Dexter and the Hand!

We thought we would see how Dexter would react to the halloween candy dish, The hand is motion activated.

Pumpkin People, foliage and birthday

This is the 4th year that Deb and I have been going to the North Conway area to celebrate my birthday. This year we stayed at 2 different B&B's. It was also the first time that we ran into some snow along the Kangamangus highway. Here are some of our favorite pumpkin people along with some of the beautiful New England foliage. This first picture I just thought was cute since we both like moose.I couldn't get this picture where I wanted it. But that is Mount Washington in the distance. Notice it is completely covered in snow. Here are some baby pumpkins.

A tribute to Michael Jackson. Shall we go dancing?

Only you can prevent forest fires!

Then there was the King of Rock and Roll - Elvis
Two interpretations of Blue Man Group. The second one actually won for most colorful.


A nice tribute to our men in the armed forces.

Then there was Austin Powers.

And one of our favorites - The Addams Family.

And now for some foliage shots. Although it was somewhat late in the season for this area, there was still some beautiful color. My camera didn't really do it any justice.



This was taken along the Kangamangus highway. Notice the snow on the high mountains.

This was an interesting tree. Wish the picture had come out better.

At least this shows some of the magnificent colors.

Vacation

Recently Deb and I went on a short vacation to Williamsburg, DC, Amish Country and the Poconos. Here are a few of the pictures. One of the first places we visited was Presidents Park. They have these huge statues of all the presidents. There is also a little biography of each one. In addition there are several boards with significant moments in American History. It was pretty cool.


I am not a crook!!!

Then we went to Busch Gardens. Here is one of the Budweiser Clydesdales.

And a couple of the roller coasters. This one is called Loch Ness Monster. Having Scottish ancestry and also been to Scotland, I had to go on it. It was cool.

After Williamsburg, we drove up to Haymarket, Va to stay with my cousin. Deb and I went into DC and visited the American History museum followed by a scenic bus ride around DC. Here are a couple pics from the museum. (didn't take that many)

After our wonderful visit with Dickie and Scott, we headed to Amish Country. On the way there, we stopped at a wine shop for a sampling and then the Lancaster Brewery.

While in Amish Country, we visited a pretzel factory and got a chance to make our own pretzel. I don't think these ones made it to the sales table.

We did a lot of driving around but again not many pictures. There are still a lot of horse and buggies in Amish Country. You can even take a ride on one if you want. We chose not to.

Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures in the Pocono's. Didn't see all that much to take pictures of.

HR Block Cookout

Just a few pics from our annual HR Block Cookout. I started organizing this about 5 or 6 years ago. Unfortunately the turnout isn't that great but those that go have a great time.
Paula, Dottie and Dottie's friend Wilma. Andy Hamelin and Dottie Baker.

Linda Pendleton and her boyfriend Wade.

Although I have been coordinating the cookout, Tracie lets us have it at her house. Her new boyfriend Todd did the cooking this year. Yeah!! I don't have to do that any more.

Amber, Tracie and Paula Hamelin. This is Ambers first time to our cookouts. And now she is moving to Maine.

Some misc. pics

Well Andrea graduated from college on May 30th. We decided to have a combined graduation party for her with Matt's birthday party. I wasn't very good at getting party pictures. But did capture a few of the grandchildren.
Caleb.

Paige outdoors.
Grace

Paige checking out Dexter.

John and Grace hangin with Deb.
The following weekend we went to the Rock'n Rib Fest at the Budweiser Brewery in Merrimack. The food was great. It turned out to be a pretty sunny day - a rareity in the month of June.This is a local band that we watched for a while. Very good music.Here is a taste of there music. My arms got tired holding up my camera.

There were also numerous things for the children to do. Here are a couple.Then we took the free tour of the brewery. Why not the beers are free at the end, although you only get 2.
There was actually an air show (well one plane) doing stunts over the brewery. Not easy to capture since it was going very fast and was all over the place. The dot in the center is the plane.After the brewery we went to see Paige and Grace. Oh and Patty too. Andrea got to read to Paige, but I didn't get it on camera. Here is grampa reading to Paige.

And Debbie reading to Grace.
Grace can have some of the cutest expressions. This isn't one of them. They are usually hard to get on camera.
Just one last random shot of my garden.