Wonder Years with Chris and Wendy

 In the summer of 2025, my sister Michelle and I began planning a family beach trip with our spouses and her children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, Michelle's wife, Claire,  passed away unexpectedly in late June 2026. The beach trip in July was a bittersweet time to enjoy life and to remember Claire. Here's the whole crowd of us.  After a few weeks at home, we left for a two week 3400 mile road trip that included stops in Indiana (just overnight), Chicago, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York, via Canada. Some highlights included:  Two nights and two busy days seeing the sights in Chicago. We were sorry we did not plan ahead and were not able to see the new Obama Center and Library. We'll have to go back! We did get to ride the big ferris wheel, see the fireworks, visit one of the best museums in the country and take the architectural boat tour. Loved it! Next stop, Minneapolis and a quick visit with nephew, Dan and his wife Nikki, just relocated from San ...

  Grandchildren Visits and Trips  June brought us a visit from Jax, our 12 year old grandson, son of Ben. He spent most of his week at Dinnerbell Farm Camp, a wonderful experience for him that included gardening, carpentry, lots of animals and walks in the creek.  Of course, we had loads of fun with Jax when he wasn't at camp as well. Especially at our local pool.  In July, we had a special week with 15 year old grandson, Wesley, on a trip to Boston and Maine. We got to visit some historic sites and celebrate our 250 years as a nation with fireworks, whale watching and lots of ice-cream! Also in July, we hosted our goddaughter for a week of Vacation Bible School. Livvy's mother and sister (our other goddaughter) also visited for part of the week. A week of crafts, pool, Bible School and lots of love! We finished off July with a trip to the beach with Wendy's sister, Michelle and her two children and their families. while there we got to celebrate a special birthday w...

 Since May, we have been busy, on the road and hosting guests. It has been a great season of reconnecting with friends and getting to know our grandchildren better. Here are a few of our guests/friends we have had the privilege of spending time with.  John and Deb Shanks were our first and best friends when we moved to Mebane in 1980. They had two boys and welcomed our daughter, Lily, like family. We visited them in May with the intention of doing tandem jumps near Salisbury, NC. the weather decided not to cooperate, but we had a good time reminiscing and getting to see their oldest son, Josh, who is now a grandparent himself! Bobbi is a Peace Corps friend who now lives less than an hour from us here in NC. We get to hike with her and enjoy some time with her and her fiancé whenever we are both home at the same time (rarely!). Bobbi and her former husband George were influential in getting us to NC in the first place and we treasure the memories of our first years as a married...