Catering Bait??

So we are driving down the road in Kentucky and there is a sign that reads "Catering and Bait". (Sorry Ash I didn't get a picture.) Don't think I would be calling them for my catering needs, probably get something along the lines of maggot stew.

Rene was surprised when Jim and I showed up at her door this afternoon. We had a good visit and will try to get together again before we leave the area. Both Fred and Matthew seem to have caught the bug the girls had last week so we didn't want to stick around too long. That little one of their's is nonstop motion and chatter. I am sure she keeps them all on their toes.

Tomorrow we are headed to Grandfather Mountain and the mile high suspension bridge. If there is time we will head over to Laurel Falls. Pictures will be forth coming. Tuesday we will be in Asheville for sure. The grass is green and there are a few signs of spring.

Life in Livermore

Spring Break is over, Liane returned to UCI yesterday. While she was home we made two dresses. Andy spent the week at the NCAA Swim Championships, helping Stanford.

A week and a half ago the circulation pump/motor broke on my lap pool. We were able to open the activity pool for spring break which was enjoyed by many. I've learned a lot about pumps and motors as I've called around the country trying to locate a replacement, no luck yet. We will find out tomorrow if the motor can be rebuilt. In the meantime I have a lot of unhappy swimmers and staff.

Dave and Peg Franz arrive on Thursday to watch Andy swim this week at the Stanford Grand Prix. There is a new web site that carries live video feed of swimming. I'll get the site and send it along later in the week. We've enjoyed watching the NCAA swimming through the computer. If this weekend's meet is covered then you will be able to watch Andy swim!

Have a good week. Sharon

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone National Forest is where we pitched the tent for our first night out. We found out we could stay anywhere off the Tunnel Ridge Road for $3 /night. Only drawback - no water, no fires, and a pit toilet if you are lucky. We are in the Red River Gorge area and it was hard finding a flat spot to put the tent. One thing I insisted on was that we did not camp any where near the boy scouts that seem to be swarming the area. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain so that should thin out the hikers.

We will be in Asheville tomorrow unless we get distracted again. Hopefully all the rain will miss us. Funny I see no mention of those MSU Spartans in the post below this. hmmmmmmmmm

Beautiful Saturday

I walked to the grocery store and enjoyed the sunshine, blue sky and caroling birds. Thursday's snowfall was beautiful but by Friday noon it disappeared. Maybe our last one. A year ago I was enjoying wildflowers in our woods! I did see some crocus blooming on my walk.

Caitlin, glad you had some baby practice recently. Yes, that darling little sweetheart drastically changes your lifestyle and priorities but it is truly worth it and it never ends--just changes. I loved the Easter photos of Ayla. Seeing everyone at Sue and Jenny's was a wonderful welcome home for us.

Grandpa/Dad is in Dowling, MI this afternoon for a meeting of the district Methodist committee that approves new church construction plans. He enjoys doing it. He is thinking hard about putting new vanities and sinks in all our bathrooms. He went to McDaniels today to make selections of floor, cabinets and counter top/sinks. I'm ironing--mundane but necessary. Hopefully I'll have time later to read about Scandinavia in the book I gave Dad for his birthday.

Love and hugs, Grandma-Mother

Practice

So last night I watched this girl I work with little boy names Tristen. He is 7 months old and alot of fun. I gave him a bath and played with him and gave him his night time bottle and put him in to bed. Herb was with me and he was proud of me that it was tough but I let him cry a little bit after putting him in his crib cause I knew he was tired and if I got him up he would just want to play. I can't wait til my bundle of joy is going to be here. But I did realize how things will get more difficult. When she arrives but nothing that I can't handle . Kids are alot of work but they're worth it.  

Strange Sight

I woke up to huge, fluffy snowflakes falling today!! They were truly Christmas movie worthy. My local NPR says it's the latest snowfall here ever... at least since the national weather service started recording in 1940.
It's a bit odd to me to have only two snowfalls in the whole year and have one of them in late March, near April.

(Okay, I know this is not exciting at all, and maybe some kind of justice to the Michigan residents, but, that's the way it is.)

Lily

Lily decided to go camping with Ayla's Brats too funny

Easter Celebration

Hey everyone we had a great Easter and Ayla had great success with finding Easter eggs

Spring Break

We are trying to come up with an itinerary for our trip to North Carolina but have not been overly successful. I did contact a friend in Greenville SC and hopefully we will be able to meet up with him and his family one day. We will certainly go to Chimney Rock and do a couple of the trails there. According to the website all the trails are open for the season so we should be able to choose from any of them. National Geographic Traveler mag had a nice section on driving tours in the area and with the help of the computer we should be able to get to the parks they recommend for various outdoor activities. I have also sent a couple of emails to some of the intentional communities and cohousing developments to see if we can visit them. I am sure we will find plenty to keep us busy enough. We will be taking our tent and if the weather is decent (above 40 at night) we will camp out most of the time. I have also found a place that rents Yerts which sounds pretty cool. (a yert is a tent on steroids) you can google to find out exactly what they look like.

I saw some pictures taken last weekend in the area and spring is very evident so I should have some great pictures to share when I get back. Just realized I am writing this under Jim's account but you probably figured he wasn't being this wordy.
Cindy

Home again!

Thanks to Ashleigh for getting this family blog started. I hope everyone will participate. And thanks to Cynthia for helping me get started with this new high tech opportunity.

We are glad to be home after travelling 7,000 miles. I never tired watching the beautiful and varied landscapes of this great country. We enjoyed visiting friends and family, attending three interesting Elderhostels, waking up to see the Grand Canyon covered with snow and the sun hitting the highest peaks on a bitter cold morning, relaxing on the Diamond Princess from LA to Hawaii, spending time with our CA family, snowshoeing in the Tetons (Grandpa didn't think I could do it). Those small, aluminium snowshoes are much easier to manage than our ancient, wood ones. Philip and Judy were great hosts last weekend. They live just 45 miles from the eastern entrance to Yellowstone--that road opens in late May. We'll have some pictures to share on Easter.

We have been home two days: Grandpa is getting income tax information ready for the CPA, suitcases are unpacked, mail is sorted but still needs attention, life at home is resuming. We look forward to seeing everyone at Sue's on Easter and celebrating the only birthday Grandpa will have on Easter in his life. Suzanne and Ron get home Saturday night from a cruise through the Panama Canal so they will have tales to tell too.

Happy Easter to all. Remember the day celebrates more than eggs and chocolate.

Love and hugs, Grandma-Mother

On the Ball!

We Sewells are on the ball. If this keeps up, I might have to change the name of the blog!

Hey family, 

I am in tune with the blog and I will be contributing very often!

Love you 

Benefits of No Television

I highly recommend Ashleigh's recommendation to get rid of your TV. I have now been without a TV for 2 weeks and am getting so much more done each day. And just like she says after 2 weeks you don't really miss it all that much. We still have the TV in the basement but Jim and I don't watch the same types of things so I rarely venture down there. I do miss the morning news but NPR fills that need nicely on the drive in.

One major benefit has been I am reading a lot more. I just finished Grave Matters by Harris, an Ashleigh recommendation, which is about American funeral practices. If you make it through the first chapter, which gives a blow by blow of the embalming process, you are good to go. I learned a lot about the after death process and was quite amazed at the options we have. Just so everyone knows I do NOT want to be embalmed, viewed, or buried in a conventional cemetery taking up valuable real estate. You are welcome to have me cremated and spread my ashes somewhere nice, lay me out in some natural setting, or even mold me into a reef ball. If you would like to read the book let me know and I can pass it on to you as I have it on loan from Ashleigh.

WOW a Family Blog

Ashleigh thanks for setting this up. I think it will be fun to have us all on one place on the web. Now we can all keep track of each other without sending tons of emails. I will have to figure out how to post pictures cause I have one of pregnant Caitlin to share.

Thanks

Ashleigh, what a great idea. I will have fun reading this as time goes by.

Welcome!

Hello everyone!
This big ol' family reunion blog idea has been knocking around in my head for a little while now. My hope is that it will be sort of like a bunch of postcards, pictures and short updates/notes to and from us all.
I am still fiddling around with the settings a bit, so if you've made it here while it's still pink, fear not!
For those of you who use a Mac, may I recommend Firefox as your browser for when you are creating posts. That will make it much easier to submit pictures.