by Heather | 0 comments
The “Y Nots” are the ladies I run with from the Y. This morning they ran the Scarecrow 5k…it benefited Safe Journey, which helps victims of domestic violence. I couldn’t run this time because I didn’t have anyone to watch Ben, but Mr. Ben and I headed out to cheer the ladies on and take pictures.
by Heather | 0 comments
We also went hiking with Mark and Jenny during our visit. It was actually close to sundown and the weather looked like rain, but fall colors were beautiful.
We call this one “the creeper”
by Heather | 0 comments
Last weekend we visited college friends who live in Ohio. Mark was actually Andy’s roommate and in the same major (computer engineering). Mark’s wife Jenny didn’t go to RIT but visited NY often enough that we got to know her pretty well for the few years the boys were in school together. Gosh that seems like forever ago!
My brother and his fiance watched Ben all day Friday and my mom and Paul took him Saturday/Sunday. Part of the reason we visited OH this particular weekend was for the famous Apple Pie baking festivities. Some of Jenny’s family and girlfriends have been getting together for the past 9 years to make a ton of pies which they freeze or give as gifts. This year I think the number was 85 pies (which is apparently low, some years have gotten into the hundreds!)
It was executed so well with girls at different stations (coring, peeling, chopping, mixing, doing crust and baking). We had six different types of apples that were added to pies. There were two ovens going and a flurry of activity.
The boys so graciously took kiddo duty (go figure Andy “got rid of” his kid for the weekend but ended up helping the other guys wrangle theirs). It was definitely a fun day for the ladies though! The running joke was, your performance in pie baking this year would be reviewed by committee (the original girls that started the event) and they’d determine if you’d be invited back next year. I hope I get invited back :o) It was so much fun!
by Heather | 0 comments
My dad, Leslie and Christopher stayed with us part of this weekend. Saturday morning the boys had a Nerf gun war in the livingroom. Andy has enough Nerf guns to outfit a small army, so there were plenty to go around.
Go ahead, make my day.
Most of the time Chris and Andy ganged up on Ben and shot him in the tummy. Ben thought this was hilarious and laughed every time they did it. He also gathered up all the darts and returned them to the big boys. Finally he got bored with being target practice and started gathering the darts and throwing them down the front stairs so they couldn’t be reloaded ;-)
by Heather | 0 comments
For the conclusion of the Massachusetts posts, let me introduce you to the sexiest car ever. A 1970 Corvette Stingray, T top in canary yellow. Perhaps my dad’s midlife crisis, but definitely the coolest car I’ve been in ;-) And if Andy happened to want one some day, I’m sure we could make it happen :)
by Heather | 3 Comments
My dad made the rank of Colonel in the Air Force! It’s quite the accomplishment and we’re very proud of him. We attended his pinning ceremony while in Massachusetts.
Before the ceremony we had breakfast at my dad’s new office. Chris enjoyed sitting in the big man’s chair.
Ben kept himself occupied by giving bear rides in the stroller.
After breakfast my dad headed out to get ready and the rest of the family were bussed to the base’s hangar where the ceremony would be. We did kind of make goofs of ourselves when we first entered because we walked right past our military escorts and entered talking really loudly. When we rounded the corner and saw hundreds of airmen in attendance we quieted down and found our seats. *hangs head in shame*
My dad taking the rank of Colonel.
Leslie putting on my dad’s pins. Full bird baby!
Us kids got to participate too!
Speech, speech!
Ben was a really good little boy during the whole ceremony. I kept giving him suckers to help with the being quiet ;-)
After the ceremony, everyone wanted to shake my dad’s hand and talk to the family. Danielle and Gabby sung the National Anthem, I didn’t get any pictures though because I would have felt really awkward stepping out to interrupt things. They received several compliments though, their duet was beautiful!
There were military police cars and fire trucks on display for the ceremony too.
Ben was fascinated with the fire trucks. Gabby overheard one of the military police officers muttering “Kids always like the fire trucks better.” Haha.
Ben got to sit in the tunner which loads pallets and equipment onto planes.
The family also got a tour of a C-5.
The cargo plane is huge!
Learning about the plane’s cockpit and controls.
Graffiti in the cockpit.
Bathroom facilities on board. Sleeping arrangements weren’t much better with bays where men were basically stacked on top of each other.
My dad and Ben. Love.
Silly boy.
My dad and Leslie.
We actually managed to get a halfway decent family picture too!
Colonel MSG Commander. So proud of you dad!
