

I realize I'm the last one to get this done,

but I've been busy- really :)

Every year our family sits in the same

place to watch the Strawberry Days

parade ~ the one SD event I never miss.

I'm not so good anymore with the carnival

or rodeo- can you imagine dragging

Gram around those places?

SD festivities for Eddie and Wendy

amount to getting up early (or going

at midnight) to set up chairs to 

mark our spot. We sit right in front of the 

antique store on Main. Next door is the

printing shop~ look! Sophie and Tommy's

announcement was on the front window!

 I set up 3 nasty old chairs and six nice

newer green chairs- when we arrived, two

nice chairs were missing! Amazingly enough,

on the corner were two chairs just like mine

but on the back in big black sharpie marker

was written "GRANDPA'S SO-IN-SO'S CHAIR"

and "GRANDMA'S......" on the other. 

What a coincidence! 

The people who had them were too

creepy to approach, and I really couldn't

prove they were mine or theirs, so

what the heck. I hope they enjoy them chairs :)

Gracie and Andy started the day

out right with the world's biggest donuts!

Gracie admitted to me later

that she had a tummy ache :)

Livvy enjoyed from her stroller

Grammy had a blast! 

Watch for her in some of the next pictures~

she waved to everyone in the parade and

clapped and cried some.

A successful parade for her :)

We sat by the Naugles' and extended family.

Lance and Amber and their cute kids.

Chantal, Andrew and Pep ~sorry I didn't get AnDee :(

and I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of Andrew

doing some awesome ninja moves

when the Karate school kids went by.

He demo'ed how good he was.

Made me laugh pretty darn hard :D

Sierra and Stevie looking all

paradey.

Brad, Ash and Mags sitting

in anticipation

watching for the horribly

noisy fire engines

(possibly my least favorite part :)

Tommy and Sophie ~

so cute 

(notice gram in the background :)

Lisa and Josh made it! 

possibly the best picture ever taken.

Andy looking a little Nacho Libre to me.

Bank of AF handed out these

pansy masks to the kids ~

Andy managed to get everything

possible that was handed out.

Brad and Will

Mags had a fireman from the Firehouse Carwash

come all the way through the crowd to give him

this super cool fire chief hat!

and a tattoo

(which was still on his arm as

of Saturday when I watched him :)

he loved it.

It was a great day, even with the great chair

heist :) We, along with half of the city

ate at Taco Amigo and felt very

community involved :D

Last Saturday my aunt Faye had a party

to celebrate her 90th birthday.

It was pretty neat that all my mom's surviving

siblings and most of their spouses could be there.

We took tons of pictures of them 

and ate good food.

In this picture is-

back row- Uncle Lynn (NaDeans husband), mom,

Aunt NaDean, Uncle Eldon, Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Neil

Front row- Aunt Vera (who is also 90) and the 

birthday girl herself- Aunt Faye.

Happy summer you all! It feels like it's finally here!

Typical Sunday

Sunday is the day we get together as a family

on my mom's side. This has happened for years now.

Since my kids have married and left home,

it is an extra special day to me now-

to spend the day with those who can make it over.

This is a typical look of our Sunday-

 a group of us around the table- talking

or playing cards- but always eating.

And  the other group

(mostly the grumpy men)

who want to sleep on Sunday while some

game blares away on the TV.

The kids LOVE Grammy :)

She brought bouncy balls from Disneyland

home with her from her CA trip.

Livvy and Will are excited to have

Grammy throw the balls while they "fetch" them

for her. Livvy can't walk yet, but she could beat

Will to the ball by scooting on her bum across the

floor. I wanted to attach a cleaning cloth to her

rear end so the scooting would have greater

meaning. :)

Did you notice Grammy's toes? She is one

hip, happening Granny! Always got her toes and

nails done. I want to be like her someday!

(just the fancy nails part, not the limpy cane using part)

Had to say that part so the Universe didn't make it ALL come true :)

This is a tradition in my family too.

Weird as it is-

every baby is photographed in

"the lion's head"

It's Livvy's turn.

The Lion's head is the top to a little trash can that belonged

to my little brother Stevie. So it from the late 60's. 

I'm not sure where the tradition came from-

but I know it has to do with Grammy.

(remember Universe- just the nails part :)

It is fun to see the pictures of each kid with

his face poking out of the lion's mouth.

Kind of a rite of passage-

you're in the lion's head, you now belong.

This too is a typical Sunday activity-

how strange can you be- or can you

make everybody laugh hard enough someone

has an "accident".

Tommy found 101 ways to entertain himself with this 

Tinkerbell sucker.

Doesn't take much to keep him happy-

or me either evidently.

I'm a sucker for a goofy boy.
.........
BTW- Sierra has started her own blog-
http://wherethegreenergrassgrows.blogspot.com/
Check it out. It's pretty fun.