I just received my nephew Justin Raymond's school photo.  Justin is a Freshman at Cook High School.

This little ghost is Ryan Raymond.  Is he a friendly ghost?

Kelly is busy cleaning out the pumpkin.

Here we have Annie and Holly as a Witch and a Ghost

Next we have Annie as dice and Holly as a ballerina.

A cute little ballerina she is, too!

We have shaken the dice and now it has landed on Holly while Annie is a princess, just as she is today!

This certainly is one sourpuss princess!  I don't think that is Holly next to her, I think it is a real pumpkin, although Holly can be a little punkin' herself!!

Mom had just finished making this quilt and her grandchildren just couldn't resist the warmth of their Grandmother whether it was her quilts or from her personally.  If memory serves me right, there were fresh chocolate chip cookies waiting in the kitchen.

Pictured here are Bob's sons Chris and Will, Jane's daughters Holly and Annie, Tom's daughters Sara and Kelly with Glen's daughter Emily in between them.  I think this would have been some time around 1990.

Robin the Hippie

Ryan the Clown

Jay the Hippie

Robin the 50's Teen in her poodle skirt

Ryan the Cowboy, Howdy Pardner! (Thanks to Harvey for the correction!!!)

The Princess and the Rock Star

Jay and I were having fun with some "toys" I used to keep handy to entertain my nieces and nephews.  I still have that old princess mask!

Jay, with that moustache you look more like your Dad than ever!

Sara, Emily, Bonnie and I attended the UMD Theatre performance of Kiss Me Kate last night at the Marshall Performing Arts Center on the UMD campus.  I sat next to the proud family of the lead male character, and was he ever talented!  The performance got a great review from the Duluth News Tribune, stating

"any competent performance of Kiss Me Kate would be a joy, if only for Cole Porter's songs and William Shakespeare's dialogue, but in UMD Theatre's current production, you also get Ben Elledge's smashing performance as Fred/Petruchio as well as a generous portion of other delightful, if less overwhelming, treats."

We had a great time and enjoyed the performance very much.  It includes several very familiar songs including "So Darn Hot", "Wunderbar", and "So In Love".  The singing voices of the main characters were especially strong.

During the fall season in 1991, Mom, Dad and I made a trip to Red Wing to visit Bonnie, Glen and Emily.  Dad and Glen would work on projects in their house and the girls would go to craft stores and sales and then out into the countryside to pick out some pumpkins and squash.  This pumpkin patch was on Highway 19 between Cannon Falls and Red Wing. 

This has always been my favorite time of year and every time I see this picture of Emily it brings back wonderful memories of the fun we had on those adventures.

It is hard to believe it is already a year ago that Bonnie, Emily and I went to New York City.  We have great memories of seeing three good shows (42nd Street, Phantom of the Opera, and The Foreigner), eating at some great restaurants (French, Italian, Irish), and seeing some icons (Matthew Broderick, Brad Paisley, Rupert Gee) and some characters (Naked Cowboy).  I especially enjoyed the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, Central Park, Grand Central Station, and just strolling down Broadway.  I can't wait to go back!

I had a great surprise last night when cousin Lynn Farnen Sprague called to say she was in town for a few days training new Wells Fargo employees.  We met at Porter's for lunch today and had no problem talking non-stop for the hour and a half we had together.  Lynn and Tim's son Danny is a freshman at UMD.  Their daughter Kelly is a junior at the UW-Eau Claire.  The last time I saw Kelly and Danny they were finishing middle school!