Easter

A few Easters of our previous years - the first pics are from our first house in Hamburg, NY and show the fam and the girls with their "Aunt Cathy", their Godmother on Easter in 1982. The next photo is taken in Raymondville, NY and would be Easter of 1985 or so. Don't you just love the knit ponchos?

Mini Vacation

Recently Jen and Ben were able to spend a week with Nana while Papa was away on business. We had a lot of fun shopping, eating out, watching movies (John Travolta in Hairspray is....interesting) and generally enjoying each other's company. These were the best shots I took during the week - he's just too cute!!

What's the big idea, Santa!

You'd think with Ben's stocking this big Santa would have a hard time filling it....nope!

So much to be thankful for!

We had a great Thanksgiving spending time together at Nick and Jen's. Food and family fellowship were wonderful-we all have so much to thank God for, not the least of which is this little guy...

video vacancy?

I'm having a terrible time getting my videos to upload to my blog...I've got a really cute one of Ben talking a lot and smiling - oh well

Our Grandson, Ben - 11 weeks - video to follow....

our lawn is disappearing

These are the critters that are eating our lawn bit by bit. Well, you can't actually see where they've eaten, but they leave these huge holes. Well, they're not that big, but we seem to hate them just the same!

asymmetrical?!

We finally hung our posters in the family room - memories of things we've done, places we've been and meaningful events, etc....do you know how hard it is to get an engineer to hang a wall full of items in an asymmetrical way? Wow!

sunrise over the rooftops of London?

The sunrise a few days ago was incredible - mostly due to the fog. The houses being built behind us had the eerie look of a Mary Poppins movie...

another attempt at adding photos

Yeah it worked this time. What a cutie

Who else...BEN!

Travelled to Springfield this past weekend to see the Vespas. Ben is definitely filling out and getting more alert to his environment. He's so darned cute!

Newest photos of Ben

Hard to catch him with those brown eyes open!

I spent the last week with Jen and Nick helping keep up the house, laundry and cooking so Jen could take care of Ben. Chuck and I plan to return this weekend for another night to help out, then I go back to work and will have to limit visits to weekends only....maybe I could take a Friday off once a month....Hope you enjoy these latest shots of Ben.

Benjamin has arrived!!!!

Out first grandson, Benjamin Isaac Vespa was born August 16 at 7:51 pm. He weighed 5# 12 oz and was 20" long. Labor was long for the baby and Jen, but they're both doing well. It's amazing how strong your feelings for this little being can be when he's technically not yours - he's a beautiful gift from God that we are really treasuring!

Northern California coast

This is the incredible view from our deck at the Sandpiper House Inn in Elk, CA, where we spent 2 days during our vacation last week. What a wonderful place!!

Lucy at summer camp

Lucy is visiting us for the month of May while Christy is in the U.P. As you can see, she's certainly getting adjusted...she's got a mind of her own but is a lot of fun to have around!

It's a boy!

I was cleaning strawberries for our dessert the day Jen called to say she and Nick are having a boy. I've never seen anything like it, but this had to be a prediction....:)

Bambies Galore!

2 years ago at this time of year we had a deer phenomenon in a field nearby - about 40-50 deer appeared one evening and were there every eve at dusk for almost a month. This photo is obviously only one small section of the field. We haven't seen that many in one place since....it was pretty neat while it lasted.

Vacation-yeah!

We're starting to plan a summer vacation in San Francisco so I've been looking through our photos of our last trip there and reminiscing. This was a lunch we had on our journey from Napa valley back into San Francisco with the city on the other side of the bay. What a great day!