thegoodlife6

Another Chance

2011-12-18T16:07:00.000-05:00

Okay so I have decided to give my blog another Chance, hopefully it will work this time because I have really missed doing it, but the frustration of not having photos upload probably has been a real pain! So here goes fingers and toes crossed!
I thought I would start with November, we visited our son Brian wife Nicole and son King we just couldn't let him celebrate his first birthday without us, it was a great trip, no delays going a short delay on the way back but nothing we couldn't deal with!

We arrived on Friday just in time for the birthday party, it was great to be there, King is a cutie, can't wait to see him again.

We did quite a few things while we were there- visited Boulder and had our own little camera shoot with King ate Sushi of course!

Spent the day at the Zoo and I must say at this point that I was most impressed with this Zoo, it is the Cheyenne Mtn Zoo I love giraffes and they have lots of them and you even get to feed them! I think King was impressed too! It certainly gets a 10 from me!

It was a great week, we were sad to leave but also glad to be back home!

The Merry Month of May

2011-06-18T12:59:00.000-04:00

Dear Blog would it be too much to ask if you would upload my photos in the order selected instead of this random madness?
In May we welcomed two new grandbabies, Hannah Leigh Anderson (below) born May 14, to Jenny & David and Megan Jane Faulstick(top) born May 23 to Sarah & Ed. Needless to say May has been a busy month a trip to Indiana two new babies to love and hug!

Not to mention an Eagle Scout Ct of Honor for Garrett Watts, Charlie was his mentor and I must say they both did an awesome job!

Took lots of baby photos of course, this is little Hannah

Charlie and Landon planted a small garden, just some tomato plants and cukes.

While we were in Indiana we took the grandkids to the Zoo, wonderful day just hanging out with the kids and Charlie

Then we stopped back by the hospital to see how baby Megan was doing, she looks just like her Dad and her siblings!

Memorial day we spent at the beach playing in the sand and surf, it was a beautiful afternoon, good food and fun with family

I hope that sums up May, thinking maybe I should start on June's now!!

The Month of April

2011-05-02T17:00:00.000-04:00

The Month of April was busy, filled with lots of fun stuff, we had Soccer games, this was Ryan's first season!
My sister and her husband Valerie & George Miller came to visit for a week and we did lots of fun stuff, not nearly as much as we wanted to do. We watched Ryan play soccer.............
We visited the cemetery where are parents are buried, and of course Leah and Landon came along!

We went to the beach and took a nice long walk, the weather was perfect for April, Landon fell in love with his Great Aunt Valerie and Uncle George, he missed them after they left!

We hang out at home, Leah had to work a couple of days while they were visiting so we just hang out and caught up on news and old memories.

We also went for long walks down our driveway and back everyday. Sometimes twice!
Watched more soccer games

Leah hosted a baby shower for Jenny at our place, she got lots of cool little girl stuff!

Even the kids caught up on old news!
We went to a speg dinner and fund raiser hosted by the YW, Charlie was the auctioneer and Landon was the highest bidder!

Also too soon the week was over, maybe next year we will go west for a visit, the Sunday before they left all the kids came over for dinner.
Then it was back to normal, did I say normal? I had a 3 day NADAC agility trial to photograph! Lots of amazing dogs and handlers.

Got together with a friend to make Peep-shi! Fun morning!

visited the Zoo over spring break

And of course celebrated Easter with the kids!

And attended more Soccer games, congratulations Elijah on that great goal!

March 2011

2011-04-05T14:43:00.001-04:00

Okay so I am a little behind, so much going on, but that's good right?...its nice to be busy! So thought I would simplify and do this blog thing on a monthly basis, so here's some of our happenings for March. Sarah, Ed and family came for a visit and we packed alot into those few days, a visit to the park, OBX and Jenny & Leah gave Sarah a surprise baby shower. We all so celebrated Rachael and Anna's birthdays with family and friends.Landon enjoying Lockes Point park

Rachael and her favorite B-day gift.

Anna at Lockes Point Prk

Landon

Leah and Landon

Isabella at NthWest River Park

Leah, Landon and Isabella

At the OBX

The weather was nice enough for the kids to get a little wet, Note I said Kids!

Anna Checking out Elmo on Landon's diaper

Rachael & Anna's bday celebration

Chloe growing up way too fast!

Chris AKA "Indiana Jones"

Anna taking out her candles

Rachael helping her Mom open shower gifts

Jenny, Rachael & Sarah enjoying the great food Jenny made for the shower, we sent the guys off to the Play place at Macarthur Center.

Chloe checking out one of the shower gifts, Next post April unless I get really ambitious and update before then!

Sat and Sun

2011-02-07T01:20:00.000-05:00

Sat morning we drove over to Boulder, did some shopping etc, by the time we left Boulder it was snowing.

Later we splashed around in the pool, there's something about sitting in the hot tub watching the snow come down!

The reason for our trip... King's Blessing day!

Denver Day 1

2011-02-07T00:21:00.000-05:00

This cute little guy is the reason four trip to Denver! Our newest grandson, King Sterling Anderson.

Our first full day in Denver we went to the Children's Museum, while it was fun and interesting it was not what we expected from their internet ads, we were a little disappointed

Two cousins getting to know each other, Landon and King

Our Winter Vacation...the journey

2011-02-07T00:02:00.000-05:00

I am writing this from Denver day 4 into our trip, you see I am already doomed behind before I ever get started! My plan was to end each day of this trip with a note and at least one photo to my Blog, so easy in theory but so hard in reality! So here I go catching up before we leave to go home next Thursday.

We had a wonderful trip out, Leah and I were both worried how Landon would handle the flight(s) he did great, slept and looked out of the window he is a real little jet setter.

Christmas

2011-01-02T09:21:00.000-05:00

Our December was a pretty awesome month, lots and lots going on! We made Gingerbread, celebrated 5 Birthdays spent lots of quality time with family and friends, played in the snow, did I mention that we had a major blizzard, 14 inches a rarity in this part of the world! we also made a trip to Indiana for Adam's baptism which was awesome! Spent Christmas eve with Jenny, Ryan and David (they are expecting a daughter in mid May)

Below one of my many fav gifts,

The first snow just a light dusting but exciting for the kids school was canceled and it came before Christmas

Sweet treats with Leah and Jordan....................

Bella making her Gingerbread man, awesome job Bella!

Landon eating his Gingerbread

Santa's newest and finest....Maggie May

Story time with friends...and many Blokus games...........

Tommy with his son Little T and Landon

Landon not quite sure about this whole, "Lets play in the snow thing"

Leah and Landon outside our house during the storm, we got lots more after this picture was taken.

Tis the Season..

2010-12-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

this weekend we are in Indiana for a visit with Sarah, Ed and family and also to celebrate Adam's baptism which I will blog about separately, yesterday we did some fun stuff (shopping at Hobby Lobby) while the kids were in school) and then later we took the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop (its free and you get a free photo) plus they have some fun activities for the kids to do and its all free for the most part

I took about 6 pics of the one above and one person didnt bat an eyelash and that was Rachael everyone else was all over the place!

Deck The Halls

2010-11-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

Usually we wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree and decorate for Christmas, but this year Leah was excited for Landon's First Christmas and so we decided to put at least the tree up early! So yesterday we unpacked everything dragged out our tree which we realized is now getting on in years (1994) Leah was five when we bought our first artificial tree! Its done well.

Landon was in awe of the tree, I am sure if he could talk he would have said something along the lines of, "what a tree in the house?"

He loved the lights and of course putting his very first decoration on the tree!

So now in the mood for the season we went ahead and decorated the rest of the downstairs so now its done and I can sit back and enjoy...I wish still shopping and wrapping to do and oh yes baking for Thanksgiving.

Splish-Splash Landon's taking a bath!

2010-10-19T15:58:00.000-04:00

Landon loves taking a bath with his green frog, so last night I grabbed the camera and took some quick shots.

As much as Landon loves his tub time, he does not like getting out, he throws cute little temper tantrums to let his Mom know all about it!

Hunt Club Farm

2010-10-12T09:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we made our annual visit to Hunt Club Farm, (I think it will be our last more on that later) The kids had fun in the petting area, we petted goats, chased chickens and the like, saw horses, cows and Llamas to name a few, the kids played in the playground and we went on a hayride.

After the hayride we visited the Pumpkin Patch and browsed through the pumpkins...the kids made their final picks and then it was time to go home.

It was a scorcher of a day, unseasonably hot, high 80s and after the cooler days last week we all felt the heat!
Why will this be our last year visiting Hunt Club Farm...we felt the price of entry was kinda high, $6 for each adult, which was okay, but $6 for little kids, come on thats kind of sad! It took us all of 10 minutes to do the petting zoo and if the kids had not stopped to play in the playground it would have taken us less time. 10 mins on the hayride which was a ride through the Hunt Club area and maybe not that long, we all left a little disatisfied for what we had gotten for out hard earned bucks! So next year we will find somewhere else to get our pumpkins!

Works for Treats

2010-10-06T15:51:00.000-04:00

We have a new helper at our home and he works for treats!

Fitch has always been nosey and loves to check out everything especially the dishwasher (he is hoping that we dont rinse the dishes first) Just look at that tongue, I think ne may have broken the Ripleys Belive it or not record with that one! Leah took the pictures I always think about it but have never gotten around to doing it.
So here's our new diswasher in action.

Another "Whats that?"

2010-09-25T20:52:00.000-04:00

Okay here's another one for you....can you identify this plant and is it edible?

Clue # 1- I have no idea what it is

Clue # 2 we are visiting our daughter Sarah and family in Indiana

Clue # 3 Adam is holding it in the first pic

Clue # 4 Charlie broke it in half (took quite a pounding)Clue # 5 its larger than a tennis ball

So come on what do you think it is and oh, by the way I have no idea so at this point in time you could tell me anything and I would have to take your word for it!!

Can you guess?

2010-09-07T10:38:00.000-04:00

This little guy was hovering around my Ginger this AM at first I thought it was a hummingbird, but closer inspection proved me wrong! Can you guess what it is? Leave your answer in my comments. (I already figured it out)

The Domino Effect

2010-08-31T08:42:00.000-04:00

This great and wonderful event took place about two weeks ago with Jordan and Rachel, they like to come over and play games...Dominoes being the game of choice, after a couple or rounds of chicken foot we moved on to bigger and better things! Lke how many dominoes can you balance on your nose?

July 8 at the OBX and Leah's Bday

2010-07-09T08:31:00.002-04:00

This was our planned day in town...but first we took a walk on the beach, it was a perfect beach day

Then we drove into Nags Head for some putt-putt

Followed by dinner at Carolina Seafood and then back to the bch hse for ice cream cake

While you were sleeping

2010-07-05T22:07:00.004-04:00

After a morning on the beach and lunch, naps seemed to be a good idea....which some of us took, and the girls decided to give them selves manicures and pedicures, needless to say we got a little bored and painted the boys toe nails, while they were sleeping! We could only get one of David's feet at a time, we had to wait for him to turn over to get the other foot!

4th July

2010-07-05T09:01:00.005-04:00

This is the first year that we have spent 4th July at the beach house. We are here for the whole week and thus far the weather has been perfect!

Jenny and David fixed our 4th July dinner, all American hot dogs and burgers!

and of course we had watermelon

Followed by Jennys aswesome cake

Our day ended on Pennys hill where we watched the fireworks we could see for miles and their were firework displays all around us

So who will he look like?

2010-07-02T06:33:00.004-04:00

Its official I can talk, proclaim shout it from the rooftops our 11th grandchild is on the way!
Brian and Nicole are having a baby, their first and its a boy! So who do you think it will look like? Here are two pics of Brian and two of Nicole...

I think he will be a pretty handsome hunk!

Fathers Day

2010-06-24T19:17:00.002-04:00

I know I am a little late with this one, but I have been having a difficult time uploading photos, but we had a wonderful day...Salmon, roasted potatos, salad and just celebrating the Dad's in our lives! Ryan loved playing with Grandpa in the pool.

Chris and Chloe just hanging out and keeping cool

When will Landon be big enough to play with us?

2010-05-24T18:42:00.003-04:00

Here lately the dogs, Maggie and Fitch spend lots of time watching Landon play and wondering when he will be big enough to play with them?

They circle up around him when he is on the playmat and watch and wait, till they full asleep.

Landon loves his playmat, there is a mirror at the top and he loves watching himself in it, he also likes kicking the orange elephant and hearing it make a ringing noise.

Pirates & Potatoes

2010-05-18T19:18:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday I was really looking forward to seeing some pirates! at the Elizabeth City Potato Festival, unfortunately there were only a couple of pirates and some fries! Disappointed? You bet! There were plenty of old cars and vendors selling stuff even homemade bags to store potatoes in but the only potatoes we saw were french fries. It was also very hot so we made our way over to the Museum of the Albermarle and surprise its a wonderful museum and free! Well they suggest a donation which we were happy to give just to get cool!

Google Chrome Speed Tests

2010-05-13T13:05:00.000-04:00

Landons Blessing Day

2010-05-03T12:57:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Landon's Blessing day, what a wonderful day, Charlie gave the blessing and did a great job, the blessing was beautiful, very spiritual this little man has a wonderful life ahead of him!
Sarah, Ed and family drove in from Indiana, late Friday night, actually early Saturday morning by the time they arrived and stayed for the Blessing and were back on the road for Indiana by 2:30pm Sunday, so thankful for the sacrifice that they made to be here for this special day, its not easy making a 12 hour drive (one way) with 3 little ones.

It was so nice to have almost everyone together at Church for Landon's special day, wish everyone could have been there with us.

I am so grateful for my children and grandchildren, they bless our lives everyday. I am especially grateful for Leah and the choices she is making for her and Landon's future.

Later that day everyone came over for dinner it is so much fun to see and have little kids around, cousins and friends playing together

Walk

2010-04-08T17:40:00.005-04:00

Leah and I walk pretty much every day, weather permitting, lately its been a little too hot to go during the day so we have been going late afternoon, early evening, today I decided to take my camera and a lens I dont get to use very often..its my 80-300mm lens, its big and its heavy and takes 2 hands usually to get a decent shot, today I surprised myself all of the pics except for one were taken with 1 hand, I had the dogs in the other. I decided to "document" our walks with pictures of things we see, of course there's none of me, I had the camera maybe next time I'll pass it off to Leah...so some things we see on our walk....down the driveway and back.

I took these two while Leah was holding the pups, so I could get a shot of them two as we see a lot of them on our walks....it was very windy and they were really struggling in the wind to keep up

Next time I will take my regular lens and get pictures of other stuff we see on our daily walks

Easter Saturday

2010-04-04T08:43:00.005-04:00

We celebrated out Easter on Saturday, David hid the eggs so the kids could go find them, the weather was just about as perfect as you can get........................ We had an assortment of bunny helpers on hand

We also decorated eggs, had a great dinner the best part of the latter was the cake that Kandice made, chocolate and vanilla layers with real strawberries it was yummy!

Happy Easter everyone

Rachael & Annas Birthday celeration

2010-03-21T16:16:00.001-04:00

Anna enjoying her cake...

Rachael blows out her candles with help from grandpa

Anna sampling her cake ahead of time

On Saturday we celebrated Rachael and Anna's birthday's here in VA, Rachael turned 5 today and Anna 1 at the begining of the month! The first two pics are of Rachael and Adam holdng Landon for the first time.

Rachael's birthday cake, made by Kandice it tasted as good as it looked and Rachael loved it!

Next is Anna's cake also made by Kandice, every bit as good too.

Landon Carter

2010-02-19T16:36:00.003-05:00

Welcome Landon Carter Flores, our newest grandson, this makes number 10 for us! He is so cute and tiny looks like his Dad & his Mom. Landon arrived Feb 18 at 10:09 am weighing in at 6 pounds 2 ozs. Leah did great it was a very speedy delivery, they checked in at 6, and Landon was here a little after 10, wow, think he was in a hurry to begin this new adventure called earth life!

Bowling

2010-02-11T19:12:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago David and Jenny invited us to go bowling with them, while bowling is not my thing, I was tempted to tell Charlie you go...but then I thought this is a chance to get some cute photos of Ryan and his first bowling experiance and I have to confess I was glad I went, Ryan loved it! So I just watched evenryone else bowl and took photos Ryan loved it, he even cheered everyone on even when they did not get a strike.

Leah's Baby Shower

2010-01-29T09:23:00.003-05:00

Leah's baby shower was Jan 9th, so yes I am still way behind...she had a wonderful shower, Grace Schlosser put it on for her and she had between 30 and 35 people there, a great turn out plus she got some much needed baby items. Leah and the cookie basket which was sent by Chris's Mom, the cookies were too pretty to eat!

We played the TP game, Chloe guessed way too much, I guess Leah is not as big around as she looks!

Leah and Courtney, Courtney kept notes for Leah on all the gifts and did a great job.

Kandice made the cake it was awesome, we still have the baby on the top, it was so detailed you could count the fingers and toes on the baby and yes the blanket was removable! It also tasted great! The little star by the bow said, "Its a Boy" Great job Kandice.

I made the diaper cake and even if I say so myself I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt! Can't wait to make another one!

Isabellas Birthday Party

2010-01-18T07:48:00.002-05:00

Celebrating Isabellas Bday was such fun, she is such a sweet little girl, I am so glad she is one of our granddaughters! Her party had a Little Mermaid theme and Kandice made the cake as always it was beautiful!

New Years with the Anderson's

2010-01-11T10:17:00.006-05:00

I know I am behind, way behind...but promise I will catch up one of these days! Anyway this is New Years at our house, with family and friends. We played this really neat game that the Schlosser family shared with us, you wrap gifts, small items, things you dont want need anymore and set them in a pile, you then take turns rolling 5 dice, in order to pick a gift you have to have 3 matching dice, 3 fives, 3 twos etc. All gifts are opened at the end, then you take turns rolling the dice to steal a gift from someone else, there is a timer on that 15 mins and the same gift can only be taken once, it was a lot of fun.

Christmas Day

2010-01-03T17:42:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas Day, seeing family and friends, as I look back it seems like I could have taken more photos to capture the moments.

The Children and Grandchildren are growing up much to fast! We missed those family members who could not be there with us.

At this time of the year my father always comes to mind and how much he loved this season of giving. I could not help but think how much he would have enjoyed all these little ones we have been blessed with.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-01T14:15:00.003-05:00

We nearly always spend Christmas Eve with the Price family unless they are out of town or we are, I am not sure how many years we have been doing this for but it seems like forever, we have seen our families change. At the end of the evening we gather everyone around for family photos a fun time shared with family and friends.

Our Annual Trip to DC & the Big Blizzard of 09

2009-12-21T09:45:00.007-05:00

This past weekend we took our annual trip up to Washington, we left Thursday afternoon and arrived in DC late, we had planned on staying through Sat evening and driving back home late Sat, however the best laid plans are almost always at the mercy of the weather, we knew that DC was expecting snow but we had no idea just how much until late Friday, we debated driving back that night but decided to wait it out!! We were able to get a trip in to the Zoo where we all but froze, it was a chilly but sunny day. Needless to say we took in most of the indoor exhibits.

For dinner Friday night we took David, Jenny and Ryan to "Fogo de Chao" a Brazilian style restaurant, it was wonderful, this was a late celebration for David's birthday.

We also managed to get over to the Temple, enjoy the lights and the programs, we watched Ryan, (great fun) at the visitors center while Jenny and David did a session.

Sat morning we woke up to snow, lots of it, it was beautiful and coming down heavy, so we decided we better get on the road ASAP! The roads were almost deserted and it was almost a complete whiteout by the time we reached Fredericksburg, we left DC at around 10:30am and arrived home 6:30 pm you can do the math, from DC to Fredericksburg we didn't get over 35mph and we were lucky in places to be able to do that.

I think that this is the most snow my car has ever seen!!

OBX Storm Damage

2009-11-14T15:44:00.005-05:00

Today Charlie and I rode down to the Outer Banks to check on the beach house, it was fine, thankfully! Others were less fortuate then us, most lost their steps going over the dunes to the beach the first is a picture of just that. In places it looked like the dunes had been cut in half, we rode down at low tide and in places we had to drive through waves. The road behind the dunes, this is the main road for the residents of Carova and for the fire station while we were there they were running drainage pipes and pumps to the beach to drain off the water.

This shot is south of our house and the posts you see sticking up are the remains of sand fencing which prior to the storm had been completely covered with dunes. It was weird some areas of the coast were untouched and other sections were totaly devastated. Looking at the picture below there appears to be a lot of beach but this is not so if you consider that prior to the storm this was mostly dunes. with 50 some feet to the ocean

The house is the first house after ours and was just sold for a ridiculous sum of money so the new owner had never used it, now it will be condemed because the septic system was washed out as was the house next to it, about 20 years ago these two houses were behind the dunes.

Below 2 washed out septic tanks.

Exposed sand fencing minus the dunes

View from our driveway looking North

The only damage we had was some trash washed up our driveway and in less then 30 mins we had it cleared, we feel very blessed.

Trunk or Treat

2009-10-31T07:47:00.004-04:00

I think that this is the 3rd year for doing Trunk or Treat at our place, its really alot of fun especially as we no longer have little ones to dress up and get ready for Halloween.

We have soups and of course Trunk or Treat and a haunted hayride through the woods and spooky movies in the barn

Ryan didnt quite know what to make of all the weird costumes, he was a fireman, his Dad, David was fire and Jenny was the firemans mascot...a dalmation!

Indiana Weekend

2009-10-24T22:35:00.004-04:00

Weekend in Indiana with Sarah, Ed and Kids, has been fun and fast, we have picked pumpkins, played at the park made caramel apples, Sarah did a 3-D/4-D ultra sound for leah and while we were there we played around taking prego pics

Fun, fun, fun!

Sunshine dogs and kids

2009-10-24T11:04:00.003-04:00

Getting behind again on my updates, these pics were taken on the 19th after days and days of rain, it was so nice to see the sunshine and have warmer temps back again
a brief respite before the winter comes for good!

Brighton

2009-10-12T13:23:00.003-04:00

Our Last day or at least part of it was spent at Brighton, the rest of the day we spent driving to be closer to the airport for our departure the next day, I love the seaside in England, there's nothing quite like it.

and what trip would be complete with out a bowl of cockles and mussels. When I was a kid and my Mum you used to get these I would think, gross! Now I love them...I guess its in the blood!

Foxton Locks

2009-10-09T07:11:00.004-04:00

On Monday Sept 21, we spent the day on a Narrow boat. This is something I have always wanted to do, although it was planned for this trip, I was glad that we were able to go..it was a wonderful relaxing day on the water, very peaceful. For lunch we docked the boat and walked through some cow pastures to a village pub for lunch and then walked back to the boat and resumed our trip. For more info on the locks visit the following link.

http://www.foxtonlocks.com/sections/visit/

For more info on Narrow boats go to the following link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowboat
This is something I would like to do again maybe for longer, a week would be good! Or maybe a whole month!

Shuttleworth

2009-10-07T15:50:00.004-04:00

This was a wonderful unexpected day, we didnt have very much planned and Ron suggested we go check out Shuttleworth, I am so glad we did! thier usual exhibts were closed for a special fair, everything from sheep (in this case Geese herding) sheep shearing and steam driven engines, the last was my favourite because it bought back so many memories just from the smells of riding the old steam trains to Robertsbridge when I was a child, we even saw them making jacket potatoes (Baked potatoes) in the steam engines.

Upper Dean

2009-10-05T15:02:00.005-04:00

Our next stop following Cambridge was Upper Dean and High Street Farm, the home of my cousin Ron and his wife Liz. This was the only family members that we were able to visit on our trip I had hoped to visit some on my Dad's side but we ran out of time, plus we wanted to do as little driving as possible.

Upper Dean is very much rural and we enjoyed more country walks picking blackberries along the way, Charlie even helped Ron put up a gate in one of the horse pastures.

Cambridge

2009-10-02T08:42:00.003-04:00

we spent almost the whole day here, lots of pictures had a hard time deciding which ones to put up, in after thought we should have done the park and ride thing at Cambridge but found ourselves in Cambridge which was not too bad on arrival, but when we left we found ourselves battling rush hour traffic for a couple of hours of course it would have helped a great deal if we knew our way around Cambridge. Anyway it was a good day

Thaxted

2009-09-30T08:34:00.004-04:00

A night and a day at Thaxted, Essex, we stayed at a nice little B&B right on the High Street named the Crossways, although not a planned stop on our trip Thaxted turned out to be a nice little Town, we woke up to an outdoor market on our front doorstep the following morning. Before leaving Thaxted we took a stroll through the market and round the town, and discovered this wonderful working windmill

and then it was off to Canterbury

Audley End House

2009-09-29T08:20:00.004-04:00

On Sept 17 we visited Audley End House, it was beautiful and so much history, I just wish I could have taken photo's on the inside. We arrived there rather late in the day but did have time to take the full inside tour and to take in some of the grounds, the gardens were beautiful

For more info on Audley End Hse check out the link below.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.12088

Rye

2009-09-28T08:41:00.006-04:00

After leaving Bodiam we drove down to the coast to Rye, an old Medieval port town, lots of old buildings and the home of several related Ashbee's. Later that evening we returned to Robertsbridge and a great dinner at the Seven Stars Pub

http://www.seven7stars.co.uk/

More tomorrow

Bodiam Castle

2009-09-28T08:27:00.003-04:00

Our 2nd day at Robertsbridge we visited Bodiam Castle, at first we thought we would walk its about 3 miles, I remember doing this all the time as a kid so it couldn't be too bad, right, wrong we walked for about 5 miles and then decided to head back to the B&B and get the car. It was a nice walk though.

I love Bodiam Castle its my favourite Castle in England lots of good memories there, it used to be free when I was a kid, but probably not very well maintained. Now you have to pay to park and pay to get in. Any way it was a lovely day a little overcast but the temps were near perfect.

Our Getaway to England

2009-09-26T10:22:00.004-04:00

Its probably going to take me several days to get this update done, our trip was kinda last minute, two weeks in the planning! We left for England Monday Sept 14, our first stop in England was Robertsbridge, East Sussex I spent a great deal of my childhood there it was the home of my maternal grandparents, pictured to the left (if this uploads correctly was the first home I remember visiting them in Robertsbridge, later they moved into a larger home right across the street. We did a lot of walking while we were there down through the village and around country lanes, lots of good memories. We spent two nights there before moving on.

Above a modern crop circle, we saw this on one of our walks
High Street, Robertsbridge has lots of old buildings dating back to the 1600s. We also made some friends on our country walks

We dined on blackberries they were in great abundance along the hedgerows.

Fair Lane the street my grandparents lived on.

Will probably make several more posts over the next few days, weeks, months etc about this trip. Unfortunately we did not get to do everything we would have liked to so we will just have to go again!

Crop Duster

2009-08-30T19:32:00.004-04:00

This is the 2nd time this month that the crop duster has been out to spray the Soybean fields in our area...I consider my self luck to be able to capture it on camera. He is quite amazing to watch and I cant help but wonder would it would be like to be flying up there...part of me I think would love it and another part of me would be scared to death!

Night Fishing

2009-08-18T07:17:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we went to the beach with Brian and Nicole, it was hot, hot, hot and both of them got sunburned and we only stayed a couple of hours. Then last night we went night fishing at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel pier, David joined us there later, okay the first photo is of me taking a nap between bites! Nicole made the first catch of the night and then Leah, the girls appeared to be better fisherman then the guys!

Charlie helping Leah with her catch

Looking for the "one that got away"
One of Leah's many catches unfortunatly he wont be dinner tomorrow, too small we threw him back!

Nicole and her big catch a Spot and a keeper! Way to go Nicole!
Waiting, waiting between catches..............................................

You gotta love this mess

2009-08-12T23:24:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday, Ryan spent the afternoon at our house, so Jenny and David could do some car shopping. We had so much fun! I had forgotten how wonderful it is to have toys scattered throughout the house! I had to make cupcakes for my Primary kids and Ryan was a great help .....taste testing them that is! Later he helped grandpa clean out the barn and then they played in the pool, great day!

Triple R Ranch

2009-07-31T19:41:00.003-04:00

A walk down memory lane, our oldest 3 children spent may happy weeks at Triple R Ranch when they were growing up....so when Kandice called and asked if I wanted to go out there with her this evening to pick up Chloe I jumped at the chance...so here's the pics, and by the way Chloe had a great time and the place has not changed much except for the addition of a new lodge air conditioned no less............lucky girl, her dad never had air conditioning when he went!

Our Trip

2009-07-23T13:53:00.002-04:00

Some photos from our trip to Maine and Vermont and several states in between....
I would have liked to upload more photos but for some reason I have been having problems uploading photos, I keep getting error messages if any one has had this problem and can help me solve it????

First photo Kennebuckport, Maine, which was really nice and would go on my list of places that I would like to live if it was not so expensive

2nd & 3rd photo also taken in Salem
This photo was taken at Sugarbush Farm in Vermont our 2nd visit a first for Brian and Nicole.
I have to say our whole trip we really great the weather was beautiful only rained one night and that was while we were sleeping!

I have more photos on my facebook if you want to check them out.

Fitch goes to K-9 Camp

2009-07-13T12:43:00.001-04:00

Okay as promised here's Fitch (Drum roll) at camp learning new tricks and fine tuning old ones at camp
along with Jordan

He thinks he is SuperDog!

and one really cool dog! How many dogs run the tunnel with shades on!

Dog Camp

2009-07-13T12:25:00.001-04:00

Trying to catch up after a week of K-9 Camp for kids and their dogs, so much fun!
It runs Monday -Friday from 8-11 am and then Saturday we have a family picnic
and the kids and dogs get to show off their new skills.
Heres Maggie catching some shade while I taught the photography class

Followed by Jordan, Jill and Maggie at the barn for the craft class

On Tuesday bright and early in the morning we get group photos taken not bad for fifty some kids and their dogs!

Jill posing during the photography class, she pretending shes a big name sufer at the beach!
Fitch went too will post photos of him later.
He gets his own post!
Fun week, fun group of kids and great dogs

Happy Birthday Chloe

2009-06-30T16:43:00.003-04:00

Chloes Birthday party was at Fuddruckers, it was a small party with parents, siblings and grandparents, great fun, Chloe was certainly the star of the show!

She blow out all the candles with one might puff, way to go Chloe

Kandice made the cake it was beautiful a masterpiece

Happy Birthday Chloe

I cant Believe its Friday already

2009-06-26T07:33:00.006-04:00

I cannot believe that the weeks is almost over! The weather has been great some rain showers but mostley at night.
These photos are from some of our doings yesterday...

A friend of Charlie's, David Taylor came down for the day to do some fishing and bought Charlie's secretary, Kathy with him

Wild Horse Wednesday

2009-06-24T09:03:00.004-04:00

Visitors for breakfast...the Penny's Hill herd visits us at least once every year. Today was the day. They come up to the front porch and graze and fertilize our front yard.

This is papa
New Baby

Mama was camera shy

Our First Day at OBX

2009-06-21T21:12:00.002-04:00

The Beginning of our family vacation at the OBX, hope to post a little each day so check back often. So what did we do today, mostly just hang out enjoying the sun, surf and sand.

Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times, Great Memories

2009-06-16T18:09:00.003-04:00

Why do my Photos always upload backwards! Oh! Well! Hopefully everyone will get the idea.
I went to lunch today with, Peg, Grace, Liz & Emilio and Sydney we went to Tida Thai, wonderfull food. A goodbye hug from Syd before she goes off to Alaska and then BYU, we will miss you Syd, but we have the winter to look foward to, more Thai and Sushi food.

We could not resist the carry out sign.............................

Sticky Rice and Mango...awesome.

Harbinger Lavender Farm

2009-06-14T05:16:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we drove down to Harbinger, NC for the Lavender Farm's Open House, there was Grace, Myself, Liz & Emilio, and Peg, we had a good time taking photos, picking lavender and making lavender wands. On the way home we stopped at Mel's Diner for a BBQ lunch, yum! All in All it was a very good day with friends.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T21:20:00.003-04:00

We spent most of Memorial catching up on chores around the house and yard, Charlie finished most of the work on our deck and Gazebo, it looks really good can't wait for the pool to be open so we can really use it, maybe pictures when everything is complete. Late after noon we packed up the cooler with goodies and headed out to Little Island Park at Sandbridge, it was a little after 4 when we arrived I had figured by that time most everyone would be gone or in the process of leaving I was almost right, we got a picnic table with out any problems we got a cool suprise they have completely rebuilt the play area, it is really nice and the kids enjoyed it. Isabella, Chloe and Elijah.

Chloe and Leah

This kid is going to be a really great soccer player can you tell? He has some really cool moves for a 16 mth old!

Charlie, David and Ryan
The weather was a lot cooler then we expected, it was quite warm when we left the house but at little chilly by the ocean. I guess because it was a little on the windy side.

We Survived Busch Gardens

2009-05-23T14:14:00.003-04:00

This was an unexpected afternoon and evening for us at Busch Gardens, Jenny and David were going and we decided to tag along so they could ride on the big kids rides and then we found out Lee, Jenn and kids were going too, we left home around 2:30pm and met up with Jenn and Lee around 5ish. It was a fun afternoon we stayed until closing, the lines were short and I even got to ride some rides with Jordan and Rachel.

Jenny, David, Lee and Jenn survied the Griffen. that is a long drop 75 mph I think!

Jenny and Rachel rode the swings but it was too dark by then to get any photos.

Ryan had a blast at Sesame Land, David showed him how to block the water with his feet...

Woodstock Vermont

2009-05-18T11:38:00.003-04:00

Following Brian's graduation we visited Woodstock which has some really neat old buildings where we made an amazing discovery...Fitch has a house named after him!!

Brian & Nicole, Brian must have been feeling grumpy or maybe he was tired of having the camera aimed at him all day!

This cat adopted Brian for most of our walk around Woodstock he was always just a few steps away.

Brian's Graduation

2009-05-18T09:54:00.004-04:00

Our Trip to Vermont was for Brian's Graduation...so heres his big day...the pictures loaded backwards but I think you'll get the idea.

Brian got his Master's in Environmental Law and Policy!

The Ceremony was held on the Green at South Royalton it was a beautiful day, it was supposed to rain but the showers held off to later in the evening.

Reflections and Rainbows

2009-05-16T08:15:00.002-04:00

These photos were taken somewhere between Virginia and Vermont, probably upstate New York, I thought I would remember so I did not make any notes to myself! Need to start donging that in the furure I hate when I take a photo and cant rememeber exactly where it was at.

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T21:11:00.004-04:00

Mother's Day as always was great! We came home from Church gathered together the food which included Fried Chicken, potatoe salad, antipasto, Jenny bought beans and Kandice made this fantastic looking and tasting cake and took of for North West River Park, it has been along time since we have done this for Mother's Day, we used to do it all the time when the kids were little, the weather was perfect, sunny but no humidity a cool breeze, the perfect day!

Ryan and Chris, Chris was teaching Ryan to pop the heads off of the clover..
Isabella and her dad, Chris, playing house, which baby do you want Dad?

Elijah trying out some trick swinging...

Leah she looks so good in blue....

Isabella the Princess

Almost forgot we played some soccer, more pictures being uploaded to my Facebook, check it out...

Maggie May & Fitch

2009-05-01T15:55:00.002-04:00

Alot of friends have been asking me if we still have Maggie May, I guess 'cos I have not put up any photos of her in a long while...so for all of you who wanted to know, yes we still have her and here are some pictures, as you can see she is really begining to look like a Westie, she is very sweet and loves to tease Fitch.

Here's the two trouble makers.............

Both with their tongues hanging out, Maggie loves to lick her lips in anticipation of any treats that might be coming her way!

Maggie just finished her first 5 week basic course in Agility and has been promoted to intermediate! Yeah Maggie!

Pow Wow

2009-04-26T06:35:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Grace and I spent the afternoon at the Indian Festival in Virginia Beach, got some great pix and had some great Indian Tacos, made with Fry bread, it was very good. We didnt stay as long as we would have liked to as it was hot, hot, hot! Over 90 degrees and no shade anywhere, next year I am going to take chairs and a umbrella or a big floppy hat and tons of ice water! Did wonders for my farmers tan though.

Norfolk Botanical Gardens

2009-04-18T07:41:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon Charlie and I decided to take the afternoon off and head for the Botanical Gardens here are just a few of the pix I took, the weather was beautiful high 70s which was great after the last few days of rain and cold.

I usually try to go to botanical gardens at least twice a year but the last time Charlie and I went together was probably about 25 years ago, way back when it was free to get in and they did not have near the plants or the landscaping they have now, he was pleasantly surprised it is very beautiful.....as soon as the roses bloom I will make my 2nd trip for the year and then back again in the fall. Almost forgot we saw the bald eagle which has been nesting there for about 3-4 years, they had 3 babies in the nest, should have taken my BIG lens so I could have snapped some photos of Mama, Papa and the goslings. Oh well there's always next year.

More on Easter

2009-04-13T16:24:00.002-04:00

The Egg Hunters! Rachel, Jordan, Ryan, Chloe, Isalella, Elijah and Christopher... it was a great day! Ryan makes an exciting discovery with a little help from his Dad

Isabella showing off her stash of goodies

Easter

2009-04-13T16:02:00.003-04:00

Everyone getting ready to go hunt eggs, looks like everyone is going to the biggest sale event in town! Will the real Easter Bunny please step forward......

Could it be Ryan??

Or could it be David??

I think it must be David...after all he did hide the eggs!

Or maybe its Tom??

Trash the Dress

2009-04-04T06:48:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Grace, Sydney and I went to Sandbridge to take some Trash the Dress photos, we have been discussing this for a long time, for Brides it does not seem to have taken off in this area, so we decided to trash the "Prom" dress, Sydney went shopping and found a used Prom dress and so here we are, the weather was amazing, low 80s so perfect for the beach, although I know Syd froze her butt off in the water, what a great trooper, she will make a fantastic bride.

I really had a hard time picking my favourites, there were so many! I took close to 800 pictures, knowing we may never have the chance to do a Trash the Dress take again, Grace took tons too, I still have not looked at all of them and have not edited any yet! I dont think many will need editing they all turned out awesome!

Over the next few days I will start uploading them to my Zenfolio page which you can check out at the link to the right labeled "Linda Anderson Photography. Hopefully will have that done by Monday. Thanks Sydney for being such an awesome young lady and my best friend too! Love you Sydney.

Blessings

2009-04-01T08:00:00.004-04:00

This past weekend we went to Indiana for Rachael's Birthday Party and Anna's Blessing, it was one of those really quick trips, left here Friday morning arrived there Friday evening spent Saturday and part of Sunday with Ed, Sarah & family and then drove back to Virginia. We arrived home at midnight by the time we unloaded the car etc it was after 1 before we went to bed.

Ed gave Anna a beautiful blessing, it was sad to have to leave so soon but we had been there early in the month for Anna's arrival and Charlie had to get back to work.

It's hard to believe that Rachael is 4! She is such a sweetheart!

Tida Thai

2009-03-25T07:33:00.003-04:00

Last Wednesday, Yes I know that's over a week ago and yes I am behind not just on my blog but on everything! Anyway last Wednesday, Grace, Sydney & I went to our 2nd most favourite restaurant for lunch, Tida Thai. Grace ordered Matsaman Curry, Sydney ordered Crab meat fried rice and I ordered my favourite, Drunken Noodles. The Matsaman Curry is made with potatoes, onion, roasted peanuts and your choice of chicken or beef, I think Grace ordered the chicken. The Crab meat fried rice is traditional fried rice, (we left out the egg because of my allergys) with crab meat, red onion, scallion, green peas, carrot and celery. Yum it was very good, that was a first for all of us. I will diffently get it again! Mine the Drunken noodles is made with stir fried flat noodles, onion, scaillions tomatoes, chili garlic and fresh basil. They were nice enough to bring us extra plates and we all shared, we also ordered for an appetizer. Thai Dumplings which is a dumpling filled with marinated crab meat, minced chicken and smothered in the chefs special soy sauce, needless to say we were all stuffed but we did manage to squeeze a afters, sticky rice with Mango, which was wonderful we split 2 of those between the 3 of us. Needless to say I skipped dinner that night!

This one's for Adam

2009-03-11T17:48:00.003-04:00

The day after Anna was born we were all at the hospital visiting Sarah and the new baby, Adam was getting a little bored so I let him play with my little digital camera that I keep in my purse for photo emergencys.. any way heres the hospital room through Adam's eyes...great job Adam!

he took lots more but there is not enough room here for all of them. I think he did a really great job dont you?

Back to the Park

2009-03-09T06:42:00.003-04:00

Yesterday the weather was still nice, in fact it got up into the mid 70s so after Church, lunch etc we decided to go to the park, 4 adults David, Jenny, Charlie and I, 3 kids Jordan, Rachel, & Ryan and 3 dogs, Fitch, Maggie & Jill, this was Maggie's first outing to North West River Park. Maggie was not sure about the water, Fitch however was ready to jump right in, he thinks he is a water dog in disguise! First picture is of Maggie and Jordan checking out their reflection in the river.

Here's David, Jenny and Ryan with Maggie we couldn't follow the trail over the bridge as we had planned as the other side of the bridge was flooded and no one wanted to roll up their pants and get wet so we had to back track aways, Ryan didn't want to, he was all for rolling up his pants and getting his toes wet! actually it would have been more then his toes probably up past his diaper!

When we stopped to take this picture close to the end of the trail there was hardly anyone around but as soon as I got everyone on the bridge steps people appeared out of nowhere so we ended up getting just a quick shot of the kids and the pups, right after this shot and on the other side of the bridge Fitch took the plunge into the water, thank goodness it was only a little puddle where the river had overflowed its banks and not the river, so by the time we reached the car he was dry.

The Best of Friends

2009-03-08T20:56:00.003-04:00

It has been a busy time since we got back from Indiana and I actually have several things I need to Blog about perhaps if I list them all in this blog someone will remind me if I forget! The first is Saturday (more on that in a moment) the 2nd is today, and the 3rd is one for Adam which I had completely forgotten about until this morning and I was cleaning out my pocket book in preparation for Church and I found my small digital camera which I had let Adam use while we were at the hospital with Sarah. So someone please remind me if I forget as it is doubtfull that I will get it all done tonight. So back to the first item on my blogging to do list, Saturday-before we left for Indiana Kandice had asked me to take some photos of the girls, Chloe and Isabella with their best friends,Bella, Annalyse, and Saje hence the name of this post "Best Friends" we decided to do it Saturday as the weather has been unseasonably warm for March, so at 2:30 we met at North West River Park, Grace came with me, what a great friend she is how many people would give up their Saturday afternoon to come help take photos?

Anyway here are a few of my favourites, top is Isabella (we did some individual shots too. Next is Isabella, Annalyse and Bella are they not the cutest bunch of kids, the last two photos are of Chloe and Saje.

I really had a tough time deciding which one to include but not wanting to overload this post with tons of photos I decided to stick with four of my favourites but there were many more, I will be uploading some of them to my Zenfolio website so if you REALLY want to see them all click on Linda Photography to the right under family and enjoy, but they probably wont make it up there before Friday they will be in their own folder labeled "Best Friends" Oh, almost forgot after our little photo shoot with our awesome models we had cupcakes which Kandice had made and the girls decorated, Kandice even made Eggless ones for me! Thanks Kandice!

Trampoline

2009-03-07T10:54:00.003-05:00

A beautiful early spring day, a trampoline and 3 grandkids make for some cute shots! Rachel bouncing high

Jordan helping Ryan keep his balance and Ryan catching air!!

Baby Anna

2009-03-02T17:52:00.005-05:00

our 9th grandchild made her debut today at 9:19am she looks just like her brother Adam and sister Rachael but I will let Sarah give all the details on this little girls speedy arrival.

We arrived in New Albany yesterday just in time for Anna's debut!

Buddies

2009-02-22T13:36:00.002-05:00

Maggie really missed Fitch while we were at the Agility Trail yesterday, and she was all over him after we arrived back home, poor Maggie we were gone all day and she was really lonely even though she had Leah to play with, this was her first time in the house without Fitch. She stayed close to Fitch the rest of the evening. Fitch loved all the female attention!

NADAC Agility Trial

2009-02-22T13:14:00.002-05:00

Friday, Sat and Today was the NADAC Trail at Family Dog Club, Jordan, Fitch and I attended yesterday's event and Fitch competed, he and Jordan entered 3 classes and he ribboned in one, unfortunately I did not get any photos of Fitch running I kind of have to hide when he and Jordan are competing. But I did get some awesome shots of the other dogs competing on Sat. You can see them at my link to the right..."Linda Anderson Photography" if you do visit please sign the guest book. Fitch and Jordan sharing a treat between events.

Snow Day!!

2009-02-16T11:16:00.002-05:00

We woke up this morning to SNOW! We were not expecting it but of course it has been awhile since I have checked the local weather forecast, they keep calling for snow but it never happens. They even cancelled school oneday because the forecast was for heavey snow, which never happened! So today we had snow not a while lot maybe a 1/2 inch someplaces an inch.

Its almost 11:30 am at this posting and most of the snow has gone...oh well maybe next time it will stick around long enough for the kids and me to have some fun

Elijah's Birthday

2009-02-16T10:55:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was Elijah's birthday Party, his real birthday was on the 12th. So Happy Birthday Elijah. So here's some photos taken at the fun event, here's Chloe modeling Elijah's snowboarding gear!

Opening gifts

The Cake and Elijah...great job Elijah!

Heart Stealer

2009-02-14T16:47:00.002-05:00

Leah had come in from riding and her gloves were hanging out of her pocket, Maggie just couldn't resist! See photos at the end of post.

So here's a Maggie update....she is really learning her way around the Anderson Home...she is not shy about grabbing what she feels is hers, I guess she thought Leah's gloves were her property!
Friday Fitch had a grooming appt, and Maggie went too, I was a little worried about her going as she has been through so much, but our groomer (and we have a wonderful groomer) said she did really well I wanted Maggie to get used to the haircut/clipping routine as when the hot weather arrives it will be an ongoing ritual for both of them, Fitch does really well and I maintanin his clip my self in the summer between his grooming appts. and I would like to be able to do the same for Maggie, when we first got her (almost a week ago) she would freak out everytime we got in the car so I have been trying to take her for rides everyday especially when I take Jordan to school, now she is very calm in the car finds her spot and lays down.
Also at first she didnt like to have her feet messed with she is improving in that area also, she loves to be brushed as long as I stay away from her rear! but we are improving there too. She has come along way this past week.

Maggie & Fitch Update

2009-02-11T12:19:00.002-05:00

Ever since Maggie first arrived on Sunday Fitch as been trying to get Maggie to chase him, Fitch loves to chase and be chased, Maggie didnt quite get the idea, but this morning she finally caught on, as Fitch took the toy they play tug of war with and took off running, this time Maggie took off after him she even got creative and when he run behind the chair she went the other way to head him off, very good Maggie!

Here's Fitch teasing Maggie with his favourite toy, which by the way is a stuffed Christmas Stocking that one of his admirers gave him for Christmas, Fitch always has to have the end with the sweaker.

Here's Fitch trying to get Maggie to chase him. Right before I took this picture he was washing her ears, UGH! Then in the photo below she licked his nose, I must confess I am jealous I haven't been able to get Maggie to give me any kisses!

Maggie May

2009-02-08T18:46:00.002-05:00

Sorry the pictures uploaded in the wrong order, so here's yesterday's events from end to beginning!
Sometime last week a friend from Fitch's agility class had emailed me about a Westie that had been turned into the SPCA shelter in VA Beach, she had been very much neglicted and in very bad shape, 3 inch toe nails, they had probably never been clipped, ear infections and skin problems, she has been in Foster care since that time and took the last of her medications yesterday at our home.
We first met her on Saturday at the Show N' Goes at the Dog Club, It was love at first sight for everyone her and Fitch hit it off, but I knew I needed some time to think it over so I did for all of 3-4 hours, and so yesterday we met Mara (her foster Mom) and Erin (who first told me about her) at the Shelter in VA Beach and sooooooooooooo here's Maggie!!! (drum roll) in her new home with her new family and new name. Playing with Fitch (he actually shared his favourite toy!

Jordan and Maggie, the girls fell instantly in love with her and she adores them especially Rachel.

and here she is with her Foster Mom at the shelter all ready to go home with us!

Last night Maggie, Fitch and Jill played really well together and we took them for a long walk 3/4 mile the weather was beautiful and the night was so clear we didnt even need a flash light Maggie loved all the new farm smells, goats and horse poop, every dog loves that smell! When we got back to the house the girls had to go home for bed and school tomorrow. Fitch and Maggie settled right down on the coach beside me Fitch on top and Maggie beside me, it was like being in a toaster, they soon felt the heat and found new spots and settled in for the night, later when Leah came in and settled down for a night with CSI reruns they both moved to her coach and thats where they were when I got up this morning.

Almost Valentine's Day & one Cool Dude

2009-02-06T15:18:00.003-05:00

Here's Fitch all ready for Valentines, no doggie girlfriend but he is prepared! He is such a cool friend I can do almost anything to him and he takes it all in stride!

I was going through my box of Valentine's stuff and found these cool glasses they fit Fitch perfectly and he was happy to wear them for all of 3 seconds.

Sushi at Haru's

2009-01-28T17:58:00.002-05:00

Following our photo shoot we went to Haru's I decided to try something new this time, its called "Negimaki" and is an appetiser, it was very good. The photos are a little blurry I used my smaller digital camera and was way to close, anyways its thinly sliced beef wrapped around scallions and grilled in teriyaki sauce, followed by spicy salmon roll and California roll, yum! I am still stuffed no dinner tonight for me!

Sydney's Twilight

2009-01-28T17:39:00.004-05:00

Every Wednesday Grace and I get together and work on some project of another, today we were going to work on our chopstick holders that we started last Wednesday but at the last minute we decided to scratch and take photos instead! I have this black cape that I made several years ago and we decided to use that and Sydney as our model as always Sydney was ready to do it... this is just a few of the couple of hundred that we took! I took like 197 photos and I have not counted up Grace's yet, as you can see I worked on them alittle bit.

When I was loading them on the computer I asked Sydney what she wanted to name the folder I was putting them, after much debate (all of 2 seconds) we decided on "Twilight" Now I can't imagine why, can you?

Sydney's such an awsome model! After our photo session we treated ourselves to Sushi.

Wii Night!

2009-01-20T13:35:00.005-05:00

Santa bought us a Wii for Christmas which really got a workout over the holidays, last night we invited some friends over to play with the Wii, The Schlosser family, we really had a lot of fun, I actually won one round of darts which is about the only thing we played we did end with a few rounds of trivia

The Schlossers are back in town

2009-01-12T08:59:00.004-05:00

Sat we went to in the airport to welcome the Schlosser family back from Japan where they spent Christmas with their daughter Liz and welcomed Gavin, Liz and Emilio's new son into the world. I had originally planned just to go and pick up Sydney so Tom would not have to make 2 trips to the airport plus Sydney has been gone since July. But Grace's flight due in at around 2: 30 was delayed cause of weather and so they both ended coming in around the same time, they had already landed when Charlie and I arrived but we caught them coming down the walkway...the first photo is after they realized we were there and the 2nd was really the first photo that I took and they were totally out of it! Jet lag!

Of course my flash died have to remember to check those batteries more often.

After rounding up the luggage we drove to Applebees for dinner, Sydney was shell shocked and could barely keep her eyes open but she survived dinner.

So today we have a date for Sushi at Shikis perhaps I will blog that too, the food there is awesome! If you want to catch the Schlossers adventures in Japan check out Liz Martinez's blog under my friends, its awesome!

Nothing to Blog about!

2009-01-08T16:18:00.002-05:00

Things have really quieted down since the holidays, my camera not been out of its bag since the last of our company walked out the door, well not really company....family, Fitch has been in a pout since Buddy and Bandit left he only talks (woofs) at me when he wants something like food or to go outside, typical kid! And while its nice to have some quiet we really do miss everyone it was nice to have a houseful of kids, well almost they are mostly adults now, but to us still our kids! I keep looking for reasons to go somewhere with my camera but nothing has come to mind, most probably because its been cold and when the temperture has been decent its been raining buckets, typical winter in Virginia. I keep thinking that if we lived further North all this rain could have been snow and I could take some really cool snow pictures, but so far no snow this year.
So the decorations are down and packed away in the attic for another year and I thought I would list some things I would personaly like to do this year...

1. Visit my out of town kids and grandchildren more often then we are usually able to.
2. Go home for a couple of weeks to England visit with family and make some headway with my family history especially my maternal great grandmother Fanny Ryder.
3. Go on a really cool photo shoot like to Africa or South America the last one to see and photograph the ruins. The first to take some really cool animal photos.
4. Just to hang out somewhere with nothing to do, that will never happen! But its a nice thought!
5. Get back into a real exercise routine especially Yoga.
Well thats about it, I am sure I will think of some more about 3 in the am!

Isabellas Birthday

2008-12-31T18:09:00.002-05:00

Today we celebrated Isabella's birthday at McArthur Mall at the Play Place, she is now officially 4! What a cutie she is really into Princess & fairy stuff especially Tinkerbelle, Kandice made a beautiful cake that was very yummy!

Gift Exchange

2008-12-29T07:46:00.005-05:00

Last night, Sunday we got everyone together to exchange gifts with Sarah, Ed and Family...the older kids (ours) did a Secret Santa gift exchange this year we drew names and they had to guess who their gift was from. The grandkids did their usual Pollyanna gift exchange. We had Pizza for dinner, exchanged gifts and played games. Fun night!

Happy Birthday Ryan

2008-12-29T07:25:00.002-05:00

Dec 27th we celebrated Ryan's First Birthday at our house, the pictures are not in the right order but you get the idea, the William's family, Jenny's parents and siblings and spouse and their children came over too, needless to say we had a houseful! Ryan really got into the cake thing!

Family Photos

2008-12-29T06:25:00.004-05:00

The really great thing about having everyone together for Christmas was being able to take some family photos, I think the last time we did this was right after Brian came home from his mission! So it has been awhile and was way overdue. So here we are the Anderson Family Clan! Leah and The Fly's Lee, Jennifer, Jordan and Rachel

Brian and Nicole

Lee and Jennifer

The eight of us

Christopher, Kandice, Elijah, Chloe, and Isabella

Us with all the grandchildren

And last but not least all of us

Nicoles Birthday

2008-12-29T06:13:00.002-05:00

Dec 26th was Nicole's Birthday, and we had a party for her Nicole blow out all 25 of her candles with one blow! WoW!