Bruce Harding Celebration of Life Weekend

These pictures do not do justice to the wonderful weekend devoted to Great-Uncle Bruce, we didn't take nearly enough pictures and I am hoping that some other people that were there will share with us.

Great-Uncle Bruce Harding (GrandMary's husband) passed away in August and the Hubers/Hardings gathered in the middle of September to remember and celebrate his life.

Grandma Huber, Uncle Bill, Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary came and stayed at our house for a few nights and thoroughly entertained the kids with bike riding and extra attention.

Saturday night the NJ Hubers joined us and we all went out to dinner at one of our favorites, the Circus Cafe.

Sunday dinner was a LARGE family gathering at Mama Mia's.

K was very sweet to GrandMary all weekend. He was very concerned when she was upset, and he would quickly go give hugs whenever he could.

L got a small taste of cannoli cream and was instantly hooked. He wouldn't share with me after that.

I think you can see, in the next two pictures, almost everybody who was there for dinner.

Monday was the burial and celebration of Uncle Bruce. He was buried at the National Cemetery in Schuylerville. It was a beautiful ceremony led by GrandMary's brother, Uncle John, with readings, talks and poetry shared by other family members. It ended with taps and a 21 gun salute. It was very moving. Afterwards everybody met up for a luncheon and more remembrances of Bruce. It was a wonderful day.

I didn't get any pictures of the ceremony, but my kiddos looked cute!

8 months

First Day of School

Well, it happened, my "little" boy started Kindergarten! Seriously, time moves way too fast! He was super excited and not at all nervous. We got to see his classroom and meet his teacher on Tuesday and then Wednesday he was ready to hop on the bus!

 

K's favorite person, our next door neighbor and 5th grader, waiting for the school bus.

There he goes!!!

This is Matt's favorite picture because I was starting to tear up and you can see the bus driving away in the background.

It was hard sending him off on his first day. He's been with me every day for 5 years. The two hour a day preschool last year is nothing compared to him being gone for 8 hours a day!! I wanted to be a fly on the wall to make sure that he knew where to go, and where to sit, and make sure that everyone was nice to him, and he was nice to everyone else, to make sure that he had someone to play with on the playground, and that he ate all of his lunch, and that his shoes didn't come untied, etc. Despite me not being there, he did great. He got off the bus with a smile on his face and he can't wait to go back tomorrow (we have today off for Rosh Hashanah).

C had a good day too. A couple of times she said "I miss K." But she also said "I don't miss fighting with K." We kept ourselves busy with a trip to the library, shopping and a birthday lunch with Dad. She loved not having to fight over who pushes the buttons on the elevator and what books we got to look at the library. I know she will miss him, but I am going to try to make the most out of this year that I have with her at home.

End of Summer Party

I was lamenting that our kids all have winter birthdays and so we can't do a fun outdoor party for them ... so we had an end of the summer party!!

We have the perfect yard for a bouncy castle, so that's what we had to do.

We had it for a few hours before the party started and the kids (and Matt) jumped to their hearts content.

Then all the party people came over!

We had a blast. It was a great group of people and not too many that the kids were overcrowded in the castle. It was also the weekend before Matt's birthday, so I got him a cake and we all sang happy birthday. It was a great time. We might have to do it again next year.

A month of firsts

August was a fun month of firsts for the kids. I had a personal goal that K would learn to ride a two wheeler this summer, but by the beginning of August when we hadn't even attempted I started to lose that goal. But it should surprise me that when K decided that he wanted to do it, it just took a lap or two around the "island" with Dad holding on before he took off and never looked back.

Then of course never to be outdone by her brother C decided she wanted to try too. The bike we had for her was too big so it didn't really work out, but a couple of weeks later we borrowed a little bike from some friends and she took off!!

Also this month C started ballet lessons.

 She and her friend M tried the summer session at the best ballet school in the city. She was immediately in her element, and loves her teacher so we are signing her up for the school year session.

After a poor attempt at soccer last summer, K has continued to say that he wanted to to karate. There wasn't a karate school around that we are interested in so he started Tae Kwon Do, and he is loving it. One of the very first things that the teacher told him was to never use your moves at home... I see him practice on his sister all the time.

L had a first this month too. He got his first tooth! No pictures of the tooth yet, just this cute one of the boy. :-)

Saratoga Floral Fete

I guess Saratoga used to have a floral parade every year to celebrate the race season...

...and this year they decided to do it again to celebrate the 150th year of racing. Judging by the crowds at the 4th of July parade we didn't think it would be a big shindig but it was PACKED! Apparently there were 40,000+ people there and the main street was 5 or 6 rows of people deep to watch the parade. It was CRAZY! But it was still a good time.

This is the actual trumpeter for the horse races.

The jockeys.

The big wigs were at the front of the parade in the horse drawn carriages. In this one was Marylou Whitney, a local socialite, and her guest Susan Lucci!! :-)

Following the horse drawn carriages and fancy old cars were the bikes, strollers, wagons, etc.

These guys played tennis down the whole main street, it was pretty cool! (Do you see how many people are behind them?!?! It was like that the whole main street)

Us in front of the old starting gates.

After the parade there was a free ice cream social in the park. We took one look at the long lines and went over to Ben & Jerry's and bought our own ice cream. It was a good time. :-)