One Year...

Jim and Mary,

A year has passed.
You are gone but not forgotten.
Your legacies live on and continue to bring joy and wonder to the world.
As you watch down upon us, you are always remembered.
May the wind be at your back and the sun on your faces.

My favorite Holiday reminds me of my grandparents

It didn't come after the memorial service...

It didn't come after Lobster day...

Will it come over Thanksgiving? My favorite holiday and the holiday to mark my grandparents anniversary and my grandmother's birthday.

Probably not.

Will it ever come? Does it need to come?

These are the questions that I have been asking myself over the last few weeks. I may be 3000 miles away, but it seems like we are still stuck, still searching, still waiting, still looking for closure.

Maybe it is just me, maybe I can't get the closure because I am far away and don't see how the family interacts. I don't think it is just me though.

I think how November 2009 came and how I felt when it really has been a year since we said goodbye to our grandparents, I think deep down inside we all knew that would be the last time we would see them like that. Them... how we know them. I was not there for the going away picnic, but from the photos they looked so happy, especially grandpa. He was pulled from the brink and was going on to live his life like normal. Going to Florida, only a little bit behind schedule. See, nothing ever changes in Connecticut. One of the things that I could count on.

Here we are now, just days away from Thanksgiving, this was always my favorite holiday and seeing my grandmother in action on this holiday as a kid made me want to be just like her. Since I was 21, I have prepared a Thanksgiving meal each year, with only one exception – their 60^th anniversary celebration dinner.

It has been 8 months since they have passed and in that time our family has had so much happen, so much personal tragedy and so much triumph. It seems almost impossible that all that has happened in a short 8 month time frame. It is like karma was getting even with us, things were good for so long and then we just had to deal with some bad stuff for a while. But then I remember, no matter how bad it keeps getting, how impossible it all seems – think of what Grandma and Grandpa went through. All of the loss that they suffered and they just kept going forward. For a good part of her life, Gram was a teacher. Even in her death, she is still a teacher.

I am not sure when closure for me will come. Maybe it will come next summer when I come back to Latimer Point and stay at the cottage. Maybe it will come when I go to visit their grave site, maybe it will come when I can finally work up the courage to watch the DVD of photos that my cousins worked so hard to put together. For now, I take comfort in something as simple as my grandmother's perfectly printed Jam labels, I carry one that says "blueberry" with me all the time.

Maybe it will never come...then what? I guess I'll just have to live life like my grandparents taught me. One day at a time and don't lose sight of what is right in front of you. Although I am very sad that they are no longer with us...I shudder at the thought that we could have never have had them to begin with and I am happy that I has as much time with them as I did.

I miss them, but I am happy!!

Minam Hunting Trip 2009 = success!

This was the Lostine River we camped next too in the Eagle Cap Wilderness

We got dumped on for 3 days during the trip

The Hunting crew (Joe, Sean, Ryan)


The 4x4 that I ended up getting midway through the trip

Not a bad rack if I say so myself

Think he likes ice cream! Boys got a treat night for potty training (Liam) and doing a great job getting his haircut like a big boy (Tyler!)

Fishing!

Last Saturday we decided to head to the Lake (Hagg Lake), since Tyler had been asking to go fishing for many weeks now. Anyway I went early in the morning to get a bike ride in around the single track loop with some friends, and Jules and the kids met me out there afterwards. We packed a picnic lunch, Julie bought her fishing license and we threw the poles in the water after eating. Low and behold they were hittin like crazy (ok not really), but the kids did reel in quite a few of these little guys. We threw them all back (I think it was the same one that was really hungry!). The kids loved it, so we are planning another fishing trip for next weekend, and I am going to squeeze in another MTB ride!


Tyler with his first fish caught!


Mom helping out the proud fisherman


Liam caught some too!

Tyler with another catch

Haircuts at Home!

We normally take the kids to a fun kids only haircut place, but it is summer and they do not need fancy haircuts, besides their hair grows so fast! So, we bought some clippers at Target and after one session, they have already paid for themselves! Here are the BEFORE, DURING and AFTER Photos. Can you guess which child behaved better???

Liam, before!


During - he looks like a little girl in this picture.
Holding still for daddy!
Almost done!
Dad is just putting on the finishing touches!
Cheese!!! (Note Tyler is in the background, already negotiating to avoid getting his haircut) Not too, bad, the light blond hair hides any mistakes, so his actually looks pretty good!
Tyler before - enjoying his last few moments of happiness!
Tyler during, he was pretty squirmy.
Tyler screaming! He hates it and is yelling that is hurts.
Tyler is pissed! Look at his face.
And there is the happy boy with his half, hack job of a haircut since he would not sit still. It actually isn't that bad. Ryan did a good job considering he had a screaming child for the entire 5 minutes that it took to cut his hair.
Yes, we will pay for a real haircut for Tyler before he starts Kindergarten!

Snow in Portland?!?!

Now that Spring is here and we have even had a few summer days, we need remember to horrible event that happened in Portland this winter....SNOW!

Tyler is standing in front of our house at the edge of the road. Do you see the road? NO, because they don't plow here!! If you don't plow, then why does it snow?! Or maybe I should ask if it snows, then shouldn't you plow?

Anyway, the kids had a ton of fun and I hadn't seen that much snow on the ground since April 1997 when I lived in Boston.

The freezing rain is GREAT here. Nothing beats 10 inches of snow with 1 solid inch of freezing rain on top.....

Tyler and our neighbor McKenzie sledding down their driveway!

Liam was confused and didn't really like the snow at all (yep, he's my son!)

And this post concludes, 2008. Hopefully I will get started on our 2009 stuff!!! Stay tuned.