Jelani Graduates 6th Grade

Hard enough to think that Jelani is going to be 12 years old in just a short month, and is graduating from 6th grade is amazing. Time is flying by! It was fun to go inside his school and see him with his friends and classmates. We have been by the William Sidney Mount (PS174) many times this was my first time inside!









I was very impressed that his class size was so small and the school reminded me much of the high school I attended in Vermont. The parents seemed to all know each other and the ethnic diversity was AWESOME!

Look at that happy guy! He was very proud to be graduating, and looking forward to his next step into 7th. I am not so sure I am happy with the fact that he will be riding the TRAIN to school everyday. Is he REALLY old enough for this???

Jelani with some of his peeps! Sporting their certificate of completion of the 6th grade!









Here he is! It took a major corroborative effort to let his Ninang take photos of him up on the stage afterwards!!

















PS 174 2011 6th Grade Graduate!!!



















The Graduate with his most AWESOME parents Mark and Tina! You guys are raising my Godson into the finest young man!!
















Jelani and his favorite Ninang, ok so he only has one Godmother but I am still his favorite!!



















Last minute Brad was able to swap swifts with a co-worker and was able to go. I thought they only had three tickets but that turned out that they had more. Funny how things just work out and were meant to be.

















The Williams/Austin/GoodHale gang!! One of Jelani's classmates took this for us! Not bad, he may have a future!












Congratulations Jelani, your Ninang and Brad are VERY proud of you and look forward to the many more successes in your future!!

Museum of Natural History-NYC

We got into the City early and decided to check out the Museum of Natural History, just off Central Park West.








We were very impressed with the amount of dinosaurs they had on exhibit (4 floors). This was the T-Rex area.






Two old farts with two really old farts.

















The monkeys from the movie "Night at the Museum"

















Mr. Unhappy. If I remember from the movie this one had a bad attitude.















We viewed some awesome photographs from the Andes in Chile and Peru, South America.




Evolution ..... from homopithicus to cro magnon to modern man and finally Superherous Amercanis!!!








Self portrait in the city. And the camera was next to the sidewalk on a post. Trusting!!








The front entrance. We saw it last as we came in from the subway entrance.

Beth's birthday bash!

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Fathers Day 2011

I am one of the lucky ones! Not only do I have a biological father that loves me, I have a step father that volunteered to love me!! Happy Fathers Day to both my Dad's. Because of involved Dad's, little girls grow up to rule the world!! With two dads it is no wonder of my successes!! Happy Fathers day to Brad, the GoodHale girls love you LOTS!!

Caitlyn is off to France!!

Here they are... the BBA students just before they leave for NYC to catch a plane to France!! Caitlyn has been dreaming about this trip for over a year and the day is FINALLY here!!



Here she is with her mom and best friend Madi! How will she go 2 WHOLE weeks without seeing them?!?! I am sure she will be having so much fun it will fly by!!


Brad and I were happy it worked out that they left later in the afternoon so that we could go down to Manchester to see them off being that he got done work at 6AM that morning and needed to be back at work at 6PM.

Here is her first facebook post since arriving..
"Ok so our flight didn't leave until 4am and we had a 10 1/2 hour bus ride... Can you say tired? France is amazing! Hopefully Spain is too! My host mom is bringing us to Spain!"

We have had the chance to skype with her and all seems to be great! She got a great host family! Little sun burned from her beach day in Spain. Looking forward to hearing more about the trip!!

What were we THINKING??

What better thing to do on a Sunday afternoon then have Mr Whipple teach your impressionable child about fiscal responsibilities and the difference between WANTS and NEEDS. Not sure he could have given Charlie a better birthday gift. After all we were there to celebrate Charlies's 5oth Birthday!!









Adam wanting a new pair of Ziggs and Don more then willing to loan him the money, but with terms. Oh and income verification is needed.

Nothing like a celebration with a fine craft brew.

And what a craft brew. Allagash Brewery of Maine has this Ale thats aged in bourbon barrels making a fine sipping ale. Hints of caramel, vanilla and bitters makes this a great after dinner beer. 11% alcohol by volume doesn't hurt either.







There were also several other tasting brews as well from Harpoon, Ayinger, Wychwood, and Trout River. Oh and some wine and soda for the the others.





You can't have competition prints out without having the proper lights! You can't get the lights out without one of the bulbs blowing!!





The crowd is SHOCK of our selections!!










Charlie asking Gillian....
"What were you THINKING??"










We all went through our FLOWER POWER phase... maybe Bob stayed their a little longer then the rest of us!!







Charlie can tell you EXACTLY what the judges said, why they were wrong and that this print deserved more then a 72!!!!






After seeing this image, I understood why Charlie didn't pursue weddings. Sorry Charlie, that image was FUNNY! What were you THINKING??





Can you see my BIG hands?? Family Tree was the title. For the record it MERITED at PPA. What were the judges THINKING??






Of course it would not be a get together with Jenks involved if we didn't have to do a 4x5 image!!








SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! Charlie still has the touch!!






Thank you Charlie, Meg and Adam for such a fun day and wonderful way to celebrate Charlie's 50th Birthday!




This group is really like a second family for me. After all they have been part of my life for over 20 years and more then half my life!


















Charlie, your the man!! You have educated me, inspired me, motivated me and I LOVE you for all of it! I am so lucky to have someone to challenge my thoughts and always give me a different perspective. Thank you for being YOU!! Happy Birthday Charlie!

Dewey's Landing

Making the most of canoe season, because we know it gets shorter and shorter. We had plans to attend Charlie Parker's 50th in Quechee so we decided to go early and get a canoe ride in.

We found a perfect spot called Dewey's Landing. We had a choice of Dewey's Pond or the Ottauquechee River. We chose the river.

The river proved to be the best choice. We paddled down river to the first dam before the gorge then paddled upstream to the shallows near the covered bridge in town.

Dewey's Pond was a little overgrown with lily pads, so we left it to the fishermen that were around.

Off to Charlie's!!

SUPRISE Lori!!

Lori usually knows everything that going on. How they pulled this one off with out her knowing is impressive.

This might be the reason, Lori's sister was visiting from Kansas and her birthday was actually March 9th. What better way to spring a surprise birthday than 2 months late!!!

Donna was the only one with a camera, so we had to have proof we were there too.

The birthday girl.

Happy 50th Lori!!