Shell-Family.com: October 2006

"Bob-Fest" 2006, on Maple Lane

On Halloween Night, an ancient version of Bob The Builder met with a peanut sized version of Bob The Builder.

I confess, I really enjoyed doing it, and Jack seemed to enjoy seeing me in costume.

Halloween 2006

Here are a few pictures from our annual costume party. We had a pretty good turn-out. I hope you had a good time if you came (sorry about the spookiness, Jack).

Sara and Tom came down from Madison. I was a general bloody psycho-killer, Sabine was a many-armed mother of a many-armed baby, Tom was a jailbird (or he's not telling us something), and Sara was a vampire (I think).

Here's a close-up of Sabine with her baby.

Part of the new decorations was three shrunken heads in jars, of course these heads were already shrunken to begin with.

There is also a new scare-crow that Sabine built for the holiday.

Birthday brunch for Boompa

Unc giving Jack a "copter" ride! (Jack just looooves this - he still talks about it EVERY day - thanks Unc!)

Labels: birthday

Grandma Jean's Birthday! I love birthdays!

Jumping with Bella. (She's a really great jumper.)

Checking out the neighbor's cat, Benny.

Grandma opened her presents. It was hard work so I helped.

Eating birthday cake in my skivvies. Life is good.

Chilling on the couch with my cuz.

Look what we made!

Labels: birthday

October 10th, a Day For Celebration

As a family, today we celebrate the wedding anniversary of Jack's parents, the 90th birthday of the original Grandma Shell. Lee and I thought that a wonderful activity for this day would be to visit a traditional autumn retreat, The Little Red School House. The children in our family have all been there on more than one occation having been taken there by grand parents, parents, aunts, and uncles. Today was Jack's day.

Jack is welcomed at the front door by a stuffed racoon, whose hair he had to check out.

There were several tanks containing local breeds of fish, etc. This one contained a variety of turtles and a large frog on top of a rock.

There were three tanks which contained local, non-poisonous snakes. These all kill vermin and are valued by farmers. There was a Bull Snake, a Rat Snake, and in this photo, a Fox snake. We choose this one for the photo as he (or she) was the most active. (No, I am not holding the snake with my right hand!!)

We then hiked around the "pond" looking for some ducks, geese, or other water foul. Unfortunately, it looks like they have all left for warmer climates.

We finished up with a photo with their pumpkin display.

Autumn in Marquette - 2006

Once again, mom and I journeyed to the U.P. to take in the breathtaking beauty of the trees and bushes around Renz's woodland retreat.

This trip, in addition to the colors of nature, we were able to participate, with Tristan and Gracie, in the annual blessing of pets in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.

With her newly acquired holiness, Gracie felt the need to occupy the "Nearer My God To Thee" post just outside Renz's upstairs study.

A Walk in the Forest

What a beautiful autumn day!

Liberty Gala 2006

Yesterday (Saturday, 7 Oct.) was the Pritzker Military Library's third annual Liberty Gala. Sabine and I went and had a lot of fun, in spite of the fact that it was actually a work event and I wasn't able to fully relax and enjoy myself.

Geoff and Yukiko's Wedding Reception

Saturday, September 30th, was the wedding reception for Geoff and Yukiko. It was a beautiful day for a cruise on the Odyssey II. Little did we all know, there was an open call for contestants on Deal or No Deal going on at the Pier. There was a line of people stretching from the end of the pier back to the entrance road. Needless to say, this made finding parking a little more challenging.