Friday, October 19, 2007

Family Time.....

Last weekend Noah and I went with my parents to Tennessee to celebrate my Uncle Fred's 80th birthday. We stayed with my wonderful Aunt Jan. She always welcomes us with open arms and lots of homemade food and makes us feel right at home. We arrived in the mountains Thursday night after a bit of a delay in Charlotte.

Normally we would not have traveled that way but the decision had been made by the "travel agent" that we would go up through Charlotte and Boone then come home through Johnson City Tn and Ashville NC. The reason for this is so we could see more of the fall colors. We really did not see many colors in the mountains on Thursday since it was getting dark by the time we got there. It was even darker for mom since she actually forgot she was wearing her sunglasses. That provided us with a good giggle....thanks mom. Anyway, Friday we woke to home baked biscuits and sausage gravy. YUM!! I'm tellin ya, Aunt Jan could easily open a 4 star restaurant! My cousin Tina didn't have to work that day so she was able to spend the whole day with us. Bill, my other cousin and his wife April came up later in the day and we all relaxed and had a good visit. Tina invited me to go to dinner with her and her friends (after I whined a little) and we had a wonderful meal and great conversation. Her friends are great! Thank you to the 5 Noah sitters. From what I understand they obeyed his every command and a great time was had by all!

On Saturday, we went to Fatz in Bristol and met up with Uncle Fred, my cousins Freddie and Charles, his wife Debby and two of their youngins, Drew and Morgan. We had not seen Uncle Fred and his folks for more than a year. I always enjoy spending time with my cousins and their wives and children. We have made many a wonderful memory through the years and it is wonderful to reminisce. We did miss Melissa and Chelsea though!

Sunday, Uncle Fred and the gang came to Aunt Jan's. She and mom made a meal fit for kings. You would not believe how much wonderful food we had! It was so great to all be together and to catch up on each other's lives.

I am so blessed to have these people in my life that I call family. They are each very special to me. Here are a few pictures of our time together.
Noah and Morgan chowin down.....the flash kinda reflected off Freddie's big ole head, sorry about that!
The fellas enjoying the meal and some fellowship. Charles, his son Drew, Freddie, Uncle Fred and Pops.
This artistic plate belonged to my cousin Charles. Yes. He ate it all. In his defense, all our plates looked a lot like it and yes. We ate them. And yes. Some of us went back for seconds. Oink. Yum.
Morgan and Noah sittin on the dog house, watchin the guys play horseshoes. Best seat in the arena! Pops is standing watch for any stray horseshoes and making sure no one gets hurt. (thanks pops) By the way, Noah and Morgan figured out that if you stand directly above the stake and drop the horseshoes on the stake instead of throwing them all the way to the other side, you get more ringers that way. Silly us. Making that game so difficult all this time. Leave it to the 4 year olds to figure out that we have been doing it ALL WRONG!!
Hanging around, talking, watching football....there is a TV in the corner of the dining area. My mom and Aunt Jan are huge, HUGE sports fans. Yes. You heard me. My mom and Aunt Jan. They WILL hang up on you if you call during a good game. Trust me......sigh.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!! Uncle Fred, reading to his granddaughter Morgan.

One thing is for sure and certain. I am so thankful for my family. My parents are absolutely wonderful and along with them, my Aunts, Uncles and cousins are so very precious to me. I don't have all the words in me to truly explain how important they all are. I hope one day I will find those words but until then, I hope they know that I love them all GREAT BIG BUNCHES!!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

I love pictures that.....

are self portraits..
show my little guy's beautiful eyes.....
are of sleeping little ones.....
show gentleness in a very active little boy.......
show toes curled in excitement.....
are taken from a different angle.....
show hard work and concentration.....
show laughter and fun.....
show a super hero with his daddy......
show love and cuddles.....

OK. I need to face facts. I just love pictures! My name is Robin and I have a problem....

Monday, October 1, 2007

A very special treat....

Gene took Friday off and he took Noah and me to the aquarium downtown. It really was a very special treat and fun was had by all. What I really enjoyed was seeing the two of them together in an adventure. Since I don't work outside the home, I get to do little adventures with Noah all the time. Gene kind of gets the short end of the stick where adventures are concerned and it warmed my heart just seeing my two guys have fun.

This is a shot of them at the touch tank.....Noah would instruct Daddy on what he needed to touch and then watch him do it. Noah wanted no part of touching.....


This is Noah posing with a turtle at the outside exhibit.

Daddy and Noah at the outside exhibit This fish just stayed right there next to Noah for about 5 minutes. It did not leave until Noah did. Very strange....... Finally, Noah and Daddy playing in the pirate ship.....

Yep. Really nice day!