Picnic with Brooke Today

It was great to see Brooke again today. She came and took the children off for a picnic with her Mom and Sister and all the children in their family. They were extremely excited about seeing her, not wanting her to leave at the end. It was so nice to see you again today Brooke and for coming back to see the kids. They really enjoyed it.

Lorraine's 60th Birthday Party

We had a great evening yesterday with Lorraine and Bev to celebrate their respective birthdays. Lorraine and Randy hosted a big gathering of friends and the big surprise of the night was Bev’s visit from New York. Lorraine was extremely surprised to see her enter and was extremely grateful to have her for her birthday. Lorraine and Bev actually share birthdays so it was a double celebration. I took lots of photos but a select few are shown below.

Happy Birthday Lorraine

Today is a big day for one of our most treasured and dearest friends, Lorraine, her 60^th birthday. From the bottom of our hearts, we all wish you a Happy Birthday. We’re looking forward to seeing you soon, hopefully you are being spoiled right now.

I looked through all my photos of the last two years to get a representative image of Lorraine. There were lots of great photos but the one below was my choice. It’s a picture of her with her youngest grandson Austin, taken last Christmas, and as you can see its not any old picture. It exemplifies her playful character and how she enjoys herself when her kids and grandchildren are around. Austin is in this picture but he just represents how her family gives meaning to her life, she is never as happy as she is when they are around her.

Julien and Rachel

I have not had a chance to upload any photos from the weekend since it's been a crazy busy week at work thus far, augmented by the fact that Lynne is at a conference in Minnesota. Pat and Anne have been a great help, they have literally kept the show rolling (although Isabel made another unplanned trip to urgent care this morning with a sprained ankle, she is fine though).

Shown below are a couple of pictures of Julien and Rachel who visited us this weekend. Julien is an MBA classmate and since Rachel graduated with her Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue on Sunday, they stayed for the weekend. It was great to have them.

Happy Birthday Lynne

Today was Lynne’s birthday, Happy Birthday Love; we hope you had a nice day. Unfortunately it was a work day so much of it was spent doing that but she did still receive presents and a cake this evening. Anne actually made the cake today with the kids (our tradition for Lynne, a carrot cake with purple frosting) and it tasted fabulous. Due to a coincidence of timing, it was nice to have Pat here for Lynne’s birthday, she arrived last night. It’s always nice to have your Mum with you when you celebrate how it all began.

Back Brewing

The kids and I had a great brew day. Dusted all the old equipment off, last batch in my beer notebook was 2009. Today’s batch was an old favorite, Dry Irish Stout, the extract kit from Northern Brewer. I can fully recommend that store. All three kids were very excited about helping; Connor was the only one to stay with me throughout the process. He liked being in charge of the water and the tap. I just checked it and it is going full blast already, the benefit of a yeast starter. I will post an update in a few weeks on how it turned out. My next batch will be a Bavarian Hefeweizen for the summer, and will return to an all-grain setup.  

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers out there. Each of you is so very special in your own way, you all deserve recognition and thanks today.

We have three special mothers in our family, Gran and Granny of course, so many thanks to you both once again, we would not be the people we are without you.

And to Lynne of course, our super Mother. She does so many many things and all so well. We could literally not ask anything more from her. You are our engine and we all thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You make us who we are and for that we are forever grateful. Thank you.

A Stolen Moment?

Anja and Isabel, having spent their entire life looking through my camera lens, have now settled into a very steady love/hate relationship with the camera. They now usually scream and run when the camera is uncapped, mostly since they are at an age  when they are naturally gaining a generous sense of self-awareness. However, they are also still pretty vain and love to see images of themselves in the tiny viewfinder. 

Last night I had one of those rare moments when the girls actually brought me the camera to capture an image they had conjured (most likely Anja). The image below is my favorite from the shots I took. The image looks like it was stolen by the passing photographer, in reality it was staged by Anja, I was merely the operations guy! As a Dad though, an image like this simply melts the heart!!

Busy Busy Day in the garden

All five of us spent literally the entire day in the garden. We got lots of Spring-cleaning done in addition to many annuals put in, new grass seed put down, plus four new trees. Earlier this year we took a few large trees out that did not survive the drought last year. Today we started afresh with some nice flowering crabapples. Each one of the kids got to call a tree their own which will make for a nice photo opportunity 10-15 years from now.

Back Running the Indy Half Marathon

This day last year as I walked to class ion an absolutely beautiful crisp Chicago Spring morning I was lamenting the crowd gathering in Indianapolis to run the annual half marathon. I had run it almost every year since moving to the US but not that day since I had class. I vowed then that this year would be different.

And so it was, we once again had a fantastic morning for running and I enjoyed it very much (as much as one can enjoy running 13.1 mile without having really trained). Had a great morning with Steve and Phil my neighbors and Bill our entertainment and driver for the day. They all ran. I did not have my best performance with a 1:55 finish but as everything else in life, you reap what you sow.