Boundless Playground

Erin, Landon, and Brody invited us and the Rudds to play and picnic at the new Boundless Playground at the old "airplane" park here in E'ville.  The Jr. Service Club did a fantastic job of raising funds and installing this super cool, state-of-the-art playground for all ages and abilities.  

Landon and Delaney climbed a tree.

Harper in the honeycomb.

Brody and Harper on the butterfly teeter-totter.

Stre-e-e-tch

Lunch time!

All four kids swinging.  Leave it to Harper to be the only one facing the opposite direction.

Sisters

Five Generations!

Ken and Kathy organized a trip for our whole family to go down to Florida the week before Memorial Day.  It was going to be Jon's last family trip before entering the Navy and Trevor's first.  It would also be the first time that five, yes five, generations of our family would be together.  Trevor is Grandma Duke's first great-great-grandchild.  I don't know many, if any, people that can say they have met their great-great-grandma.  How lucky!

L-R 

Great-Grandma Honey (Eileen) 61 yrs, Trevor 10 months, Mommy Ann 21yrs, Great-Great-Grandma Joan Duke 85 yrs, Grandpa Ken 40 yrs

As usual, I posted some of the highlights of the trip on Facebook and have already ordered my photobook from Shutterfly, so I will not be blogging about the trip.

I will say, however,  that it was nearly a perfect vacation.  The weather was the best that I have ever had in Florida - mid-80's, full sun, not a drop of rain, and clear, calm seas.  It was fantastic to have all of the family together making memories, especially in light of Kathy's dad's passing.  We all thoroughly enjoyed our time and the Seaspray property.  Thanks to Ken, Kathy, mom, and Ed for making it happen!

Jon's High School Graduation

Today was 13 years in the making - Jon's high school graduation!  It was a perfect day except for the very sad absence of Jon's Papa Jim who was in the hospital just days from passing away after having a heart attack.  Overall, it was a happy day with not many tears except when the principals recognized the graduates who were headed for military service.  All of us are so proud of Jon's decision to enlist in the Navy, but the reality of his leaving in a month is setting in.  Congratulations, Jon!

 Great-grandpa Boo and Trevor

 Proud Dad

 Harper and Cate try to entertain Trevor.  We all took a turn, but only Grandpa Ken was able to get him to settle in to sleep by walking him in his stroller.  He always has the magic touch.

 Standing to be recognized for military service

 Here he goes!

 Diploma in hand

 Ken and Jon

 Boo and Jon

 Boo, Grams, andJon

 Honey and Jon

 Kathy, Jon, and Ken

 The aunts

 The grandmas

 The girl cousins

One of Jon's biggest fans, Bennett

Mothers Day 2013

We celebrated Mother's Day at our house with dinner from Bella Milano.  Everyone was able to make it, even though Kathy's dad Jim was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.  Jake and Ed made it home from a Delorean show in Indianapolis in time for dinner.  

It was a little chilly outside, but I made everyone go out onto the front porch for the required pictures, especially since it will be Jon's last Mother's Day at home and Trevor's first!

Trevor, Ann, Kathy, Jon

Four generations

Jen, Mom, Ken

Honey and her grandkids and great-grandson

Me and my girls - it was almost the last picture of the day and they were d.o.n.e.

But they perked up to get a picture with Daddy and Mama!

I love this video of Trevor scaring Kathy.  Makes me smile every time I watch it!

BFFs

Deb's birthday was a horrible day because things were touch-and-go after her dad's quadruple bypass.  So this afternoon, Ness and I decided to bust her out of the hospital where she had been spending so many hours at her dad's bedside getting all of the facts and details from the doctors and nurses.  I have already told her how proud I am of her for being Jim's advocate and taking on so many responsibilities as the liason between the hospital staff and her family.  She has learned so much that I think they are going to offer her a part-time job on the ICU floor!

After Ness and Deb entertained Jim's nurse, Luke, with tales of our past and warnings about being a daddy of a little girl, we spent 15 minutes in the parking garage holding up traffic while Ness tried to find the ticket to get out.  Finally, we were able to take Deb to do two of her favorite things - shop for shoes at DSW and eat dinner at Maggiano's - as a distraction.  We had a lot of fun laughing and gossiping until Deb's phone rang and it was the hospital.  They had never called her before, she had always called them, so it was a tense couple of moments while they gave her an update and explained the possible need for another procedure.  It was not an emergency, but certainly put a damper on things.  Dinner was over anyway, so we took Deb back to the hospital and sat in the waiting room while she spoke with the doctors.  Once we knew he was going to be stable, Ness and I left.

I am so thankful for my BFFs.  We have known each other for over 22 years and plan to be together through thick and thin for at least that many more! 

May Carousel 2013

Jon was chosen to be one of the Senior dancers at May Carousel tonight, so his posse went to support him.  He was so handsome!  Ken was also a senior dancer, so it was neat to see him follow in his footsteps.  It really is an honor to be chosen.  These pictures are all in backwards order.

 Ken, Kathy, and Jon

 Jon and Honey

 Claire, Harper, Cate, and Delaney - hopefully they will be friends as long as their moms!

 Jon and his aunts

 BFFs!  Somehow it all comes back to being about us! 

Deb is very in to "selfies" these days and tried to get one of the three of us.  I got the giggles so bad and couldn't handle it.  I look like I am trying to ward off the papparazzi!

Outside Fun

 Here are a bunch of random pictures from my phone of the kids playing outside the past few weeks:

 Harper, Lucas, and Logan with popsicles

 The Pink Ladies

 Delaney, Harper, and Alayna with cantaloupe on the Gator

I love these pictures of the girls running after church in front of the beautiful sunset.

 A train on the slide 

 Allan and Harper take a snack break on a bike ride.