Blackmans on the Web (log)

Whew! Great day. As always. Food was terrific (turkey was especially good this year). Bill and Lorette were here for the first time in a long time. New babies: Anthony and Allison. Great to have the boys home too.

FR: Sam, Sarah, Amber, Oliva, Peter, Allison, Amy SR: LeAnne, Jacob, Lorette, Bill BR: Pat, Diana, Joe, Anthony, MariFe, Matt, Alex, Shelby, Ann, Scott

I earned it!

For us, summer this year started last Saturday, the day of Sam’s high school graduation. The graduation parties of friends started the week before and, in fact, he’s at another friend’s graduation party tonight, but we squeezed all his celebrating into that same day as the Centennial High School graduation ceremony, June 6. That allowed us to take advantage of out of town family to attend both ceremony and party.

To quote Jane Austen: One cannot have too large a party. That’s exactly how we do it around here! We are truly blessed with loving and supportive family and friends. Like with Alex’s graduation last year, the menu and other party plans all came from Sam. Needless to say, with fajitas and slushees on the menu and the volleyball net up in the pool, it was a fun day for everyone.

Click on the picture to the right to see more photos from the day. NOTE: There are not 200+ photos like we normally have because Scott was having as good a time as everyone else, just hanging out and enjoying the day to celebrate Sam!

Click the image below for a recap of our Turkey Day Extravaganza. Quicktime Time lapse movie version here

Had a great visit with the Hermansons (Peters Parents / Ann’s Sister and Brother-in-Law) and the Proebers (Amy’s Mom and Dad) a few weeks back. They were all here for a confirmation of baptism services for little Oliva. We had a chance to get some nice photos of everyone. Amy’s Sister Abby and her husband John along with Amy’s brother John were all here as well.

We had a great weekend celebrating Sam’s confirmation. Sam was very patient being the center of attention!Aunt Meg flew in from Tampa to be Sam’s sponsor. Peter and Amy came over from Fort Worth. Grandma and Grandpa came from Greensboro. Uncle David came from Charlotte. The Calvano’s (minus Joe) were here on Sunday along with our friends the Toledo’s.Thanks to everyone for being a part of this important event in Sam’s life. (PS – we missed you Alex! –on a band trip)More photos are available by clicking on the picture below.

Just returned from our Wisconsin vacation. Ann’s nephew, Peter, and his fiance, Amy, were married on June 12. It was a beautiful wedding on an unusually hot Wisconsin Sunday.In addition, there was a Wambach family reunion on Saturday. It had been 4 years since we’d all been to Wisconsin, 12 years since the last “official” Wambach reunion.Finally, our soon to be (too soon for my taste) college bound son Alex had a chance to take a nice tour of the University of Wisconsin at Madison with his high school senior cousin Andy Simon-Wambach. “It was cool!” said the boy. He even got stopped by a “hippie” on State St. Imagine that. And in Madison of all places!