Monday, December 24, 2007

Happy Holidays




Our daughter is definitely pregnant. It shows. We are thrilled. We'll be good grandparents; we are practicing our spoiling!

Todd moved to Boston with Tracy. She's going to Boston College Law School, and he is a freelance Democratic consultant.

In the spring we saw Jen perform in two plays—one for children and one for grownups. She was great in both.

We enjoyed having good friends Gary and Carol visit us in the spring with their dog, Darwin. We also went to a resort in Lake Lure, NC, with friends Dottie and Rich, and had a nice, relaxing time.

This year we thought larger than last year's 4700 miles in the car, so in June we drove out West. In Nerinx, KY, we visited Sister Mary Alice Ely, Ken's mom's cousin who “retired” back to the Mother House. We loved visiting with her and learned a few stories about Marge we had never heard.

It rained so much we couldn't play golf in Kansas City, so we went to a casino. I won a little, Ken won more.

Jan in Colorado Springs gave us a lovely room looking at Pikes Peak. And, as you see in our photo, Todd met us for a couple of days in Estes Park. The mountains are spectacular, but the high altitude didn't agree with us. We went to Golden, where Todd was Best Man in his best friend's wedding. Tracy was there, too. We had a great time.

On to Glen Rock, WY, to see Jim and Sandy whom we hadn't seen in 20 years. They took us to Ayres Natural Bridge for a picnic. What a gem of a spot. A little park in a canyon that water had carved out of red rock. It was wonderful to see them, and we appreciated their hospitality.

After some scary weather in Nebraska we stopped in Auburn to visit family graves and met a cousin Ken didn't know—Bill. We visited with him and his wife, Barb, and Sister Mary's brother, Dick and his wife Mary Ann. Thank you, Dick, for dinner. We also saw a friend of Ken's mom's, Inez.

In Winfield, IA, we saw Plants' graves—Ken's great-great grandparents and some of their family. It's amazing what I have found on the Internet.

We bummed off all the friends we could in Michigan and had a wonderful time. Our real roots are there, and we always enjoy our time there with friends.

Both Jen and Todd came for a long weekend in the summer—different times. We are so lucky that we get to spend time with our kids and their loved ones, and they seem to think we're okay, too.

Martin and Jen will be moving next summer to Madison, NJ. Martin has accepted a professorship at Drew University where he did his undergrad work.

Our whole family is here for Christmas, including Ken's sister. Our upstairs neighbors have donated their condo again, so we have six bedrooms and four baths. Everybody has their own space. It's crazy but great fun having everybody together.

My mom is here for a couple of months to avoid the worst of northern Michigan winter. Then in March she's off to spend a few weeks with my brother Joe and his wife Carol in Omak, WA.

We're playing golf and enjoyed a warmer than usual December. I'm designing digital scrapbook materials. You can download my Freebie by following the link below:

http://www.4shared.com/dir/4269049/4a626811/Tibs_Botanicals.html

You can purchase my creations at http://www.legacyscrapbooking.com/.

My with for all is health, happiness and peace in the coming year.

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