Happy 46th Birthday Toby!

The year was 1990, and the day was Kristen's high school graduation.

Toby started "hanging around" in the late fall to winter of Kristen's senior year.  He was going to UMass at the time.  This was one of their first dates of that summer and they dated until Kristen went away to Gordon College that fall.

It wasn't to be for another few years, I think it was some time in the latter part of her senior year of college, that he started "hanging around" again.  This time it was the beginning of the end and they were married in November of 1995.

Happy birthday Toby!  I'm glad you kept "hanging around."

Throwback Thursday - My old junior high and a trigger that takes me back....

*I read recently on one of the blogs that I follow, when something triggers a memory, write it down as part of your story.

Whenever I hear the Christmas carol Ring Christmas Bells, it takes me back to Junior High.  I was in the choir and our music teacher, Mr. Gardner I think his name was, had us perform that song in a Christmas Concert.  I can't remember if it was the only one we sang, but it is really the only one I remember.   I sang alto and I remember that it was pretty hard to learn that part.  Our teacher was really good though; he went over our parts until we knew it by heart.

My aunt Dot came to the concert and afterwards she told me that she thought we did a professional job on that song and that she thought our music teacher was really good.  That meant a lot to me because Dot had sung in the church choir and had also sung on the Bethany Hour, our church's radio program every Sunday morning.

My junior high school in West Springfield is now an elementary school.  In fact, it was the school that Marley went to from grades 1-5.  It was so neat for me to go back into that school.

These pictures are from an open house that I went to when Marley was in first grade.  I couldn't believe that the auditorium looked almost exactly the same.  Same platform, same seats even.  The only difference is that there is now a classroom in the back of the auditorium that makes it a little shorter.

You can be sure that when I went into this auditorium, I thought of Ring Christmas Bells.

December 2016 Scrapbook Pages

This is a followup to a scrapbook page that I did back in August about Mason spending the weekend in Woburn with his Grandma Stacia and Aunty Amy. Stacia works for the Fire Department in Cambridge, MA and she and Amy took Mason to one of the fire stations there. She shared some pictures that she took of Mason that day and one of the pictures was published in their quarterly publication!!

Christmas Day!

Photo shoot for the yearly Christmas ornament!

Janelle took Mason and Miriam to see Santa and met some of Mason's friends there along with their moms.

I think these pictures from the Face Swap app are hysterical!


I'm still working on some 2012 pages.

This is a book that Marley wrote in 5th grade

November 2016 Scrapbook Pages

Another wonderful Thanksgiving Day at Mark and Janelle's house.  

When Paul suggested going kayaking this past Monday I thought, "in November?"  I'm so glad we did.  It was beautiful out on the water with all of the fall leaves around the shore.

Back in April Mason invited Marley to his Granger Gala at the Junior High.  They were supposed to pick a person who has made a positive impact in their lives.  

Throwback Thursday - The Monkey House at Forest Park

Do any of you remember the Monkey House at Forest Park?  It not only housed monkeys, but also lions and tigers.

The monkey house was my favorite thing about Forest Park.  I loved the monkeys the best.  I remember one time standing in front of the cages watching a monkey swing, when all of a sudden I got squirted in the face with you know what.  Even though that was not fun, it didn't take away from my love of the monkeys and the monkey house.

Paul said that his grandfather worked at Forest Park for a time during the depression cleaning out the animal cages.  Their house on Virginia St. bordered the park, so it must have been convenient for him working there.

There was an article on MassLive that said, "The city, aided by public and private funds, is in the process of renovating the former monkey house at Forest Park to allow for year-round public functions and uses."  The article also said "The building is believed to have been constructed in 1911, replacing the original wood building that was damaged by a fire.

The article was dated 1/29/14.  I need to check this out to see what's going on there.  I would love to be able to go in that building again!

PS - In researching Forest Park on the Internet I came across a blog post that talked about old Forest Park.  You can read it here.

Throwback Thursday - Father/Son Campout

This week when we took Dot out for a ride we were driving on Stony Hill Rd. in Wilbraham and Paul said that he would love to know exactly where the boy scout camp was that the Royal Rangers used for their Father/Son Campouts.  He knew that it was somewhere on Stony Hill Rd. and so we set out to find it and take pictures of it.  I wanted to show the pictures to my son Mark and see if he recognized it at all.  

We found it and I got out to take some pictures.  Paul recognized the building and the grounds.  I'm not sure how many times Paul and Mark went here, but I found pictures from 1982 and 1983.  Mark would have been 8 and 9.  Paul thinks it was the first time they went that he made a walking stick.  He cut down a small tree and started whittling it.  Long after the campout was over, he was still putting polyurethane varnish on it to fill in the cracks.  He still uses it.  

These are a few of the pictures I have.

1982 - Mark is in the middle.

Mark is on the right.  The bunks were built right onto the wall, three high all around the room.

Mark is the boy standing.

1983 - Mark is in the front row, fourth from the left.

Mark is the kid looking at the camera.

I hope Mark has good memories of those weekends.  I know Paul does.  

This is the walking stick Paul made.  He still uses it (this picture was taken in 2010).  

These are the pictures that we took of the boy scout camp that we took this week.  Does it look familiar to you Mark?

15th Annual Paul and Marley Zoo Picture

It all started back in 2002 when I took a picture of Paul and Marley walking at the Forest Park Zoo. My mother-in-law, Priscilla, loved the picture and a tradition was begun. Each year I have taken a new "zoo picture." Paul says the last one will be at Marley's wedding.

2016

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October 2016 Scrapbook Pages

Paul and I had such a nice time visiting with family at his cousin Becky's daughter's wedding in Pennsylvania.

The day after the wedding we took a tour of my great-grandfather, William Ross Higgins' home/mansion.  The present owner, who is a billionaire, was so gracious to give us a tour and to tell us what he knew of this house.  After the tour, we drove to downtown Philadelphia to find the Widener Building my great-grandfather worked for Aetna Insurance Company.

Paul, Marley and I took our annual trek to Gordon College.  Usually we go on Columbus Day but since Paul and I were in Lancaster then, we went a couple of weeks later.  As usual, we left Baba to his own devices and Marley and I went off on our own.  We also took our annual Baba and Marley Zoo picture (Baba told Marley that colleges are a little like zoos, so it was okay, lol).

Since we never made it to the Daisy/Prim rally day this October, we had a tea party for the Daisys, Prims, and their moms in the Prims' classroom.  It was a lot of fun and the girls loved it!

This year, unfortunately, we were not able to fit into everyone's schedule a trip to the Westview Creamery, aka the pumpkin patch.  This didn't stop us from buying pumpkins and carving them though.  This was Miriam's first year joining in on the fun.  She decorated her pumpkin (and also her hands and arms)!

Halloween, for the second year, was at Mark and Janelle's house.  This year Mason had some friends (and their moms) from school over for pizza and trick or treating.  I handed out candy again, this time a little more prepared for all of the kids in that neighborhood.  

September 2016 Scrapbook Pages