Belated coverage of August Cousin Event

The Cousins visited in August, over the weekend of the Nicollet County Fair. Here are some of them, strolling in the back way, near the animal barns.

 Just because it's cute.

Miles recently became educated in the ways of cow management, so he shared lots of information with all of us. Sadly, there was no sign of Dollop (Miles' calf buddy) or Dollop's mom Daisy. Cows don't travel from county fair to county fair the way carnival rides do, and since Daisy and Dollop are Steele County residents, we really didn't expect to see them.

Ethan was particularly fond of this goat. He referred to her as Queen Elizabeth because of the royal garb.

The Nicollet County Fair equivalent of Machinery Hill at the MN State Fair is more like Lawn Vehicle Flats. Some big farm machinery, but mostly smaller vehicles the kids still love to climb on and pretend to drive. This little red buggy was their favorite mode of transportation. Gustie sunglasses from Uncle Charlie makes the Cousins look especially cool.

Milkshakes from the dairy stand always taste good, although next year we need to remember that most of the kids, younger and older, as well as Gpa & Gma, were on overload half way through the big, thick, smooth shakes. Who will share with me next year?

We took this one for Angie, who was both learning and sweltering 
in Baltimore. We missed you, Angie.

Swimming. Jumping off the boards, balancing on the WIBIT, swimming under water, lounging on deck. It's the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Oh yes... and eating treats at the pool, too.

As with every Cousin get-together, I could post 100 more photos. I'll stop here, though, leaving you with a few last images. This... 

a Star Wars invasion...

...dogs and their proud owners... 

... and two lazy sisters.

Our ears have (mostly) stopped ringing from the noise. As always between visits, we miss those crazy, sweet, smart, huggable, smoochy, and wonderful grandkiddos. Happy start to the school year to all of them from Gpappy and me.

Lawrence Donald Potts

Email from LWP to family members:

Guys,Today is the 100th anniversary of Dad/Grandpa/great-grandpa Larry's birth! July 18, 1916. 100 years before that Abraham Lincoln was a seven-year old! Take a minute to think about him. The attached picture was from 1943, when he was working on the Manhattan Project in WWII. I miss him and think of him often.

love,

Dad/Lar/Unc/Gpa

Figs, sharks and the OCC

What's going on with the cousins lately, you might ask. And what do figs, sharks, and the OCC have to do with any of it? 

FIGS

Eating figs on the Adriatic Sea. Just another day in Croatia for Vivi and Hannah, and the Rappold girls!

SHARKS

It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, which E and O find thrilling and entertaining. Ethan wrote, produced, directed, and acted in his own version of a recent episode.

Notice that there is an age range for admission to the play. This episode is not suitable for men under 7 or over 70, nor for girls under 34 or over 67. Fortunately, the blood washed off in the water after the shark bit off Ethan's left arm. Or was it his right arm?

Miles and Westy live in the OCC swimming pool for much of the summer. Fun to see underwater photos of the two of them, taken by creative lifeguards.

 

Water is the common denominator, if it wasn't obvious from the start. Great ways to make a splash this summer!

Irene Kirsch and Charles Reps

Annie reminded me this morning that today would be my parents' 68th wedding anniversary. They were married on June 3, 1948 (Did I do the math right?).  I've posted a photo of them on their wedding day previously, or at least I think I have. I couldn't find it on a quick perusal of June blog entries going back to 2008, but it's there somewhere. In the interest of posterity, I'll put a few photos here.  

An unusual tidbit: they were married on a Thursday morning. I sent off an email to Aunt Mary Alyce to see if she knows anything about whether that was common, or what the deal was about a weekday wedding. 

It's disappointing that there weren't family pictures taken. It would be fun to see what some of my other relatives looked like then. There were only 50 people at the reception, so it's possible that just the immediate family was at the wedding, and most of the guests were Roscoe folks. After all, Grandma Bene was from a "prominent Roscoe family". You might be interested to know that the population in Roscoe at that time was around 180. Everyone must've been prominent at that time. Today, too. Current population is about 100. Makes Spring Valley seem like a metropolis.

Wedding party: My mom's friend Helen, Gma Bene, Gpa Charlie, my aunt Mary Alyce, and my dad's friend Wayne 

To get out of the church, Gpa Charlie had to pay off the altar boys. We followed this tradition at our wedding, too.

Must've been a big enough pay off because Gma Bene and Gpa Charlie were able to break free.

I love this picture. The clothing from the 40's is fun to see. All those hats!

My grandparents: Marcus (Stub) and Martha Kirsch; Emma and Fred Reps (Grandpa Reps was known as Fritz to some of his family, although I never heard him called that when I was a kid.) 

And then there is the famous letter that Marguerite gave me several years ago. Marguerite wasn't able to be at Grandma Bene and Grandpa Charlie's wedding -- she and Lyman lived in California, and it was too expensive to come home. I'm glad she couldn't, because this letter wouldn't exist if she had.

There is so much information in letter, the most fun being Grandma Reps' attitude toward Catholicism and toward the Kirsches. AND, there's a good recipe at the end!

Birthday girl

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

We love you and we hope 9 is the best year yet!

May Cousin Weekend, part 3: Miscellaneous cousining

There's no order or sense to why I chose these pictures to represent the weekend, other than it's hard to pick favorites when every picture has something memorable about it!

These are the last cousins standing, so to speak. They had a chance to show off their toughness on Sunday evening before parting company.

 

 Sisters at a right angle. Use your imagination.

Viv, Westy, and Ethan played McDonald's Happy Meal Car Hockey one afternoon.
 

Miles and Hannah, playing school with a classroom of stuffed animals while waiting for more cousins to arrive on Saturday morning. 

Vivi is a champion rope jumper. She showed me her tricks while we waited for E & O to appear.
 

Saturday evening adventure near Bunker Lane.

 

 

These two appreciated playing with each other. How do I know? Because

it's hard to get a hug out of Westy, and he didn't hesitate to give Vivi a squeeze! 

Monday morning STEM time with Auntie Angie at North. Thanks, Angie!

Gpappy adjusted Charlie the Boy's bike while the pit crew looked on.

Soccer fun-- Vivi and Westy competed on the front lawn after watching E & O's game earlier.
 

 

Westy and Ethan share some hockey time.

 Minecraft farm is shaping up.

Lots more I could share, but this is enough of a glimpse into the cousin weekend. Always wild, always fun, always egg-sausaging!

May Cousin Weekend, part 2: Birthdays

Birthday awards for the May Cousin Weekend are as follows:

First Place

Gma Jill (me), because it was my birthday on Sunday

Second Place

Hannah, because her birthday will be next

Honorable Mention

Ethan & Owen, because their birthday was at the end of April.

Here's the cute cousin crew having a picnic. 

Hannah and I blew out candles-- she had the one on the right, mine was on the left, and we shared the middle candle. 

Nothing is better on a birthday than to have six cute kids all snuggled in close. Yes, they were sweaty and maybe even a bit stinky, but it's the kind of sweat and stink a grandma loves. Thank you to my kids and their kids for the best birthday ever!