Some Fun Days Together

The bulk of our clan arrived on Tuesday, April 28th, so a lot of Wednesday was spent just hanging out together at the house and laying low while everyone recuperated from their different traveling adventures. And, as usual, the more time went by, the more goodies Grammy would pull out of hiding. The favorite 'surprise' for all the little kids was the bubble wands she had for each of them. Grampy took all the youngsters outside in the sun and kicked off the bubble blowing extravaganza! Except for Elijah who at 7 months decided he'd rather stay inside and take a nap=) Layla needed a little help from Daddy....but eventually figured it out.Jesse also needed some one-on-one supervision....but still managed to pour all his out on the ground=)Thankfully, the older 3 were a bit more self-entertaining!My job was to wander around taking beautiful pictures like these next two!Elijah - soooo cute!We did take a trip that day which turned out to be quite useless...we thought we'd take a ride up to a somewhat nearby area to hike out onto a train trestle that is quite elevated and gives a beautiful view...but we couldn't find it and wound up driving aimlessly on several dirt roads with the empty light on the gas gage turned on. Then we drove home defeated, but everyone rallied when Dad made his highly requested stir-fry - YUMMM!

The next day Lincoln, Helaine and Phil headed down for the graveside ceremony of their grandmother who died at Christmastime. The rest of us traveled up to scenic Greenville and did some shopping and sightseeing.

This is the Katahdin which Matthew and I went on during our honeymoon.

Elijah was the favorite to hold - of course he was the baby of the bunch, but his happy smile made it such a treat to be the lucky one to have him=) So here he is with his Grampy...
his Grammy...Zachery...and his Great-Grammy Jane...Layla was more independent so she and Jesse had fun together running around and playing.Dropping rocks way down into the water through the cracks in the walkway.Of course Jesse often ended back up with his favorite pal!And then Alana found a mirror to study her bump in=)On the way home we came across another big treat - this was definitely one of Matthew's highlights! We often went to this place before moving and the beef and pork sandwiches they serve here are unbeatable!Here's Matthew drooling over the smokers=)And some cute little girlies=)Of course once we got home and started preparing supper we were in for even another special treat! I think there was a total of 23 lobsters that went into the pot for supper that night - what a feast!

Here's the beginning picture as it goes in the pot...And here's the final result!Then the fun began - they're tasty but you have to work for it!Here are my grandparents - Grammy Jane and Grampy Lloyd - what fun it was to see them. I'll end with a picture of them since they were one of the highlights that I have had on this trip. I was unsure when we moved 6 years ago if I'd see all, or any, of my grandparents again. As of right now I can say that the Lord has allowed me to see all 4 of my dear grandparents. But I also know this, I will see them all again someday in heaven if not on this earth because they all know Him. God has blessed me with such a godly heritage!