Mark Jr's Halloween

I could be wrong, but it appears that MarkJr was a polar bear.

LittleJohn was a fireman (shown below without his hat and battle axe).



I wonder what the MerkBoyz were?

Where Is A Shark When You Need One?

Maggie and Ryan's mongrels.

Happy B-Day DanF

What is going on with the three fingers?

Everything else we'd all expect.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SARAH

Sarah has a new job working in Newton. This is great news since this is her chosen field and a special man lives in the Newton area. Good Luck Sarah!

Caught on Tape

The Actual Baptism of Christine

The rest of the pics are on LittleJohn's website. (There are two pages there folks - let's see if you can find them all.)

DrMark said he would stop by afterwards. It's 8pm and we are still waiting. We are going to bed, but will leave the door unlocked. There plenty of leftovers in the fridge.

Thank you to everyone who came out and made it such a special day.

Once again dinner at Anne & Wayne's

Mum, Dad, Helena, John, Vanda & Tom joined us for dinner tonight. As usual the first thing is to go over all the new additions to the blog, which we love. My guess is 214 pictures in Helena's house, but if the prize is that 20 year old trash can then my guess is one picture. Beef stew, fresh baked bread and home made apple pie all vanished. I'm going to try to send a picture of everyone crowded around the computer and also some great pictures from Iceland. If geology interests you this is a great place to visit. Tom told us how well Dan played golf last week, better than Tom.

Living La Vida Golfa

DrTom and I played an almost perfect round of golf today with his regular Wednesday crew.

Meteorologists forecasted a 70% chance of rain but there was nary a drop.

DrTom may know how to swing, chip, and putt, but he can't drive a golf cart worth a lick.

So get this, after the round, he and his cronies drank beer, inhaled nachos, and plotted their next 20 or so golf outings. I am serious.

It must be nice...

Finally A MarkJr Update

LizL writes,

I sent you a bunch of pictures of us in Maine a month or so ago but I guess you didn't get them so I am sending you some from Maine and from Mark Jr.'s 1st Birthday party. He is doing well. He started walking two weeks ago and now he thinks he can run, but by looking at the bumps on his head I think he needs a little more practice.





I can't believe they let MarkJr dig into the cake like that and ruin such a masterpiece!



Great pics. Keep them coming.

Labor Day

We had a very nice cookout yesterday at Vanda's. Kevin and Jenn manned the grill. Helena watched bratty LittleJohn. The rest of us relaxed.



Discussions covered Winston Churchill, the rankings of DrMark's old girlfriends, and male hands-free urination.



The house was decorated for all seasons.



Now I would recommend that any blogger stuck with writer's block go to Worcester for a day and harvest the cornucopia of blog material that is our family.

UncleJohn could fill pages all by himself. The other day he actually forgot his own name.

He was calling LittleJohn, "Jonathan" instead of "John Anthony". I screamed,

"DAD, YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR OWN GRANDSON'S NAME!!! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WE NAMED HIM AFTER YOU!!!"

Also he was reading an ad from Percy's for a "Mitsubuki" television. (It was actually Mitsubishi). I guess he tried to make it a Polish company. Would anyone actually buy a Polish television?

His chore for the cookout was to get a Friendly's watermelon roll or two. This escapade would be fodder for a two part Seinfeld episode all by itself. I can't tell the whole story but it started out with him walking by the watermelon rolls at the store last weekend - he couldn't buy them then because of chronic freezer clutter. And it ended with him driving all over town looking for watermelon rolls while the cookout was under way.







Speaking of clutter...

This week's family contest is to guess how many family photos grace the main floor of Helena and UJ's house. Those pics above don't contain all of them. I counted and the closest guess will win a new trash can.

Boy, time does fly. Click here to see last year's Labor Day post.

Everyone should keep AuntMarge in their thoughts and prayers. She suffered a mild stroke this past weekend.

Another Wonderful Dinner at Anne and Wayne's

The caption says it all, as do some of the pics!

Normally I would only include one unflattering pic of Vanda but yesterday she actually questioned the paternity of my daughter, hence the double dose of punishment. I must say that it was a bit much being around her without DrTom's adroit spousal management that I guess we all have taken for granted. Lesson learned, please come home Tom.

Lastly, here's a pic from Joe and Kelly's honeymoon.



I think it was St. John but can't remember. I have to twist arms to get blog material sent to me. Speaking of which, can someone send a pic of MarkJr before he's in school?

Cape Invasion

MoMerk writes,

Hey Dan - At last, here are some pictures from the Cape. We lucked out and had a great week (for the last 3 years we have gone to the Cape, it's rained).

Brendan had fun catching crabs off the rock jetties and Colin caught his first fish! Pictures of both are attached. We also went to Provincetown on one of the days - that's where one of the shots was taken. It was a good time - sorry you couldn't join us - maybe next time. Hope you guys are doing well....

P-Town huh? Was that UncleMark's (and partner's) idea?

I did call the Cape house during their trip and spoke to a medley of Mullins. I also heard that everyone had to vacate the family house to make way for Kevin and Jenn's anniversary celebration. Allegedly DrMark was booted out even after agreeing to light the 200 votive candles.

I say y'all should remember that when they have a couple of small children and are pining for a little free family help.

Christine's Baptism

The little angel is to be baptized at 2pm Sunday September 17th at Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury. All are welcome, even MoMerk who didn't invite us to Brendan's Christening.

CathyF and Fred (Inez's brother) will be the godparents.

The sacrament will be preceded by an 11am brunch at our place and everyone can linger at our house afterwards as well. Cathy will be in town from Fri-Monday morning.

Nobody has to respond until (almost) the last minute. We just will need an idea of how many are coming so we know how much cereal and Pop Tarts to buy.

Canadian Postcard

What a wonderful relaxing trip we had. All the way from St John back
to Portland. Now if there was some way to do away with that nasty ride from Portland. Nova Scotia was lovely. People say it looks like Ireland in parts. We visited Halifax which we loved, Lunenburg which was very pretty, Anapolis which was historically interesting, the tidal basin power plant technologically interesting and the driving from place to place which was leisurely and scenic. We stayed in Bed and Breakfasts and met some great people. Our exciting time was spent rafting the waves caused by the tide in the Bay of Fundy...so much fun. We ate Digby scallops,
and Lunenburg lobster... All too soon it was over. This is a family postcard of some views.

Love,

Helena and John AKA Mom and Dad

Happy 65th Anniversary Nana & Grandpa

Aside from a near pedestrian car accident involving Mel and Julie, the 65th wedding anniversary celebration was an exceedingly pleasant occasion. The young people sat at one end, as the "kid table" apparently isn't passe. The old people all got doggie bags, which were meticulously identified and dated by DrTom.



Anne crashed the party without notice and the mean sister(s) welcomed her nonetheless. The guy pictured below showed up already sauced from an afternoon drinking binge. He was also very quiet at dinner - being polite enough not to speak when his mouth was full (i.e. most of the evening). No offense UJ, but you could have at least worn a collared shirt.

The young'uns discussed a "cousins trip" for next year and the youngest'un of all, Sarah put forth a motion to exclude the old people from the trip. Of course she didn't say that outright, but rather suggested the trip be made "cousins only".



On side note, they demolished the house next to Nana & Grandpa's.



They are going to put a pre-fab modular right where the old house was.

The New Trash Can

Hey Dan,

Saw your blog addition about my parents' trash can. It is truly disgraceful that this trash can is still in existence after Tom and I purchased a brand new one for them. At any rate, I believe my mom was the only one to have pictures of the new trash can unveiling - unless Kevin did - so I doubt you'll see that anytime soon. At any rate, here is the picture of the trash can we got them from the manufacturer web site - kind of a big difference from the 30-year-old, juice-stained, food-encrusted trash can that is still being used!!

MoMerk

Yes indeed. And Vanda looks a lot thinner in that pic too!

Profiles in Recidivism - Vanda

re·cid·i·vism noun

1) A tendency to lapse into a previous pattern of behavior, especially a pattern of criminal habits.
2) The relapse of a disease or symptom. Also called recidivation.

Even though MoMerk and ToMerk bought Vanda a sharp looking modern trash can, she just couldn't bring herself to throw out the one from 1982. LittleJohn espied the old can on the 4th of July and emailed me the above pic. (Can somebody send me a pic of the new can that was revealed at Liz's?)



You can lead a horse to water....

You can't teach an old dog....

Old habits die....

I think it's clear that this transgression calls for harsher interventionist measures.

Is anyone honestly shocked that the nasty can is still in use?