MY Beautiful Baby

Here he is, on his way to his Senior year Homecoming dance with his friends. I could go on and on about how great Jake is, but surely if you're reading this blog, you already know.

Beautiful Beautiful Bella

I don't know how this keeps happening. Perhaps it's just the good genetic material at play here. But I have ANOTHER beautiful granddaughter. Isabella Chihiro Wilde (isn't that a beautiful name too?) was born on August 17th. (I will always remember my brother David's birthday from now on, unlike this time since I was a bit distracted. Sorry bro.) Bella is not only beautiful, but has a calm and peaceful temperament. She eats and poops like there's no tomorrow, but crying?-- not so much. I was able to spend 6 days with Jennie and Bella, not to mention enjoying the company of Aurora, Dustin, Kelcy, Ellie, and Ben too. I even got to see my old friend, Brett Weber (say WEBBA), who is like a brother to Ben, and so feels like a son to me. Here are a few pix:...well, a lotta pix:

Now here's the truly mediocre (being generous with myself here) part. I can get pictures in. I can get text in. But I can't seem to get much control over where any of it lands. I could fuss and spend hours, and get really frustrated and decide to chuck the whole thing. Or just say "Oh well, I guess that will have to be good enough." I'm opting for the latter. So enjoy trying to match up the following descriptions with their relevant photos.

We went on a tour of Peacefield, the home of John and Abigail Adams in Quincy. Well at least Ben, Brett, Bella and I went on the tour. Jennie and Kelcy stayed outside and let the toddlers toddle.

It was Rory's birthday on august 31st. She's a terrific two! We had a very fun BBQ (Rory's favorite) with delicious halibut which "Unca Ben" caught in Alaska. Rory got lots of nice gifts, but I believe her favorite was the Shreck 3 movie from her parents, to whom she exclaimed "YOU DA BEST!" Ellie got a little sleepy on the fish and missed out on all the post-dinner activities.

Jennie will probably grow to despise Rory's new doll stroller. No one goes anywhere until that dolly has her "beep bop" securely fastened. But once that is done, Rory is off to the races.

I taught Bella to wave for pictures. I wanted her to break her Aunt Chris's record, who has waved or done the peace sign in every picture she's been in since she was approximately 18 months old.

We all took some relaxing walks, had a great time at the park and the playground, and I treasured every moment I was there. Thanks all of you, for being amazing people, and treating your old ma so kindly. "YOU DA BEST!!!"