Birthday Celebration Weekend

Margret and her sister, Carol, came to visit us this weekend. It was great to spend time with them and we celebrated Margret's 70th Birthday. Actually, her birthday is Tuesday so we got a jump on the celebrating part.
Here are the party people at McCormick & Schmick's on the Country Club Plaza: Carol, Margret, Bruce, Ryan, & Megan. We had a nice dinner in one of their private table coves. Our waiter did a good job of pampering us with not only a free birthday dessert but Margret got a free bowl of clam chowder. Yummy!! We all helped her finish off both :)

It was a fun weekend we'll remember fondly!

New Pictures of Megan & Ryan

Derek & Amy just took new pictures of the kids for me. They turned out really good! Have I mentioned how much I love having a professional photographer in the family? I do!!
I think it will be fun to look back in the upcoming years and see when Megan was taller than Ryan. I try to get a picture every 2 to 3 years. My guess is he'll out-grow her by the next picture. Next photo will probably be when Megan is a senior & Ryan is a freshman. Yikes!

We did some pictures of just Ryan too for his 6th grade graduation. I'll post some of those in the future. Ryan was a good sport but he doesn't like getting his picture taken as much as Megan.

As you can tell...Megan is photogenic like her dad & poor Ryan is not (like me)! Oh well - I don't think it bothers him so that's good :)

Bruce & his lobsters

Bruce was on a team at work that won a contest. Their prize was live New England lobsters. They shipped them overnight to our house & we had to cook them the same day.

Here's Bruce with his little friends. They aren't really red until you cook them. Good thing they had those rubberbands on their claws or they would have pinched him.

This is after we cooked them in boiling water. Now they are red.

I'd never had lobster before. It was good. Luckily they sent bibs and a tool to crack open the shell or we would have been lost. It's work to get the meat out but that was part of the fun. Here's Bruce enjoying the spoils of his win:

Notice the kids aren't in the picture. Ryan was umpiring and Megan was out with friends. This was like "empty nester" practice for us & we did just fine :)

5 VG Boys in their 70s Video

I didn't take many pictures during the 4th of July weekend - I know, I'm bad - but I did get this video of Dad & his brothers in the parade. Aunt Kathy made a sign saying 5 VGs in their 70s and all their names. The sign was on the front of Dad's tractor. Dad led the way since he's the youngest, then Bob, Vernon, Dean, & Bub.

Dad was very careful to have the tractors as similar as possible. They looked great (I'm biased of course) and they got 2nd place in the antique category.

I realize most of us saw this live but thought I'd post the video for Brent & Amy's sake. Maybe Zella will enjoy it too :) Dale, Derek, Ty, & Bruce also drove tractors in the parade so I guess they didn't get to see Dad and his brothers either.

I did get this quick photo of Bruce - big guy on a little tractor :)

It was a fun weekend. Thanks again Mom & Dad for hosting the fun!