Dot

This afternoon Paul, Marley and I went to visit Dot. She has been in her new home for four weeks today. We were able to have snack with her in the dining room; cantalope and ice tea.

Orange mushroom

We went to Mark and Janelle's today and Paul spotted this huge orange mushroom growing at the edge of the driveway. I thought it was so pretty!

Friday night

Marley spent today at Mark and Janelle's since it was the first full day of summer vacation. Mark brought them both over tonight. Mason was very leery of Mark leaving (since he usually does when they come over in the evening). It took him quite awhile before he relaxed. He insisted that Mark sit down on the floor with him while he ate!



This is Marley's newest obsession. It is a Nintendo DS that she got for her birthday. Tonight she got really excited because she got the 4th Gym badge in her Pokemon game (she hasn't been able to get it up until now).



Mason likes to go in the cellar. He likes to look at Mark's and Paul's old bikes. Tonight he spotted the light-up ghost that my neighbor gave me a couple of years ago. The next thing I know Mark is bringing it upstairs. Mason was surprised and a little afraid when we plugged it in; it was really bright.



Before long he was giving it kisses. Too cute.

Father's Day

What luck to have such beautiful weather for Father's Day, especially since this June has been so wet. Toby cooked steaks on the grill, and I think they were the best I have ever had; everyone thought so.



Stacia joined us this year. Mason kept commenting, "two grandmas." Stacia got to see him ride "Mason's bike."

Paul's big present for his birthday and Father's day was a new drill from the kids, but Kristen gave him a ball of yarn - LOL. It will eventually be socks. (I asked Paul to give me a nice smile and this was what I got!) It was a nice family day. I am blessed.



p.s. It was 7 years ago on Father's Day that my mother-in-law died. Sometimes it seems longer than that. Fred always seems subdued on Father's Day.

Tuesday night

Mark is taking a summer class at STCC for five weeks, and we get to have Mason on two of those three nights. Kris and Marley came to visit tonight. We had leftover birthday cake,



Marley painted me a nice picture,






and we rode bikes. This is the highlight lately with Marley and Mason. Mason just loves to ride "Mason bike." I bought him a backpack for his birthday but forgot to bring it to the party, so I gave it to him tonight and he wanted it on while he rode his bike. He is too cute!

Mason's 2nd birthday party

Today we had Mason's second birthday party at the Forest Park Zoo! What a fun place to have a party. They had tables set up under an tent(good thing as the weather was less than favorable, but at least the rain held off!).



At the beginning of the party everyone got to walk around the little zoo at their own pace. All of the kids were given a goody bag, and also a bag of animal food to feed the animals.










One part of the party was that you got to choose from about four or five animals that they would bring in and talk about and let the kids pet or look at. Janelle chose the bunny for Mason.








We also had a train ride just for our party.








This was Mason's cake. He still loves Yo Gabba Gabba.















The party was from 2-4, but we got to stay in the zoo until it closed at 5 o'clock. We brought all the presents back to Mark and Janelle's and opened them there. Here are some pictures of the continuation of the party in their back yard.













HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON!

Tornado

Today we experienced a tornado coming through our area. The picture above was sent to me by a friend, whose friend had posted it on Facebook. It is Rt. 20 in Westfield, a couple of miles from where I work.

Earlier in the afternoon, it started to get dark and windy and one of my co-workers happened to look at the on-line weather and told us that there was a tornado warning for our area. When Paul came to pick me up at work he said that definitely a tornado had come through our area.

Luckily, there was no damage to my neighborhood, but just about a mile or so down the road there was damage, huge trees down where the tornado had come through.

The South End of Springfield really got hit hard. So many people displaced from their home.

This is such a rare occurrence in this area of the country. Watching the news on TV that evening seemed so surreal.

Update 6/6/11: The National Weather Service is classifying the tornado that touched down in Westfield and moved east 39 miles through West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield and Charlton as an EF3, with wind speeds of 136 to 165 MPH! The tornado was on the ground for over an hour.

2 weaker tornadoes touched down later in the day, one over Wilbraham and one over North Brimfield. Both of these tornadoes were rated EF1, with maximum wind speeds of 90 mph.