Kieran, Selma, and Finlay Are Really Smart

Of course all of our grandchildren are highly exceptional but I want to take up a little band width here to laud Kieran who accomplished the following in the 7th grade:

Certificate of recognition for the Metro Richmond Science Fair
Honor Roll certificate for the American Mathematics Contest
Second Place for outstanding achievement in the American Mathematics Contest
Mathematics League Certificate of Merit
High Academic Excellence award in Social Studies
Certificate for Excellence in Health and Physical Education
Honored for All "A" honor roll, All year (1 of only 16)

Not to be outdone, Selma and Finlay both notched straight A's or E's in the 4th and 2nd grades respectfully.

Hayden Glenn Joins the Tribe!!

June 25 brought a new arrival in the person of Hayden Glenn Wood into our lives. Big sister Rylan is just soooo proud of her little brother. All 9lbs, 10oz of him arrived at 11:25AM. Mommy Ashley and Daddy Jason will bring their new son home on Friday.

A Visit to Busch Gardens

Mema, Paula, and Melissa took Tanner, Cammie, Emma, Clay, and Lanie to Bush Gardens for a fun day. Here are some shots.

We Visit Hawaii with Scott

Judy was fortunate to be asked to speak at three Hawiian venues- one on Oahu, one on Maui and one in Hilo. It was grinding work for poor Judy but Scott and I sure had a good time.

We did a night dive off Kona with Manta Rays - creatures with 12 foot wing spans. Eight of them showed up that evening which made for a fantastic experience.

We saw lots of scenery including this sun-bathing green sea turtle.

We rubbed shoulders with some of the local Hawiian spirits. This one at the Place of Refuge near where Captain Cook met his demise.

Scott saw most of the islands through his lens finder.

Memorial Day 2008

We had perfect weather for our Memorial Day week end. And we were also priveliged to have a visit from Judy's Scott and his new friend, Kari.

Scott and Kari snuggle with Tanner.

Giant UFO's hover in our back yard.

We had water slides in the yard. Kids got wet.

Scott thought it would be real funny if he proposed a water gun fight with his brothers and then reveal the above water blaster.

Mema thought it would be even funnier if, after Scott brought out his "ultimate weapon', she jumped out with an even bigger version. Game. Set. Match to Mema.

A Day with Twigs and P.J.

Cammie and Tanner were invited by Aunt Ashley and cousin Rylan to visit the barn where Ashley's horse, Twigs is kept. Also at the stable is a 30 year-old pony named P.J. on which Rylan is learning to ride.

This is P.J.

This is Twigs, aka Not A Word, a thoroughbred on which Ashley has won a ton of awards.

Rylan, Cammie and Tanner relax in the shade of the barn.

Tanner has a go at P.J. with Aunt Ashley's calm guidance.

"Hey Twigs, can I, you know, have my fingers back? You were only supposed to take the carrot!"

Barn kitty

I get that handicapped horses park here. But who or what pushes the wheel chair?

Is this just too cute?
Photos by Ginny

Aunt Cleda Comes for a Visit

We were honored to have Aunt Cleda from Santa Clara, CA come for a visit. Honored because she doesn't just up and fly anywhere on a whim.

She brought some kumquats from the tree in her yard. They tasted really sour but good. You have to sort of massage them before popping them in your mouth and eating the fruit, peel and all.

She ate some fresh eggs courtesy of Ginny.

She did the hula hoop with Tanner, Cammie, Clay and Emma. The kids were delighted that Aunt Cleda could do it.

Cleda said at the outset that she didn't want to do touristy things so we concentrated on letting her get to know all our kids and grand kids. She went to Finlay's soccer game and birthday party, had lunch with Ashley, and dinner with Scott and his family. All in all I think she had an OK time.

Selma Goes To the State Gymnastics Meet

The Virgina State Gymnastics meet was held this week end in Newport News so Selma's groupies trekked down to cheer her on. On hand was Nonnie, Uncle Mike and aunt Adonica, aunt Rosie, aunt Fannie, Mom, and of course Papa. Mema got stranded in Columbus and couldn't get back in time.

Selma competed very well at level 6 and we are so proud of her. Here are a couple of videos of her on the bars and floor exercise.

Here is Selma in the middle with two of her team mates.

Mema and Kids Go to Peter Pan

The local theater put on "Peter Pan" so Mema took the opportunity to drag the kids kicking and screaming to see Captain Hook get his comeuppance. Papa begged off because, you know, Peter Pan can't really fly.

Here's Peter looking a bit long in the tooth if you ask me. But Clay, Tanner, Cammie, Emma, and Rylan obviously don't think so.

And here is that nefarious villain himself, Captain Hook apparently unscathed by his near brush with death at the jaws of the Crocodile.

And here is Wendy, also a bit more mature than perhaps she should be. Maybe the pixie dust is wearing off.

Happy Easter 2008!

Easter this year was just wonderful! We took the grans to church where Clay sang in the childrens choir for the first time. She was the best one in her row!

That's her in the bright dress. The music for the service featured a string section stolen from the Richmond Symphony and, together with the adult choir and the usual band, it knocked your socks off.

Then, of course, we had the requisite egg hunt in our front yard featuring Clay, Tanner, Cammie and Rylan. Well, see for yourself.

Mema & Papa Go to the Big Apple

We visited New York in March in order to take in a few plays. We weren't disappointed. We saw Phantom of the Opera, Gypsy, and Curtains. Three plays in three days kind of wore us old folks out but it was very nice. We even were treated to the Naked Cowboy who hangs out in Times Square even in very chilly weather. Well, see for yourself. Ya gotta have a gimmick to make it in New York and this dude has a gimmick!

It was too cold to do a lot of sight-seeing but we did see a lot of Times Square, the Rockefeller Plaza and a Seinfeld type cafe where we did most of our eating.

The above Lego display was in the largest Toys R Us I've ever seen. Three floors and an indoor Ferris wheel.

We are just in awe of the talent in the theaters. Each production seemed better than the last. David Hyde-Pierce starred in Curtains and was just hilarious.

The Sisters Visit Us

In late February, sisters Sue and Sally, accompanied by niece Kelsey and grand neice Charis, came for a visit. I don't see my sisters nearly enough so this was a special occasion. Daughter Ashley also help host the affair and was glad for the opportunity to get to know these distant relatives better.

We had a grand party the Saturday night that they were here and were regaled with belly dancing, acrobatics and other "hey, watch this" stunts from the grand kids.

We also took the time to visit Jamestown that included a very nice lunch of oysters and clams at a cafe along the York River.

The Girls go Rock, Climbing

These are some pictures that Ann passed on to us where they took Olivia, Sophie and Nora rock climbing with their home school bunch. From the looks of it, they had a real exciting time.

Here Olivia starts up the dangerous ice-covered north face of the Eiger.

Nora carefully traverses during a fierce snow storm

Sophie scrambles to rescue a fellow climber injured in the avalanche.

Ann supervises safely from the ground.