Family Frolic: Part 3--Different Talents, Different Tasks

The last segment in the continuing saga of the June 2009 adventure when our kids and their families landed here all at the same time! (At the end of this segment, please scroll down for part 2 and part 1.)

Here's a slightly hammed up version of our family picture. Aren't we cute?

Front Row starting at left is Helena's family: Doug with Andy age 5 1/2 months, Helena holding 4 1/2-year old Kate. Then Betsey with Angie. (At 15, Angie is definitely our oldest "grand daughter." )

Row two starts with Barbie's family: Kyle, Barbie holding Hazel, age 7 1/2 months. Kirsten, Kathey & Jim. Then comes Peter's family: Karen, 17-month old Elizabeth, and Peter.

During the time that everyone was here the little children were the top priority, but in between times it was interesting to me how each family used their different talents to do something really spectacular.

Barbie and Kyle

Barbie and Kyle did some fantastic landscaping. Kyle did the physical labor. Around the swing house was especially his design.

This is how it looked several weeks later. A volunteer sunflower made its appearance. We decided to let it grow and see what happens. A close-up of some of my favorite flowers. I really like those orange cone flowers. I didn't even know cone flowers came in orange!

And here is a green cone flower. It's going to be interesting to watch this one grow. Its flowers are so unusual.

Around the deck things changed a lot! The plants here are very different because this area is totally in the shade. We thought we'd add a bit of whimsy. (The stump is from our Bradford pear tree that fell apart several years ago.)

Continuing on around that side of the deck we see this:

And this. The landscaped part is much larger than I thought it would be, and it's great. We're very pleased with how it looks. We used a lot of mulch, and also put down Preen to prevent weeds.

And on the sunny side of the deck: And this is how it looks today:Karen and Peter

Karen has a special talent for cleaning, and organizing. She headed up a massive clearing out project. Everyone pitched in. The basement was full of stuff much of which was carried upstairs to the deck to be sorted, or to the street to be thrown away. There were boxes, and boxes and art portfolios, and even a huge frog basket, the tail end of which can be seen here if you look really close.

Carting all that stuff upstairs was hard, tiring work.

After a few days it was possible to relax for a bit. Here are Peter, Karen and Lizbeth. Thanks so much for a job well done. (Mollie, as usual, is helping. )

Peter also volunteered to take the family genealogy home with him. Yay Peter! It's good to know that he is taking care of that. Too bad I didn't get a picture of him sorting through that stuff.

HELENA

Helena was the chief photographer. We recently added a small fountain to our back yard. The fountain was on the deck for awhile, but we discovered that it splashed too much for the health of the deck, so…

We moved her down into the yard where she is surrounded by grass and flowers, and can splash all she wants. As the kids have grown up and started their own families, much of their "stuff" stayed here. One of the goals while everyone was here was to have people do as much clearing out as possible. Many things had been kept for sentimental value. A creative solution was to have Helena photograph stuff that was near and dear to someone's heart, but not important enough to take up space forever. Mollie, who really likes to be included in all things family, decided to "help" Helena photograph art treasures.

And here she called in reinforcements.Remember the frog basket that was on the pile of things on the deck? Well, it is now among the bank of photographic memories. Elizabeth thought it was pretty cool. I don't remember the story behind where it came from. Perhaps Peter can tell us…Something else Helena did was to lead us in playing a few songs on pipe chimes. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture. I was too busy enjoying myself.

DOUG

Helena's husband was frequently in a supporting role. He supported Andy in more ways than one. (Think of all the ways it's possible to have a supporting role with a 5 1/2 month old…)Sometimes the two of them just sat and relaxed while other things were going on.Oops! Bless you, Andy.

Doug supported Kate too… OK, this picture was from last year, but it fits so well…

And he sometimes filled in as assistant cook and garlic presser, etc.

Jim, Betsey and Kirsten were the glue and the oil that kept everything together and running smoothly. Sometimes we saw this view of Betsey:Or this one:

But frequently she could be seen in the kitchen in the role of Chief Cook. There were lots of "Bottle Washers" around, and also assistant cooks. Much chatter and visiting went on while cooking. That was part of the fun, and a necessary part of the activity.

Kirsten wanted to go to school during the day, which she did, but otherwise she was available for unloading the dishwasher, helping to keep laundry going, and laughing at the babies. Here she is talking to Ray, her special friend, on the phone.And then there's Jim. What can I say? He was the official fastener of all loose ends; preparer of morning oatmeal; fixer of everything broken; transporter of whatever needed transporting; doer of whatever needed doing, including more than his share of dishes; official frequent gatherer of groceries, and a really cool grandpa.

And remember those boxes I pointed out that were on the deck ? Well, here's the last one going up in smoke. It was one of those things that landed in the basement and took up residence there for years. We found out it contained 1987 tax records. Here Jim is starting the fire with Mollie supervising as usual.

Burn, Baby Burn.

And as for me--I got the best job of all. I got to be grandma.

Cuddling with Andy and Kate in the quilt that Barbie made for me awhile ago.

Andy

Hazel

ElizabethEpilogue

The deck is all cleared off now, which is really nice…But it's quiet, Oh so quiet…
Barb and Kyle's flowers are growing…but the swing is Still, Oh So Still…Until Next Time…