Day with Keenan at LIU 9/10

Above are pictures taken in Harrisburg, PA . Different states have different statues in PA you will find cows. Also featured are one of the bridges across the Susquehanna River. All of you who know me know my dog, Nicky, I just need to put his picture in every so often just to remind you all of how cute he is.

The planes overhead are from a military training facility down the road from us. The trees in the field are ones Lee cut down. Pine trees that were dying from a disease called Needle cast.

You can tell fall is in the air. The Hydrangeas are turning purple.

A couple of weeks ago we got to see Troy play at a school near us.

Our daughter, Michelle, and her daughter, Carissa, also came to watch.

Off to New York to see Keenan at Long Island University, Brooklyn campus

The city is in sight and it is a beautiful day. In the 70's and sunny.

Into the Holland Tunnel we go.

Don't these buildings look like legos?

Over the Manhattan Bridge.

We're just about there!

Our daughter, Suzanne, is pointing to the 11th floor. This is where are grandson, Keenan's room is.

This campus covers about 2 city blocks and has gates and security at each entrance. A very secure and quite lovely campus right in the middle of the city.

One of the views from the campus.

This is Suzanne and daughter, Hollyn. Hollyn has just purchased a t-shirt and hat to support her brother's college. Suzanne had decided she may have to borrow the hat---off hand I'd say her chances are not great.

Our daughter, Suzanne, her husband, Dave, Keenan, and Hollyn. Their son Troy was working today. He is in the soccer picture above.

This is Keenan's dorm room. Three boys in a very small space but they seem to have made the best of it.

Keenan and his roommates.

The following are pictures taken around the campus.

This is a historical building which is part of the campus. This a a picture of it during the time it was a theater.

The very ornate ceiling identifies it's age.

Quite a beautiful room.

Some of the many shows seen in this building.

Bet some of you can remember these guys too!!!!!

Suzanne and Holly checking things out.

Before the soccer game, we had lunch with Keenan across the street at Junior's.

How many different ways can you make New York cheesecake?

It was so nice to have some time with our grandson. His schedule is so busy it's sometimes very difficult to get together with him.

We all had a nice lunch together.

A very special boy.

Look at this little boy all ready to watch the soccer game. You know he,s thinking " I can't wait till I grow up and play in a game like this".

Keenan deep in thought and hydrating before the game.

There's are boy gearing up.

Doing their pregame exercises.

The girls soccer team is all ready to cheer the boys on.

We're ready!! Let's do it!!

They played Cornell University and they won 1 nothing.

The coaches discussing how they feel the game went.

Feeding the starving soccer players.

It's dusk and it's time to head home. What a lovely day we had with Keenan. It's so nice to be able to picture him now in his surroundings. We are excited for him and the many opprotunities that await him this year.

Jane, this picture is for you. Look at the neat bike I've added to my back garden.

Fidler's pig roast

We are at the home of Tom and Lauree Fidler good friends of ours from church. The DJ is set upon the wagon in the background.It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon and they are having a pig roast. You could not believe all the food.

This is a picture of their beautiful barn.

This is Tom and Lauree's daughter, Christin, and Nate with their new little one.

This is Tom and Lauree's son, Jared, and his fiancee, Christina.

Their home is just lovely and has a porch which should be featured on Better Homes and Gardens.

Now to the reason for this pig roast. It turns out that this year was a big year for Tom, Lauree and their daughter, Kassi, when it comes to birthdays so they decided to make a joint celebration this year.

Tom turning 60!!!

Kassi turning 21!!!

Lauree turning 50!!!

It was a lot of fun for everyone. Thanks Fidler's for a nice day.

Day with Izzy and Friends

Our granddaughter, Izzy, and family moved from Mechanicsburg to Pittsburgh PA at the beginning of the summer. I know Izzy misses all her good friends. She was visiting the area again and had a get together with her girlfriends at the farm. Wouldn't you know the day they were here was the first cloudy day all week. They didn't let it ruin their day.
Papa still loaded them all on the hay wagon and took them on a hayride.

They all went swimming in the pond though the temperature was only in the high 60's or low 70's. They said the water was warm.

It started to drizzle a little and the girls took cover under the umbrella.

The girls were watching the fish swim around and trying to decide if they wanted to swim with them or not.

What the heck!! Let's to for it.

Pizza was enjoyed by all.
Izzy is seated on the far right.

Riley family reunion 2010 Myrtle Beach, SC

This picture belongs below with those not in attendance below. This is Troy. I was unable to drag it down.

I think this is how we all felt by the end of the week (our grandson, Luke) . We all fit a lot of fun, sharing and laughing into a week.

We left here on July 24th in the RV with 8 family members. It was a long trip and towards the end the traffic was nasty. We're not used to summer traveling any more. It took us 11 hours to get to the resort. As you can see from the pictures above it was a really hard trip for the kids!!


Upper left hand corner we have Amber and Lauren. Amber is our granddaughter, Carissa's friend and Lauren is Darryl 's daughter. Then I have two pictures of Erica, our daughter in law, who is just so photogenic. Below is our eldest daughter Suzanne and our youngest daughter Karen. Next a picture of Karen and Brandon. The following are pictures of Suzanne and Karen deep in conversation.
My family being totally silly which they are really good at. Yes, that is me drying Dave's pants
he sat down in a chair on the balcony that was still a little wet from the rain the night before.In the upper left hand corner David is holding Izzy's hermit crab who made the trip with them.


The above is pictures of our beach time. The kids did fireworks on the beach at night.


We had cookouts, ate out once and had 9 racks of ribs one night. Plenty of food. Breakfast and dinner were at Nana and Papa's place. We celebrated Luke's and Hollyn's July birthdays. I wish I had recorded all the conversations around the dinner table.

Also worth mentioning is that Myrtle Beach is Krispee Kreme headquarters. When you go past the store they let you know with a sign in the window when they are just coming out of the oven. Let me tell you right now --- there is nothing like a glazed donut right out of the oven.

From left to right above: Karen with son Mike, Michelle with boyfriend, Darryl, Karen and Husband Mac.

Below: Karen outside restaurant we ate at, our son, David, his wife, Erica, and their daughter, Isabella, then Brandon, our youngest son.

A night of shopping and Bangui jumping for the grand kids and dinner out. The pretty plaque in the middle was given to me by Mac and Karen.

To help you keep everyone straight I'm going to list the children and families for you.

Our eldest daughter, Suzanne, and her daughter, Hollyn.
Her husband and 2 sons are missing from this picture. Will explain later.

Next in line is Michelle and her daughter, Carissa, and her son Steve, below.

Steve will be next year's high school graduate.

This is Michelle's boyfriend, Darryl, and his daughter, Lauren. He has a son, Justin, who was unable to attend due to a baseball tournament.

Next we have our son, David, his wife, Erica, and their two children, Isabella and Garrett.

Here we have our daughter, Karen, and her husband, Mac, and their two boys, Mike and Luke.

This is my 5 foot 6 inch baby, Brandon. Unfortunately he had the flu the whole time he was with us and felt terrible.

Here we have the nine grandchildren from eldest to youngest.
Keenan, Steve, Troy, Carissa, Isabella, Hollyn, Mike, Garrett, and Luke.

These are our 5 children
Suzanne, Michelle, David

Karen and Brandon

Here are the 5 of them.

Lee and I have seen a lot of beautiful things but I must say seeing all 5 children together having fun, sharing memories, laughing, loving and supporting one another tops the lists.

Not present at the reunion were Suzanne's husband David and her sons, Keenan above and Troy at the top of the blog.

Suzanne's family: husband, David, daughter Hollyn, and sons, Keenan and Troy

Keenan was at a required soccer camp for school. He will be attending Long Island University in New York and playing Division 1 soccer this fall.

Troy, who is at the beginning of the blog will be in 11th grade this year and he was asked to play in Houston, TX with U-17 Youth Division of Philadelphia Union MLS team. Quite an honor. These boys live and breath soccer.

We missed having them with us.

All the grandchildren had a great time together and we all decided at the end of the week that we should do it again in 2-3 years.

There is nothing more important than family except out relationship with our Heavenly father.

We're glad our children understand the importance of staying in touch and supporting one another.

Featured above are Jim and Tracy Tull who graciously offered to take care of Nicky while we went to the family reunion. We can't thank them enough --we are very picky about who watches child # 6 because he is a tad spoiled.

I hope this blog has given all of you an opportunity to meet our family. They are after all, the most important part of who we are.