Doing DC with Israel

Israel arrived in DC on Tuesday for a work related conference. By the time we joined him on Friday he had already visited many main attractions such as the National Mall, etc.


Washington Monument


The US Capital (left) and Smithsonian Castle (right)


The Declaration of Independence. Read it and weep, UK.


The Bill of Rights


The preliminary proclamation of emancipation


Israel, the squirrel whisperer - really! Notice the squirrel's paw on Little's hand.


Triceratops? What triceratops?


Knock knock


I'll bet he didn't think of it until someone told him, "Don't stick your head in a dinosaur's mouth while you're in DC" and of course, once it was in his mind...


Yikes! How'd Israel end up in with the dinosaurs?


David in the swim of things


Son, mother and huge elephant's bum


Fossil of Tyrannosaurus Rex


Amid the fossils


My fav Renoir in the National Gallery of Art. Vivid colors and the lighting makes the subject seem so real.


Naval Memorial

Ashland - an Interesting Little Town

On the way to Washington, DC, to spend time with third son, Israel, we "detoured" to Ashland due to engine difficulties. While the Exploder, er, Explorer, was being tinkered with we did the Ashland walking tour. Let us share what we learned...


The quaint shops beckon...


We left the visitor's center with walking tour map in hand


The residence at 501 S. Center Street's exterior was used in the filming of the movie "Major Payne" (which the fam LOVES). For its role in the movie the house was painted to look as though it had been heavily damaged and abandoned. Neighbors thought the house had caught fire and brought food to console the family.


The Macmurdo house was built in 1858 and was the site for balls for townspeople. Confederate Stonewall Jackson rested here one night in 1862 before the Seven-Days Battle.


The Sarah Elmire Royster Shelton home: In her youth, Miss Royster was the sweetheart of the great poet Edgar Allan Poe. Their relationship ended when Poe left Richmond to attend the University of Virginia, and Miss Royster married Alexander Shelton. A heartbroken Poe wrote "Tamerlane", about a genius (Poe?) who yearns for Ada (Elmira?) who left him for another. In 1849, Poe and the widowed Elmira Shelton renewed their friendship but he died before they could marry.


Town clock with Randolph Macon College in the background

New Year's Eve with 8 @ 6

Diane extra "date", grandson Payton


Gary and David


David feeding Payton


Jeff hard at work in the kitchen


Kathy serves it up


The whole 8 @ 6 group just before midnight

Off to New York City with the Newlyweds

Since neither Ariel or I have seen the Christmas decorations in New York City heading up to the Big Apple while Ariel and Jon are visiting us for the holidays is a must. However, we didn't plan on a whopper of a snow storm hitting the eastern seaboard the day before we arrived.


Radio City Music Hall


The tree at Rockerfeller Center


Enjoying the Christmas lights


David plans a full day for us


Taking the subway is always an adventure


In the Battery Park/Statten Island Ferry area


Lady Liberty herself


Battery Park - the wreaths memorialize 911 victims


It was FREEZING. The highs were in the high 20s and low 30s all 3 days.


Heading back to the Metropolitan Doubletree Hotel


We braved the weather of the first night to attend the play The Perfect Crime. (Don't recommend it to anyone).


To mark off a "bucket list" item, we attended a performance of the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular


...which was spectacular


I was impressed with and loved the closing segment - about Christ's birth and the meaning of Christmas.


The hanging Christmas tree chandelier at Radio City Music Hall


The trip home. They're not really sleeping... they're recharging

Christmas Scenes at Our House

Welcome to our home. Come on in and enjoy the Xmas spirit

Ariel and Jon's Amazing Wedding

November 21st, 2009 - the first day of the rest of their lives


Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Day


The happy couple


In front of the Draper Temple


Lovely


Mother and daughter


Ariel and her attendants


Air with Mom and Dad


With the whole family


Cutting the cake


Their first waltz as Mr. and Mrs.


The string quartet was wonderful


Joel serves up a plate for Ariel


With oldest brother, Elijah, and sister-in-law, Analia


The table settings


Gorgeous flowers


and centerpieces


The serving tables


Favors for the guests


They've only just begun

The Days Before Ariel's Wedding

Ariel with "escorts", Kinsie and Linda, head to the Draper Temple


Linda hanging with her baby boy, Little, er, Israel


Ariel with Sara, Morgan and Shanny at Air's bridal shower


Analia, Antonina, Linda and Kendra enjoy visiting with each other


Ariel opening mother-in-law, Joan's, "morning" gift bag


Ariel had too much fun


The Day women really got into the mixer


Bridal shower attendees

Yearly Trek to See the Green Bay Cousins

We LOVE going to Green Bay. We LOVE going to see the Packers play. We LOVE the "coziness" of Lambeau Field (just us with 72,926 of our closest friends) . We LOVE cheeseheads. We LOVE tailgating - our group really knows how to tailgate. We love 50 yard line, 10 rows up tickets (thanks Tim!), but most importantly we love OUR COUSINS, GARY AND MARY!!


David, Mom and Linda visiting with Curly Lambeau


The girls in the Lambeau Field atrium


With Vince Lombardi (who also coached the Redskins)


Tailgating...


...and excited for the Packer/Viking game to start - the first time Brett Favre has played in Lambeau since leaving the Packers


The opening frenzy...


...because Favre is in the house


The cousins - together again, naturally. How come I'm bundled up like Charlie Brown and Gary has on a jacket?


Last day lunch at Tom, Dick and Harrys. Ron, Gary, David, Mom, Jan and Linda


Mary in her classroom. We HAVE to stop by and say goodbye to our Mary.

Komen: Busting a Move for Debbie... and Rosemary and Paula

What was I thinking when I committed to running the Komen for the Cure 5k? I've only run 2 miles on my treadmill - I get bored after 2 miles.

Debbie Myers, a darling William E Wood agent in our office, succumbed to breast cancer this year. As a tribute to our much loved Debbie, we decided to run in the Komen race, in Debbie's honor.


Our broker, Dori, hosted a wonderfully healthy "breakfast" early that morning.


Because other "team" members from the office were walking the route I hooked up with Laurie Powell O'Leary. Though we just met that morning we found out that Laurie graduated from Norview - David's class of '71. (I'm class of '74)


While we're still "fresh". Okay, Laurie has run these before (even triathalons), so she stayed "fresh".


Nearing the "drizzly" end (though we didn't know it was near the end. Route officials mistakenly moved the route barriers one race too soon - thus cutting our 3.1 miles to just 1 mile. Dangit.)


After the race, and after figuring out they mis-routed us. Laurie is my new hero. She just started running 2 years ago and is doing amazing!!


Enjoying the Panera donated post-race Komen bagel. It was delish.

What did I learn from this experience? I learned that running on a treadmill is VERY different from running on pavement/streets. After running just that one mile I WAS SORE - which never happens on the treadmill. Muscles that I didn't know I had were sore.

Dare I say it aloud? I plan on running the Virginia Beach 2010 Rock and Roll Half Marathon - as part of a relay at the very least. I'm not hooked yet - but I want to be.

Celebrating Mary

Woo hoo! It's Mary's birthday - let's celebrate at Buffalo Beach


Mary opening gifts


Ryan with the gift pile


The fam


Linda and David

Six at 6

As you can see Eight at 6 has become Six at 6. This months get together was at the Ramsburg-Collins home. Gary and Diane always hosts a great dinner party. Btw, we are accepting applications to join the group.


Kathy and Diane in the kitchen


Dessert time


Enjoying the Ramsburg-Collins sunroom

Hernia Repair

David's hernia had steadily gotten worse over the past 3 years. He finally agreed to have it repaired - which was his first surgery.


The bandaged wound


Taking it easy on the sofa the following day


I took such good care of the boy


David's birthday was 3 days later. He didn't realize it at the time, but as he kept getting birthday calls his phone "collection" grew. There was a time when the phone rang and he kept answering phones until he finally answered the right one - his cell phone.