Celebrating Mom's 77th While We are in the Neighborhood

the crowd gathers for mom's birthday brunch.



sarah, will and dave chillin' at the end of the table. notice that i am dropping my g's as that is very much in vogue these days.



the hoodlums waiting to see what desserts there are to choose from.



Happy Birthday Mom!

Party Time

mike provided the musical selections for the evening.



mom and cousin eileen. if you don't interrupt them they will talk all day.



cousin sue and my brother-in-law charlie catching up.



cousin jay,john and dave enjoying their wine.



my niece, lesley, look more like my sister every day.



here is the new and updated bearded version of will.



sarah, wondering why i always have to take pictures.



have napkins, will be entertained. yes, he is 11 years old and yes, i know this may be only slightly age inappropriate. makes a mother proud.

Dad Turns 80!

the candles have been blown out, the wish made, and another birthday celebrated.



sue and dad getting ready for the cake.



mom,lou,nahid and joan enjoying the dinner



mom,dad and cousin sue starting the dinner line.



dad and cousin mark engaged in a heated election discussion. we forgive mark for being on the dark side.

A Day at the Farm

got to love this man. been together 31 years and my heart still skips a beat when i see him.



i tell you- this family is easily entertained.




with madeline heading off to college next year, i spend this year pondering the "lasts". this is the last time madeline will be coming on this family outing to the farm the first weekend in october to find our pumpkins.

A Day at the Farm

goofing around with the vegetables. my children are easily entertained.



whose idea was it, all those years ago, that we should get a pumpkin for everyone in the family?



mike putting in his time pushing the wheelbarrow.



green with envy.



with this beauty, tell me, why do we live in the suburbs?

John's Weekend

What a great husband- it is Sunday evening and John is installing hardwood floors in Mike and Tom's room instead of watching the Giants vs. Green Bay. You know I will owe him all sorts of favors for this one!

Sushi Master

Madeline treats us to a New Year's Eve sushi dinner with her new Christmas gift- a sushi making kit. She is impossible to buy gifts for- she is the only 16 year old girl who abhors clothing and jewelery (as evidenced by her stylish sweats- of which she has many varieties)- her only gift requests were Harry Potter books in spanish and sushi making supplies. We are definitely the beneficiaries of this gift- the sushi was deliciious!

All the Casey Cousins 2007

And now, all the Casey cousins together at Christmas-Tom, Madeline, William, Bobby, Matthew, Sarah, Mike, Mary, Caroline and Caelyn

Casey Cousins 1993

Here are Madeline,Will, Bobby,Matthew,Sarah, Mary and Caroline on Christmas 1993.


And here they all are 14 years later.

Tom

Tom seems to take after Madeline in his love of soccer. He loves nothing more than chasing a ball down a field for an hour, routinely getting kicked in the shins. And so this is how he spends his Saturday mornings.

Privacy at Last

We built our deck ourselves, 5 years ago when we had a kooky but charming old woman living next door. Her garden was wild with plants, untended but beautiful. Our deck overlooked the riotous color that filled her yard each season. Then she moved. A very nice family moved in and proceeded to take out everything alive from the back yard. In one day, the chainsaw destroyed all that was beautiful back there. Gone were the tall specimen evergreens. Gone were the beautiful maples, whose fall colors were awesome. Gone were the prize azaleas. Even the koi were buried alive in the pond as they filled it in with dirt. All in the name of "neatness". It made me cry everytime I looked over there. Not to mention my pleasure when we sat on the deck eating dinner and the little ones next door would lean out the window and say "what are you having for dinner miss judi?" John has now solved the problem with this wonderful privacy screen he built. Now all I have to do is paint it white. And, the best part is that it made me realize how perfect this part of our deck is for a hot tub!

Lusty Larry

With 48 years of living behind me, I didn't really think of myself as naieve , but now, with the press from the Larry Craig bathroom debacle, I am finding myself wondering where I have been all these years. I have always just used the restroom, not paying any mind to the people in the other stalls. Not once in 48 years did it cross my mind that there was a whole other world out there, people using restrooms for completely different purposes. I guess I should have figured it out- people use most other venues to find sex partners-but I just never thought of the restroom in that capacity. Live and learn.

But now I am wondering, if sending signals for sex solicitaion is illegal, what happens to the whole bar scene, whose primary purpose is sexual solicitation?

white mountain fun

after a week on the cape, we picked up sarah from logan airport and drove up to the white mountains in our 10 year old minivan with 175,000 miles on it. our mechanic just shook his head in disbelief when i told him we were taking it. my version of walking on the wild side.



the mountains were as breathtaking as i remembered- and the hikes as punishing.
in the foreground are lakes of the clouds and the lakes of the clouds hut, in the distance are mt. monroe, franklin and eisenhower.



sarah and madeline on their hike up to mizpah springs. the plan was for the girls to hike up to mizpah and stay overnight in the hut and then hike along the ridge to lakes of the clouds in the morning, where we would meet them and all continue to the summit of mt washington together. unfortunately, freezing temperatures, thunderstorms and 99mph winds undermined our plans and the girls hiked back down in the morning and we had to wait a day to climb mt. wahington.


we spent our rainy day hiking mt. tom, shrouded in fog.


taking the ammonoosuc ravine trail up mount washington. everyone looks exuberant ot the start! looking forward to climb waterfalls.


closer to the summit, but not quite as lively.


and finally at the summit of mt.washington. an amazing day with 100 mile visibility- a far cry from the previous day's storms.we can see canada and the atlantic ocean.today, the mountain is not earning its title of "worst weather on earth".
a 4.5 mile hike with a 3800 ft. vertical climb- not a bad morning's work.

whale watching

we went on a phenomenal whale watching trip where we were lucky enough to visit with a humpback who was in a breaching mood. she breached at least 12 times right in front of us. her size was impressive! unfortunately, the camera batteries chose this day to die, so all we got was this picture from the trip.

cape cod

the cape is an amazing place to camp. bike to beaches. bike/walk to fresh water ponds to sail and swim. awesome seafood.
and you can make your own sandcastle in your tent every night after the kids look like this at the end of the day.

keeping it simple

leaving the modern "comforts" behind, we set out for two weeks camping in massachusetts and new hampshire.
not much for privacy, but this tent is our home for now