cousin memories

Growing up, we spent a lot of time with my father's brother, Uncle Tom; his wife, Aunt Cathie; and their gang of kids. We were all close in age. With four children in our family, and five in theirs, the gatherings were a lot of fun (and I am sure chotic, but of course I only remember the fun). They lived in the city of Rochester in a large, old house. They had a garden in the back and Uncle Tom could grow anything. He was the first person to teach me about composting. Aunt Cathie is very artistic, and is an amazing seamstress. She was always making something. Much of who I am was formed in absorbing two concepts that I got from my aunt, uncle and parents:

1. Use your creativity, making everything as beautiful as you can.
2. Reuse stuff.

All of our parents were nuts about antiquing. It seems like we spent most weekends when the weather was warm driving both of our station wagons all over creation, hunting for treasures - often boys went in one car, and girls were in another (before seatbelts were required). Consequently, many of our homes are filled with gorgeous pieces now, some that my dad and uncle refinsihed themselves.

As a child though, more than the antiques, I remember sitting in the "way back" of the station wagon reading through piles of Archie comic books and Mad magazines. After a day on the road we would stop at a park to run around and eat a picnic. I loved having time with all females in a car, which was a rarity. I also loved going to their house, with all of the antique furniture and decorations, their finished huge attic room for the boys. There was one girl in their family, Marcie, who is a few years younger than me. When she was a baby I liked to pretend I was her mom. When she was a young girl, I loved to organize her room and arrange all of her dolls.

When we were all together there was always the inevitable comment, "Look at all these kids!"

After Gary and I were married my parents moved to a smaller house, and so did Aunt Cathie and Uncle Tom. Pictured above is their current home, decked out for the fourth. They hosted a family reunion where we got to see much of my father's side of the family. I'm sorry I didn't get a photo. Next time.

bon voyage

Among many blessings in my life I count my friendship with Dawn. We met when we were 11, the same age Skylar is now. She was new to town and new to our school. We immediately connected then and spent our teen years together -- cheerleading, playing on a softball team (she was 3rd, I was 4th batter), having endless sleepovers, doing school projects and plays together, dealing with boys, and girls....

There is nothing like a friend who has known you grow up, who knows your siblings, parents, who knew your grandparents. Dawn is a friend as close as a sister to me. She was at Skylar's birth, she lived in California when Gary and I were married, and when she told us she was going to marry Erich we were so happy.

Their presence in N.Y. has added greatly to our summer visits, and we will surely miss them. We helped them with the final packing and they moved to Florida after we had been in town a week. We wish them well and we know they will do great there.
Our children are also very close, and have known each other since they were babies. They have grown up playing together every summer.

Four Muskateers

Dawn and Tree, which was my nickname growing up
and what my siblings and her family still calls me

Awesome Dr. Dawn testing Shawn for allergies via Gary as surrogate.

She took time out of her busy schedule to do this for all of us.

Dr. Dawn removing Shawn's allergies

honeoye falls

the famous waterfall

Honeoye Falls is a small village of approximately 2400 people. The Village was founded in 1791 by Zebulon Norton who purchased 1820 acres of land for 12 1/2 cents per acre! Norton established the mode of life for the community by building a gristmill and later a sawmill to encourage settlers to this decidedly fruitful section of upper New York State.

From the time of the Seneca Indians residing in this vicinity, through the pioneer days, and into the present, Honeoye Falls, originally known as Norton Mills, has maintained a particularly family-oriented atmosphere in spite of the changing times.

Our home for a month. Gardens in the back and 3 acres! When we first arrived were were practically drinking in all of the green, lush scenery. Now we are getting used to it, but we still comment everytime we drive anywhere how beautiful this place is.

Property around the corner from us. We all love this, especially the pond, which we imagine how fun it would be to skate on in the wintertime.

We are located 15 minutes from my parents and a little longer from my sister's. Everytime we drive either place we get to take back roads. We are loving it here. After years of house trades and rentals, this is the best one yet.

fourth of july, avon style

My sister and family live in the small town of Avon, N.Y. We celebrated the Fourth of July with them and my parents. We picked all sorts of lettuces from their garden, had a great meal, and then walked a couple of blocks to their main street for the parade. All of the kids were SO excited.

I love the fourth of July. Probably because it's my birthday month, summer vacations were always so fun, and I love a parade. When I was a kid we went to a parade much like this, in the town of Penfield, N.Y. (sans the tractors and tow trucks) every year. Then there was a huge carnival-like party all day at a local public school grounds with food and games and music and tons of friends. One year our gymnastics team did a performance. At night there were awesome fireworks. We would bring blankets and sweatshirts, and as it got dark we would sit down and relax, sticky and sweaty from a day of running around with our friends and eating junk. When the fireworks came I would swear I was in Heaven.

o henry

Upon our arrival in N.Y. we were greeted by my parents at the airport. They graciously hosted us for a few days until our house was ready. I love being in their home. My mom has gorgeous gardens and she always has fresh flowers in our rooms in bouquets that she picks. She could be a floral designer, she's that good. Oh, but she just "throws them together." We had fun sharing meals with them and settling in. We were able to get a car right away and move into the house we rented a few days early, which was great.

First things first, however.

Henry is the newest member of our family. He is my sister Jill's third child. We are all in love with him. He is a very easy going baby, (thank God, with all of these kids running around) and already 10 months old! We are all having a lot of fun entertaining him.

road trip to san diego

the windmills sat like silent soldiers on the hillside,

doing their work with no questions asked

We drove to San Diego to meet up with Gary's brother, Peter and his wife, Janet. We stayed at a hotel called Rancho Bernardo, which they have been going to for years. We enjoyed meals, poolside chats, and general relaxing. It was great to see them, if only for a couple of days...because then we were off to Rochester, New York for a month.

pam and wusty jones of tehachapi

("Wusty" is what our children called Rusty when they were little.) Shawn still uses this version of his name. The Jones family welcomed us with open arms. They had been wishing we would visit them for years, so it was a great surpsise. We stayed for four days. The kids had a wonderful time, as did Gary and I. Their daughters are the same age as Sky and Annabel, and musically talented as well. The highlight for our children was the animals.

Thanks Pam and Wusty! We love you guys. I look forward to hearing about your escapades, hopefully on a blog of your own. They had just returned from Idaho and after we left were headed for an east coast road trip.

surprise road trip

The California wildfires were bad this summer. Our second week in town we noticed the air was getting smokier by the day. The kids were waking up coughing. We decided to change plans, and were fortunate to be able to invite ourselves to friends who lived down south. I had said I missed taking road trips! Several hours and a few wrong turns later, we were in Tehachapi at the home of some good friends.

We loved these elegant windmills, and the way

they seemed to dance on the hilltops!

Better than the oil wells. However these were reminiscent of rural Pennsylvania, where my grandfather worked for Pennzoil, except his rigs were in the woods.

Edging our way closer...

We got there before sundown, just in time for soup, salad and bread

fleur de lys

Gary and I went out to dinner at a French restaurant in San Francisco. He took me here years ago before we had children. We took the train into the city and had so much fun walking the streets. To us small town folks this was a big city! The dinner was monumental. Here we are before we embarked on this adventure.

more cute kids goofing off