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.

Boobapalooza

Andrea and her friend Moe (Maureen) put on a fundraising event to raise money for the Susan Komen 3 day Breast Cancer Awareness walk. The walk is scheduled for the end of July. Each of them has to raise $2,300 The organizers of the event.

Deb made tissue paper flowers as part of the decorations.

They came out very nice.
In addition Deb baked all morning so the girls could have a bake sale along with other activities.
Do they look familiar? Well they are supposed to. They sold them 2 for a dollar. After all they should come in pairs. Now do you recognize them?
They also had some other items for sale.

As well as a raffle and 50-50 drawing.

Moe's dad ran a Texas hold em table. Deb and I got lessons. Deb won all the money. Unfortunately it was just a practice round. But maybe she's found a new profession!!
Moe's mom read Taro cards.

In addition there were three bands. This is Matt's band. They were the best of the three.

After it was done, the girls ended up raising quite a bit but still have a way to go to meet their goal.

Dexter update

As you can see, Dexter is quite relaxed in his new home. Dexter getting ready to attack Bean. At first Bean was a little intimidated by Dexter. Although Dexter is half his size.Now they hang out together all the time.

Can you see Bean on the couch?

Catching some rays while watching for any birds or squirrels.Dexter taking a break during playtime.But sometimes you just really need a good nap. One sunny day I decided to wash my car. I had the windows opened so the boys decided to watch me. Yes they are both in the picture.