Emmy and Library Gala

Emmy was laying in the yard and I just had to take her picture.

Benjamin enjoyed these big building blocks at the end of the summer reading gala at the library.

Science was the theme of the program this year so many of the stations were science tables, blowing up balloons with vinegar and baking soda reaction gases.

The Wedding and Making My Way Home

 Wedding week quickly came to the day of the wedding. 

Working on the bouquet for the bride, hydrangeas are temperamental flowers, just sayin', good thing they are beautiful flowers.

 

See the picture above, the Mother of the Bride's family and friends came out on Saturday morning to help set up. They were a huge blessing and what a work force. They came, they worked until I had to send them away because the to do list was complete. Gotta love our hometown folks.

Speaking of hometown folks, there were four of us from our graduating class at the wedding. The top picture is all of us from July 2009 an the bottom picture is from the wedding. Thankful to see friends.

 

The entrance to to the reception tent

  

The pergola type arch for the ceremony.

 

The Bride and Groom!

The Bride and Mom

The sign in table, the guest book was a Bible.

Favors and sparklers for the goodbye.

The centerpieces, blurry as they are. The table numbers were random numbers from the Bride and Grooms life together thus far, we did not have thirty-three tables.

The Bride's Granny and I, she sure doesn't look like a Granny. 

  

My people for the week, Michelle and two of her Grand babies, isn't this the cutest flower girl ever? 

These women, I had a great week with these women.

L to R: 

Daughter-in-Law of Michelle and Mom of the Grands, Pa-Pa (Patti, Mother of the Bride), Flower girl, Michelle

Cake table and picture display. I love that the cakes were different varieties and simple, can't say how much I like this over the traditional wedding cake.

 Getting these chairs lined up was a challenge but we had two people who stuck with it and got them just right.

A really cool sign listing where the guests traveled from, yes, I traveled the farthest.

The arch in progress

Another sign

I love this picture. After dark the flower girl was sleepy so her Nanny, Michelle, took her off to a quiet spot and got her to sleep. I joined them to sit down away from the noise and wait until I could start cleaning up. The wedding night was a super moon night, that was cool.

 

Sunday morning we got up and packed up and made sure everything was where it needed to be and we hit the road south. I was picked up by my cousin in Cincinnati and he took me to his house where he and his wife took care of me. We went to Sunday evening service at their church, we had dinner and I spent the night there. Time with family no matter how short is always time well spent. I am very thankful for their generosity. The next morning my cousin's wonderful wife drove me to the airport with a quick stop to pick up University of Kentucky shirts for my Blessings and I began my journey home.

Benjamin in his new UK shirt!

Back to Alaskan Life-Berry Picking Has Begun

 

With all of the rain we have had this summer the mushrooms are everywhere and they are huge. I really wish I knew my shrooms so I could harvest some.

Nagoonberries are ripe and I picked tonight until I could no longer stand the mosquitoes and my back yelled for mercy. These babies grow on the ground and picking isn't the most fun, but they are berries and berries make jelly and well, my crew eats a lot of jelly. Tomorrow we will look for raspberries but tonight I got a start with nagoonberries. 

 

I had to take a picture of how I kept sane while picking. The mosquitoes are plentiful this year, as in I haven't seen mosquitoes like this in years. Hood up and long pants for evening picking. 

 

The berries 

These babies grow on the edge of our yard, so the picking is convenient.

 

We have a few raspberry plants in our yard so I picked those as I went along. I will make a mixed berry jelly so combining berries isn't a big deal. I took this picture to show the difference between the raspberries, on the left and the nagoonberries.

 

I wore the wrong shoes but I survived. As soon as I took the picture these mosquitoes were dead. 

 

News alert: tomorrow is supposed to reach seventy degrees, I pray the forecast is correct. I need sun and warmer and so does the garden. 

Beginning the Week

Sunday we gathered up the bride and her aunt and went to lunch at Panera!

After lunch we went to the Aunt's house where some of us piled up in her bed during the house tour. Yes, we made ourselves at home. After this I was on a couch downstairs getting preferential treat because, well, I am Marmey after all. Aunt remeinded me that she has known me since she was fourteen. Yes, we are now old. 

Monday or Tuesday we spent some time playing Yahtzee. 

Hanging with Bride while she answered questions for the photographer. 

New peeps started coming into town on Wednesday. Here I am on Thursday with Suzanne, she is the same age as my sisters and we used to take her with us when she was four, she is now pregnant with her first baby. Time flies.

We took time Thursday morning for a quick trip to the mall for pedis, lunch (I had falafel) and some quick shopping. I bought make up. 

Friday, Michelle and I headed out for final wedding needs shopping. Here we are at Home Depot.

I had to have a picture in front of Tony's Country Store in Lambertville, Michigan. 

Me, Mom of the Bride, Pa-Pa as my kids call her, and Michelle.

Another one of us in the car, lots of wedding shopping went on.

Day Two of the Mom of the Last Frontier Travels to the Lower Forty-eight

Kentucky Blue, it is everywhere in the Bluegrass state. This chair is extra special because Em is sittng in on this chair. Em is the granddaughter of my new friend, two of her grandkids and their sweet Mama were part of our traveling wedding caravan. Those two blessings are super kiddos, their Mama is super, too. 

Can their be a cuter child? I do not think so, perfect, she is perfect. 

My parents came up in the convertible and this is my epic fail at getting an usie of my Dad and I in the convertible. Crazy sun and hair, I couldn't see the screen. Oh well, I have proof of my craziness and wild hair.

And the horse parks, love all those white fences. This park was right behind our hotel and I cannot remember the name but it is actually a race track. 

Oh my Old Kentucky Home. 

In Which Mom From the Last Frontier Goes to the Lower Forty-Eight

I began getting super excited about my trip when I got a call from one set of my parents saying they were coming up to see me when I arrived in the Lower 48!! Yay for my forever friend and our travel caravan being flexible enough to allow us extra time to visit. The time was short but we got to see each other in person. My Dad had surgery a few weeks ago so it was extra special to see them.

And waiting on me at the hotel (my friends let my parents pick me up from the airport) my forever friend (in the middle) and my new forever friend on the other side. 

I arrived late at night and this was us the next morning after my Dad went and picked up Starbucks for everyone, except me the non coffee drinker, and before our breakfast at Cracker Barrel. 

Baseball is My Family's Past Time

Baseball follows me when I fly. Guess which airports I have been through today?

I just happened to have a little more time in my second airport and the food near my gate didn't appeal to me. So, I took off in search of food and I saw a man and two children carrying Chick fil a bags and cups. I took off and had some Chick fil a for lunch!!! 

Hey, my Blessings play on the Twins team in our local league. 

Two more airports and two more flights. One more baseball town and I will be so glad to see Bluegrass.  

Tonight I will see one set of my parents:-):-), my forever friend, and meet my forever friends other bestie for the very first time ever. We are then off to spend a week putting a wedding together. I am looking forward to wedding week!

Rain, Rain and More Rain

Folks, we are soaked, literally soaked. The ground us saturated with water as we have had rainy day after rainy day. We have an occasional rain free or sunny day here and there very few and far between. The only upside is that there are no forest fires in the state so we aren't breathing smoke filled air. I am thankful for no smoke but wow this is one odd summer.
Today is the third Wednesday that baseball games have been rained out.
Last year by the end of June we had had twenty days with temps above eighty degrees. Not so much this year.
May I no longer see this picture when I look at my phone, how dreary is this?