New Topekans

Helen's job allows her an opportunity to meet all kinds of interesting people as they move to Topeka.  She loves it.  Last weekend Helen organized a dinner party for people who had moved to Topeka in 2011.  The New Topekans' Dinner Party included people from Florida, New York, Colorado, Iowa and Arizona.  It was fun.

Welcome to Topeka.

60 years old ....

With the help of family and friends, last Friday I celebrated my 60th birthday.  Let me say that again ...

I CELEBRATED MY 60TH BIRTHDAY!  

Apparently 60 is the universal pivot point of the downhill slide as the day before my birthday, I got this solicitation in the mail:

Shrugging this off, my loving family took me to The North Star for a good old fashioned Kansas steak dinner.  

It was great.

I'll let you know about the Funeral Assistance Program.

Until then ... I think 60 is a blast.

Oma turns 83

Tonight we helped Oma celebrate her 83rd birthday.  We had an extra nice visit reflecting on all the people Oma has touched in her life.  We could not count them all.  We celebrated with strawberry ice cream and yummy German chocolate.  Here is 83 year old Oma with her (almost 60 year old) daughter ....

and here is a flashback photo (circa 1989) of Oma as she's reads to Melissa and Samantha.

I think (?) Oma was about 60 years old in this photo.

Very interesting.

35 years ... and counting

Thanks to SRQ and JRQ, we were able to spend our 35th wedding anniversary in exotic Nassau, the capital city of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.  They provided us with 5 wonderful days at the Sheraton on Cable Beach.  Here is the view from our 9th floor balcony.

Can you say spectacular?

We arrived on January 1st and got to vicariously enjoy the annual Junkanoo celebration (a cross between Mardi Gras and Carnival) that started at midnight and ended at noon the next day.   Here is the parade at about 2 am.

 Groups of hundreds compete for prizes.  The competition is fierce.  As luck would have it, we got to witness the awards presentation (and celebration) at the City Park which was across the street from the The Fish Fry ... an eclectic collection of funky locally owned restaurants. We ate there twice and can strongly recommend Oh Andros where we made new friends

and ate the best Spicy Grilled Grouper (with peas and rice) ever!  The guava duff was spectacular too.  Oh yes, Helen is still talking about Sky Juice. 

We also walked historic downtown Nassau, visited the 214 year old public library (and museum) ...

gawked at massive cruise ships 

and walked the giant bridge to Paradise Island for a short visit to Atlantis.

But mostly, we got to enjoy the super friendly nature of the Bahamian people, soak up their culture ...

and do nothing ... except for enjoying each other and 35 years of marriage.

Happy Anniversary Helen.

Christmas Holiday 2011

Christmas 2011 got off to a swinging start when Dan and Helen Claus surprisingly showed up in our front yard.  

Somebody added Big Red Glasses on Helen Claus.

It is one more chapter in the ongoing spar with Nameless Neighbor who insists that our classic wreaths are inadequate Christmas decorations.  

Neighborhood mischief intensified when Nameless Neighbor's house of 8,614 blue bulbs was visited by the Red Bulb Vandal.  We thought about it, but didn't do it.

Family fun started when Mark and Daya arrived from Minnesota followed by Samantha and Jake flying in from California via Utah.  We sang Christmas Carols on the Circle ...

and spent hours wrapping Christmas presents.  This year we got to enjoy Jake Art on some of the packages.

Christmas Eve dinner was two ginormous pots of soup ... prepared by a svelte Mark ...

and a mega massive ham (named Pam) that was prepared by Chef Jacob.

(Photo courtesy of SRQ)

Andy, Donna, Baby Hope, the Gs, Nancy, SACII and Cheryl, Bev and Family, Carolyn, the Qs, Mark and Daya all joined us for Christmas Eve Dinner.

So did Abbie and Bobbie but they were too late for the group photo.  A fun time was had by all ...

but, Samantha's Cousinette Baby Hope stole the show.

Christmas morning Helen made California Eggs Crackle

as we waited for Melissa, Roby, Anna and Camden to arrive.   Then, we posed for our traditional group photo

and dug into the presents.

  It was a blast!  The girls followed our Guy Gift theme with Girl Bling 

and a crowd pleasing Hat Show.

Unfortunately, Oma and Nancy left before the photo shoot started but we did get the annual "kid" photo ...

and lots of other photos as well.

Merry Christmas 2011.

Happy New Year 2012.

AFS and Christmas Tree

For the last 13 years, we have hosted the AFS Holiday Party.  As is the past, the high-schoolers told of a special holiday they celebrate at home and ... they brought a desert commonly enjoyed in their country.  Lucky for me, this year was a chocolate extravaganza!.

After considerable coaxing, they agreed to pose with their host brothers and/or sisters.  

Once SACII's birthday had passed ... it was OK to put up our Christmas tree.  With no Jonas to help, I selected a small table-top version this year.

It smells wonderful!

PS.  The Potwin neighborhood war wages on about Tommy and our wreaths.  More on that to follow.

Thanksgiving borrows Aunt Nancy's Birthday

This year Thanksgiving borrowed Aunt Nancy's Birthday.  We gathered Oma and ventured to Topeka Country Club where we joined Bev and the Gs for a yummy Thanksgiving lunch.  The place was packed.  We saw tons of fun and interesting people.  We laughed, smiled, ate fabulous food and then ... we left.

THERE WAS NO CLEAN-UP INVOLVED.

Despite the solemn expressions on Oma's and Granny's faces, we ALL had a good time.

In the evening we went to the Gs' for Aunt Nancy's Birthday Party.  We joined the Gs, Heidi, Jerod, Stacy, Regan and Carly in the celebration.  The choir sang Happy Birthday to Nancy.

 Here is the choir.

It was a double fun day ... but we sure missed seeing Mark, all the Missouri Crows and many dear friends this Thanksgiving.  We also missed hugging SRQ, JRQ and BQ but enjoyed thinking of them as they celebrated Ted (the turkey) Day together in California.  Love to all.

PS.  Check out the contents of just one rack in the Gs' freezer door.

The main supply is stored on the freezer shelves.

Washburn University and Hope

Yesterday SACII and Cheryl came to Topeka to join us in the kick-off celebration for Washburn University's sesquicentennial.  It was promoted as the Bow-Tie Ball .... so, the guys bow-tied.

 The ladies disclaimed us.

I don't know why.

After celebrating 150 years of Washburn University, we hurried home to celebrate 23 days of HOPE ...

Hope is adorable!  Helen and I got to hold her.  And hug her.  And shower her with kisses.  Oh yes, Andy and Donna were there too.  

Today we celebrated an early Thanksgiving and, as you might imagine, I took some pictures.  They all happened to include Hope.  Hope with her Great Granny ...

Hope with her Great Aunt Nancy ...

Hope with her LOVE ice cream cake ...

Hope with 4 generations of Crows ...

And Hope in her first traditional group shot.

Happy 150 years to Washburn University.

Happy fortnight and a half to Hope.