Together!

Hi, everyone!

I thought a week ago was busy, but last week was even busier!  I helped James with the book he was writing.  Then James and Uncle Steven helped me clean up the Legos in the living room so Grandma and Grandpa could entertain their dinner group here.  Look how neatly we put the Legos away under the piano!  Joe-san and Nancy-san are in Grandma and Grandpa’s dinner group this year, so Tilly and Moose-san came along.

Last Saturday was Uncle Steven’s retirement date from the Air Force.  Aunt Kara planned a party for him at the bay.  Uncle David and his family came from Ottawa for the weekend to help Uncle Steven celebrate.  Since there were going to be ten of us for Friday night dinner, Grandma decided to serve lasagna.  Thomas and I helped her make it!  Thomas was particularly good at putting the noodles in the pan where they were supposed to go.  We had to take a lot of food with us to the bay to feed all our guests!

When Uncle David’s family got to the bay, I said hello to Original Lion-san right away!  After dinner, Uncle David built a bonfire and the cousins played ball in the dark!   James and Thomas and Karin and Bill all slept together in the loft, but Original Lion-san and I decided to sleep in our own bed, instead!

On Saturday morning, Bill and Original Lion-san helped Thomas and me get better acquainted with their dog.  Mocha is shy around new people and nervous in new places, so we had to be very gentle!  Then it was time for breakfast on the porch.  After that, Bill and Grandma went out in the kayaks.  Bill has grown so much since his last visit that he can paddle a fourteen foot kayak, just like Grandma!

After lunch, it was time for the party!  Aunt Kara’s sister Krista came with her husband and James’ and Thomas’ cousins Mady and William.  Bill and Karin taught everybody how to play Nintendo Switch video games.  Then Uncle Steven took all the young guests out in the boat to go swimming in the shallow water inside Sodus Point.

When they got back, Uncle David took a photo of all the party guests together.

These are all the guests at Uncle Steven’s retirement party!

There was lots of yummy food at the party!  Uncle David made his famous fresh salsa and there were LOTS of tortilla chips to eat.  Even Mocha found chips spilled on the grass when Thomas took him for a walk.  After dark, Uncle David made another bonfire and we had s’mores!  Uncle Steven showed me how to toast marshmallows and helped Thomas put his s’more together.

On Sunday morning Bill and Grandma kayaked again and everybody played video games again.  Uncles David and Steven helped Grandpa prune the trees and shrubs on the bank to improve the view.  The bank is so steep that Uncle David needed to use a rope to climb up and down!  Thomas decided he needed some “alone space” after all the cousin time.  Karin helped him barricade the entrance to the loft with all the sleeping bags and pillows and beanbag chairs!  At lunch time, James discovered his first wiggly baby tooth.  After lunch, Uncle David’s family left to go back to Canada.

Some of Grandma and Grandpa’s trees in Fairport have grown so big that they’re shading out other trees.  Grandma was also worried that the  crab apple tree in front would break again and land on the house.  Today the tree service people came to prune some trees and cut down others.  They brought a bucket truck and a chipper.  The bucket truck had to get close enough to the trees so the bucket could reach them.  That meant the truck had to back in really close to the house to reach the crab apple tree in front!  Meanwhile, another worker started taking down big branches in the back yard!

When the bucket truck and chipper moved into the back yard, Thomas and I watched from the deck.  The chain saws and chipper were very loud!  The workers fed some very big branches into the chipper, and the chipper ate them all up!  As the workers were cleaning up, Thomas made an obstacle course out of the big pieces of the crab apple trunks that were still on the ground.

When we were together over the weekend, Uncle David took a very special photo.  It’s a portrait of all of us together for the first time since Thomas was born.  I hope it doesn’t take that long for all of us to be together again!

Here we are — all together for the first time since Thomas was born!

Love,

Lion-san

One thought on “Together!”

  1. It was nice all of Uncle David’s family could come. Nancy-san said she couldn’t believe how big Bill got to go kayaking with Grandma not just once but twice! We can see why Thomas wanted some alone time by Sunday. James got his first wiggly tooth. There will be more. How great to have a picture of all of you at the bay. And all the tree cutting both at Sodus and at Fairport.

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