1313

According to the stats for this blog, I have written 1313 posts before starting this one. A great number, in my book, seeing how it affirms my birth day not once, but twice!

And on that random note, this post will simply catch readers up on the goings on since that 1313th post (actually the one before it, which promised more news than was ever delivered). It's been a busy time, and I'll try to be brief.

We were actually gone more than we were home in May, with trips serving as bookends to the month. You know already about the first trip to Melrose and welcoming Rock to the world. Here are some pictures that ultimately came our way via mom's camera:

Ken has been immersed in a series of historic fiction novels by Sharon Kay Penman, books I read ages ago and thought he would enjoy given our Templar affiliation. These are set in England and Wales in the 13th century, more of less. Unfortunately he hasn't been able to read them in order, but that hasn't dampened his enthusiasm. "For certs!" he would concur!

This is probably the best picture of us that's been taken in a while. 

The porch chairs at Melrose have probably held up for at least 50 years (they sure don't make stuff the way they used to), but were in need of repainting and recovering. Ken sanded, then mom and I started to prime and paint (there were 4 chairs in total). Until Ken came along and hoisted the chairs upside down with a coat hanger and slapped those babies silly with his paint brush and wrapped up the paint project in no time! He and I then took pains to master the craft of attaching the seat covers. It's not as easy as it looks!

Okay, enough Melrose pictures.

The next road trip was to Durham, NC for a wedding, then a trip down to Augusta for a "gender reveal" party. Silly me, I thought everyone knew what this kind of event was about, but I got more blank looks than I would have thought possible. For the uninitiated, a gender reveal party is an event at which the gender of a baby in utero is revealed.  Some of you already know from facebook, but I'll go ahead and diffuse the suspense by sharing that it's a boy! Another boy! That makes five grandsons!

Back to the wedding... here's the bride and groom. I officiated. This is my goddaughter's sister.

From Durham the plan was to join Kenneth and Trisha with Trisha's family for a camp-out before heading to Melrose for a few days. Alas, the camp-out got camped out, so we had to shift gears and make a last minute alternate plan. We did get to enjoy a few hours at the campground before a sunset departure, which allowed for this lovely photo.

We enjoyed some extra time with family between our arrival and the big event, including pool time with the grandsons, and an afternoon at a local park. I love this picture of Ken and Jude.

Our gift to K&T and baby-on-the-way was a plate that everyone at the party was able to sign. The plate then gets baked and the writing becomes permanent. At least that is the idea. Here's a picture of Travis signing said plate on behalf of his family.

And here's a picture of the parents-in-waiting. We were asked to come wearing either pink or blue, thereby attaching ourselves to a team. The reveal happened when a balloon was popped and blue confetti spilled out. 

I realize that this has been far from a newsy post, but I've run out of time putting this together and am duty-bound to go mow the front yard. 

Until next time, whenever that may be, I bid you adieu.