Thanksgiving Weekend

The Thanksgiving Weekend was 4 fun days of family and friends from 4 continents. The weekend before, SRC (from Washington, DC) joined JQ (from San Jose, California) in Tempe, Arizona, where she watched him compete in the Arizona Ironman. Here is a shot mid-race: Below you can watch JQ as he finishes the Ironman in his best time ever of 11 hours and 21 minutes:

After the Ironman, they visited Taliesin, The Grand Canyon, friends of JQ's in St. George, Utah, and The Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada, before joining us here. In the meantime, SACII, Cheryl and Melissa came from Missouri. Andy came from Augusta, Georgia, and Donna joined us from Springfield, Missouri. George, who was visiting family in Boston, invited his 2 lawyer friends (Victoria and Silvia) from Paraguay and his 2 German buddies (Steffen and Joerg) to join us for the weekend and experience their first American Thanksgiving.

Oh yes, Heidi came from Kansas City, Joe from Nebraska and Emily from Colorado. Vittoria from Italy stopped by briefly as did Moritz from Germany. We also had Granny & Granddad, Oma, Nancy, Martina, Carolyn, Eddie, Joe, Gus, Alex, Amy, Paul, Mia, Sam and Finn from Topeka. Travis also brought by some buddies but I missed all of their names. One was from Japan, allowing JQ a brief conversational exchange. Here is a group photo of some:

Here are some random other shots:

After the manly hunters captured the food, we had a feast of Thanksgiving:

Games were played. The Pictionary Hall of Fame was established. The pirate golfer and the bathrobe were the first qualifiers.

We also joined John, Katie and Landon ... all from Chicago, Kim ... from Kansas City and approximately 139 Nutcrackers at Glenn and Mary's house.

We also attended the The Junior Potwin Players' performance of A Christmas Carol. I took pictures of parents taking pictures:The upcoming Christmas season inspired us to explore Crow Mountain Farm in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Once found, it was easily captured by the Mighty Lumberjacks ... ... and logged down the muddy road toward home.Once inside, it rebelled by smelling like cat urine.

It is now the perfect outside Christmas tree.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

Maple magnificence

Words cannot describe it ...

Potwin does Halloween - 2008

Halloween night ... it was a Friday, the weather was perfect and the houses were decorated. We braced ourselves for lots of Trick or Treaters and according to our neighbors, over 1400 showed up. With help from our friends, we treated them all.

SRC turns 28

While Mom and Dad may have sent her some colorful birthday presents, Jake flew to Washington DC to take SRC to dinner and the theater. Cool move Jake!

Boswell Jr. High School Reunion - October 2008

Even though the building was razed in 1980, many of us still feel the spirit of Boswell Jr. High School. In October, an all-class reunion was held at Boswell Square Park ... the site of the school. I was lucky enough to have my picture taken with my dear friend Jocelyn.

Crow Mountain Farm - Milo Mania

As Summer drew to a close, it was time to check out Crow Mountain Farm. Milo was everywhere. While it was beautiful ... danger lurked. It was lucky for Helen that I was able to slay the Dragon Cadillac.

Helen and Samantha travel

In late August and early September, Helen and Samantha travel to Greece to see Clea and her family. After 10 days in Greece, Helen returns home while Samantha meets up with Phil. They travel Germany and Switzerland before Samantha returns home for a couple of days before she begins her driving tour of the deep South. Here are a few of the 746 pictures (not counting video clips) from Greece, Germany and Switzerland. Fun stuff.

Hello - Goodbye

After spending the summer in Paraguay, George returns to Topeka to start his second year at Washburn University. After spending the summer in Topeka, Phil returns to Germany to start his second year at the University of Mannheim. We host a "hello-goodbye" party.


Cake flashback to May 2005:

Michael and Katie get married

We go to Wichita to help Michael Barton get married. We see the Eubanks and have a really nice time.

Beiter Family visit

All the way from Hechingen, Germany, the Beiter family (Karl-Heinz, Monika and Dominik) comes to visit. Phil introduces them to Topeka while we introduce them to family and friends. They are fun, smart, interesting and really good sports as the temperature hits 100 degrees. They leave for Seattle to visit Dominik's host family. It is a pleasure to know them.