Party for Katri and Erik (and the kids)

We had the Sieberg clan and a few of their friends over to celebrate them being in the States for awhile and stopping in Binghamton on the whirlwind cross country tour.   So great to see them, the kids have all gotten big.  Here are a few photos I managed to capture in the chaos.

Katri and Wendy

Lin and Katri

Molly and Taija (the best picture of them; one of the had their eyes closed in every picture I took)
Diane, Nadene and Dave having a few cold drinks in the kitchen
Molly and Claire on the sofa having some quiet time.

Farewell pictures at the airport

Laura in front of Greater Binghamton International Airport.  Had to get in these last shots before she left.

Laura as she goes through the TSA at BGM.  Notice that she did have her shoes off already, but soon after this she set off the metal detector alarm and had to remove her belt.  Then all was well.  Goodbye Laura!!  Thanks for coming and we hope you will visit again.  Love, Lin.

Farewell pictures at home

It looks like I am goosing Laura from the look on her face, but I promise I have my hands to myself.  I love having a few good pictures of just me and her. 

Aunt Laura is being mauled by the kids as she tries to get out the door.
All the kids are giggly as she tames them long enough for a good final picture.
Dave and Laura.  Looks like that Bloddy Mary was kicking in for her (ha ha ha!!)

Caleb loves Aunt Laura

Caleb was the most shy around Aunt Laura, but the last morning she was here, he took his sippy of milk and wouldn't leave her side as he slurped it up.  He ended up doing silly stuff in her lap and then he was all smiles when she had him sitting high with her.  It was such a touching moment and I am glad that had that connection while she was here.

Scrabble masters

Laura, Potter and I played a game of Scrabble one night.  As it turned out, Mommy Salami, aka Aunt Laura, ended up winning since Potter had to go to bed and we ended the game on that note.  But just wait until next time!!!

SISTERS!!!

Sisterly photo, I just loved having Laura here for our few days.   And wearing our matching shirts, no less!!!

The kids decided to put on a play for us one night, so they worked hard and ended up making a zoo and they then visited all the animals in the zoo.  Not sure where the front loader fits in at the zoo, but it was cute nonetheless.   Notice, too, that Molly is wearing her purple tutu over her nightgown.  She got that from Aunt Laura as a poopy prize.   The things that you do for kids.  

At the entrance to the Nature Preserve

At the entrance to the trail head at the Binghamton University Nature Preserve.  It was such a hot day, but it was a really nice hike.  I think that we almost killed Laura off, because the trail we ended up choosing was basically straight up, like a 60 degree angle (ok, I realize that is not straight up) and then we went of for well over an hour.  But it was fun to be outside and we did end up seeing a couple of deer.

Caleb was allowed out of the backpack and he ended up doing his first real hiking in the Nature Preserve and did a good job, until the going got steep.

Potter and Molly are always happy going on a hike.

The happy hikers after we had made it to the very top.  Now we were all on the way down and very relieved!!!

Aunt Laura is a pro

Aunt Laura can carry many, many, many plates at a time without dropping them.  The kids were all impressed.

Chillin' with some drinks

Having a cold drink on a hot night.  What is better.

Chillin' with the kiddos

Caleb and Aunt Laura watchin' some Happy Feet.

All the kids can't get enough of Aunt Laura being around!

Picnic, playground, carousel

Most everyone at the picnic is in the picture, except Caleb.  Cathy, Laurie and Annie joined us for a picnic and playground day at West Endicott Park.  After lunch, we went on the carousel, which you can see in the background of the first photo.  Lunch was yummy and the weather was not so hot and sticky as it had been for the previous week.

Aunt Laura and Caleb get ready to go on the carousel!
Anxious children waiting for their turn, they can almost taste it!!
Frieda and Caleb taking a twirl around and around!
Laurie and Caleb hangin' in the swings.

Family portrait

A nice photo of me, Dave and Laura.  Boy was I glad to have her come and visit!!

A quick Target expedition

In Target at the checkout.  Laura picked up a little frog (surprise!) purse for Molly.  Wendy is getting about 8 tons of kitty litter.

Posing with the purse.  And notice the cool manicures we got?  Did I tell you that before????

During the manicure and after

Laura looking lovely with the plastic bags on her hands after her paraffin treatment.

Me getting the paraffin treatment done.  It actually felt really good.  I had never had that done before.
Having our finished manicures under the super dryer.
Admiring ourselves outside.
Trying to get the most points for showing the manicure off (including the thumbs).  We did this the entire rest of the day.  How goofy!!

Manicures at White Rose

Wendy treated me and Laura to manicures at White Rose the first day that Laura was here.  It was such a thoughtful and sweet thing to do.  We really enjoyed ourselves.

Wendy and Laura

Lin and Laura
Here we are with the nail color that we both decided to get.  It is a fake nail (dragon lady length) that we are holding up on a little toothpick.  Look carefully and you can see Wendy reflected in the background taking the picture.  I think they ended up hating us, we took so many pictures while we were there.
Laura getting her nails filed and hands massaged.
Lin getting her nails filed (and notice how my manicurist stopped and posed for the photo too?)

Pancakes and wavy arms at breakfast

Today blogger is making me crazy and not uploading any video.  I'll have to try to get this up later on when blogger is having a better day.  GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Aunt Laura arrives with presents!!!

Aunt Laura already knew that an almost 8 year old boy would want some new legos.  He amazed her by making the car the directions gave and then about 8 other iterations of some sort of vehicle.  Molly got a princess cup and a book she already had, so we had to exchange it for a new one.  Caleb was napping during the distribution of gifts, so when he woke up he got his truck, but he was having a very bad day so he chose to sit and scream in the entryway for about a half hour.  I didn't photo this, although I should have.