It was a double header, my friends! My wonderful, hardworking, generous siblings in-law planned a Happy Birthday Mom Yard Crash for the long weekend. Grand plans included lots of yard-cleaning and clearing, bush removal, saying goodbye to a no longer needed wheelchair ramp, ripping up an old deck, taking down an old carport and other awesomely ambitious yard maintenance things. James and I were of absolutely zero help since we were mostly consumed with the other happenings over the weekend but we did manage to show up whenever food stuffs were going down. We hope it just looked like a coincidence. Anyways, Marcus re-acquaintanced himself with a chainsaw and Emily slaved away caring for the littles, my brother-in-laws and Becky impressively worked non-stop. One of the goals was to make the backyard a safe place for the kiddo’s and family gatherings and while there is still some work to be done, some fantastic headway was made! (Wellllll, if you don’t talk about the two slithering snakes sighted). Seriously though, I’m in awe of my family-spending those 3 days working so hard- they did great work! On Monday afternoon we enjoyed the new backyard for a BBQ. Not only can the Crofts yard work, but they just do family picnics right. Here is a little peek at the cute baby cousins, the backyard and the birthday girl..
The other exciting part of this weekend was a much anticipated visit from my uncle Joe & aunt Azita! They came all the way from California to meet James & Rosemary! My mom has three brothers and for us growing up they were just all fun and games. I remember when the three of them made trips together to spend a weekend at the beach. When we were in Ohio, they took us to movies, bought us junk food, took us for joy rides in their fast & fancy cars, and played in the basement with us. They were big kids and always up for a good time. Then Joe moved to California for work when I was a teenager and met the very beautiful, smart, sweet Azita and fell in love. We flew to LA for their wedding.
Good move Joe, because our family gained a lovely new aunt. We only wish we all lived closer to one another! It was so neat to have them visit and it brought back the best memories of Joe’s old visits. We are a mature crowd with a special knack for teasing and Joe always fits right in. When we weren’t joking one another, we walked around downtown Norfolk, went bike riding and headed to the boardwalk & beach. Brian took them to tour his ship on Sunday but we skipped out since the idea of carting James up and down those stairs didn’t sound like my cup of tea. My mom made delicious meals and we ate our fill of homemade strawberry pie all weekend long. Kathleen taught Joe how to make Bergey’s dinner rolls and we spent a fair amount of time on the ground playing with Patrick’s Keva planks. Most importantly, we introduced Azita to the Blues Brothers .(A family favorite movie) I’m fairly certain James loved meeting his aunt and uncle as evidenced here:
Okay, so maybe he looks less than thrilled..but take it from me..he loved you guys!
James went for his first bike ride with over the weekend
(yes, we definitely should be wearing a helmet! The one we brought didn’t fit him!)
ANND he took his first trip to Virginia Beach
Azita & Patrick. Two peas in a pod. In Azita’s words “We just get each other.”
Marcus and I and Brian and Kathleen. Woohoo!
It was a beautifully busy weekend, rich in family, food and laughs. Loved every minute of it! James did pretty well being carted every which way…a pleasant gift for Marcus and I!
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