birthday party..

So it would appear that this is the weekend for parties..... it started with my cousin - Steve - retirement party. Funny how we are now at the age where we are thinking, talking and doing "retirement"....    though it certainly isn't the "sitting and rocking on the porch kind".....

Along with many friends, there were also lots of family... I feel so blessed that we have such a close family.. even to the point that we keep contact with aunts, uncles and cousins...... Reagan was so fascinated with the balloons... these are probably the first he has seen....

I brought Debbie along - for what I would consider her first "official" (other than neads) outing. She is at the point now, where I don't worry so much about her "potty habits" and it's time to get her out in public places. Overall she was good, though I found her far too interested int he food around us, and a bit too social with the people, so it's time to buckle down and get that "service work" into place..

Reagan was excited to find her under the table... I remember that Abbie did the same when we had Chester.... I wonder what my grands will think (when they are old enough) about a "baby" that raised service puppies....

Here's a nice shot... Reagan and Kass with cousins Meaghan and Caroline..... actually Kassy is watching Caroline a few days a week while Meg is at work.. so these two little ones will get to know each other well...

Debbie thinks Caroline is a sweetie....

On Saturday we celebrated Abbie's fourth birthday... her theme this year..."my little pony" (a girl after my own heart!!!!). I couldn't find any cakes with "her theme".. so bought a standard cake and then found "mini" ponies to decorate it with...

Lots of ponies in fact, the cake wasn't big enough and i had to squish them on....

Her real birthday is on Wednesday, but today was a good day to bring all the family together.... this house is beginning to build memories with all these celebrations....

I still have a hard time wrapping my head around #4.....

She was so excited to open her gifts, and is at that age where she knows just what she wants. (and you can be sure I am one to see that she gets them... no spoiling or anything from me!!!  LOL)

Reagan watched very carefully, come Christmas time, I think he'll catch on pretty quickly the idea of opening gifts....

This gift is called a "flashlight friend".. Abbie had told me she wanted one, and it was only by luck that I found one. When she opened it, she said .. 'Oh baby---- I was dreaming about this"...

Toys, pretty clothes, and "things she had dreamed about".. I'm guessing this was a birthday success....

Won't be too long and we'll celebrate little Reagan's first... time has a way of zooming by....

Abbie was pleased with her cake and when she found out that all the ponies come off and were for her... that made it even better....

Our sweet little birthday girl......

We made the day a true celebration, visiting, eating talking... take trips down to the barn and visit with the animals....

One of my favorite things in the whole world... my family gathered around my table....

We even pulled a turkey from the freezer and fried it up. I do love fried turkey, but for Thanksgiving, I'll cook on the "traditional way".. because all those wonderful smells are "wasted" outside when you fry them....

Another one of our smaller birds, so it didn't last long. This year our birds are much bigger.....

Everyone had such a good time....

After dinner we touched off a big brush pile that we have been waiting to burn. It was a cold fall night, and just seem like the perfect way to end a birthday celebration...

Abbie had a grand time on the swings, playing out in the dark and watching the fire... she told me it was "her best birthday ever"....

Reagan was a good boy, and was pretty happy to enjoy the fun cuddled in Mommy';s arms.....












Sliding under the stars.... it's great to be four!!!!!

it's fall....

 Nothing really special about this blog... just sharing some pictures that I have taken during this very beautiful time of year.......

road trip....

Although the sky looking kind of "angry" in this photo.. the day was actually an amazing fall day. Perfect for a "road trip" and starting it off at one of our favorite places to eat....

We had a couple of passengers with us... Miss Debbie is a great "rider in the car".. she always finds a spot and just ... sleeps...

Camille does the same... and even though there was plenty of room to sit on the seat with Deb... she chose the floor...(she didn't want Debbie "touching" her, I guess...)

The third passenger ... these wheels, which are off the old hand pumper Protection 2. This winter, Ed is going to be giving ol' Protection 2 a spruce up. He's very excited about taking on this project and we'll be keeping a blog on "her progress"....Ed will be doing the metal work, and the wheels are being done by a wheel wright... which is why we had them with us today.

The place is called Firefly restorations, and is run by Andy Swift. Andy has been restoring and preserving old fire engines for over 40 years, and he is so interesting and fun to talk with.

His place may not look like "much"... but looks are deceiving....

Everywhere, there are wonderful old treasures, just waiting their turn to be "loved" once again....

And though, it's main fire engines that he deals with, there are other "goodies"  that in time, will have their time as well.

Andy took us on a grand tour of his place. I have to say, I really love old fire engines, guess that comes from being a fire chief's daughter and wife to a fire fighter.... but I especially love the pieces that were horse drawn. There was such pride and craftsmanship that went into those old pieces... it would be so cool if they could talk and share all the stories of their lives....

I couldn't even say how many "pieces" were there, all  in various stages of work... some privately owned, some still owned by fire companies.... I could have spent hours just looking them all over...

But back to "our" project.. Andy helped Ed unload the wheels of Protection 2 and took a quick look at them.

Compared to some of the projects that he has done... "our" wheels aren't going to be that big a deal....

While the menfolk talked, I took Camille and Deb out for a little walk and look around. Took some pictures of Debbie for her "training blog and experiences..."

After we left Firefly, we headed down the coast... had a nice lunch at Moody's diner (didn't get a pic...) and then just decided that we would stick to the coast the whole way back. Went by some old haunting grounds....










And just enjoyed the day, being together and knowing how blessed we are to live in the prettiest state in the country.....

Hello October...

October has arrived.. and I feel like it came rushing in and we haven't even had a minute to think.....why does time rush so...

The weather has been beyond beautiful... the days feel like summer and the evenings have that hint of fall. Our old Silver has some very good news.. I had truly feared that we would be putting him down this fall, he had been failing over the past year. But, our vet recommended a different feed, and after just three weeks of being on it, I am seeing HUGE changes in him. So, it has been decided that he isn't ready to leave us, just yet.... (whew!!!!)

Abbie stayed with us over the weekend, and just had the best time playing outside. I got this antique pram at an auction years ago.. I remember thinking that "one day maybe my grandchildren will play with it"... well, that day has arrived. It needed some repair, which Abbie pestered her Papa about until it was done... Then she loaded in all the babies she could find....(which it holds alot of them)...

And she was off. We went up and down the road several times (because it went much better on the hot top than the dirt driveway) and she had a blast with it. Stopping every so often to 'check that everyone was alright" and enjoying their walk.

Duke and Tonka were quite interested in the going ons......

The sunflowers are beginning to pass... I showed Abbie how we are going to get the seeds from them, and she is so excited to 'save some seeds to plant" next year.....(the rest will go to the turkeys and the wild birds)

One of the local big fairs opened this weekend as well. This "poor" fair has the reputation of always having rain, so for the past couple of years, planning to go was always ruined by the weather. However, this year, with all that great weather, we ventured out with Kass,  Nate, Reagan, Rachel,  Rob, Naomi and Abbie.... and so did about a "million" other people. It was jammed packed.

We started out by letting the girls have some rides... thinking that if we did that first, they would be much happier touring the grounds. The lines to the rides were long, and I began to have some doubts about how much we'd be seeing...

They had a really good time....

Course, this year, Reagan is a bit too small for that sort of thing, but next year, I suspect he'll be climbing right on.... at least he had Papa to talk to while we waited for the girls....

We made our way up to the barns, but the walk there wasn't fun. People were crowding every where (and sadly --- were quite rude at times). I had thought of bringing Debbie and was so glad I didn't, keeping an eye on Abbie was more than enough. I think we stayed just two hours, and I was done. I don't do well with crowds anyways, and not being able to 'see" anything just made it "not fun".... so, we headed for home. Think I'll stick to the smaller fairs and be just as happy with that.

October 1st is Kassy's birthday!!!! She had to work that day (as was Ed).. so I decided to drive over to work and spend some time with her there. I have never missed a birthday of her's and I'm not about to..... Dave and Nate got pizza for everyone for a birthday lunch....

And it was great fun to have a break and spend the time together.....

Then Nate surprised Kass with birthday cupcakes.... ( there were yummy!!!)

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!!!!!!

Debbie has a batch of kittens, so after we had lunch, we walked to the house to see them. They're so cute.. and Reagan was fascinated by them. He's really noticing things and it becoming 'a real little boy"....

He has no choice about loving animals, between his own family, and his two Grandmothers... one must love animals  LOL!!!!

After we played with the kitties, Deb put them in the pen with her bunny... the bunny was very interested in these little creatures, and they were pretty fun to watch...

And we can't forget!!! to put the monthly photo in here.... so not only happy birthday to Kass (on the 1st).. but happy seven months to Reagan (on the 2nd).. October is on a roll, I have no doubt it will go speeding by.....