"Don't Put All Your Nykerk's in One Basket" (+ the Nykerk Reunion)

You have to admit, this is pretty cute. Longaberger Baskets had a display at the Country Living Fair last weekend, and our new friend (Carol, was it Marcelle?) took our picture. He is one of the basket weavers.

My two sisters looking fab in front of one of several Fall displays throughout the grounds....

Just to give you an idea of the historic village where the fair was held...

We COUNT NOT stay away from the delicious desserts at the Columbus Fish Market restaurant! That cheesecake was enough for all three of us to enjoy back at the hotel. I'm holding a creme brulee, with a burnt sugar topping...yum!

Carol - "hotel concierge extraordinaire." Let me just say that we received hot chocolate chip cookies and many extra bottles of shampoo, shower gel, etc. thanks to her "due diligence" after we had called down for towels on more than one occasion and never received them....as "per normal", Carol was on the case.....

We had had beautiful weather, and outside of a blown tire, everything went smoothly. Thanks for the great time, Rach and Carol!

NYKERK FAMILY REUNION

We also had the reunion at Cousin Dave & Mary's cottage last Monday. A few shots are below. Other than Scott and myself, everyone else seems to have aged a bit? I don't get it. Anyway, had a nice time, lots of laughs over old memories, and even Jack behaved himself for the most part (at least he recognized me). He and Dave had lots of old pictures of the Nykerks from way before our time that I had not seen before, and the one I scanned below is my favorite:

Uncle Chet, Aunt Lu and Dad: This was taken on Griggs Street in Grand Rapids - no date, but I would guess around 1932.

Dave and Mary are really pleased with the painting of their cottage that Scott did for them...

All of the "first cousins" that were there....

Most of Harry's kids - missed you Carol and Rachel! Just so you know, Scott was there, but he must have been getting seconds on dessert....

And, of course Uncle Chet's girls and spouses...


And last but not least, Aunt Lu's boys and spouses - am I the only one who thinks Loren looks just like Aunt Lu? No one else thought so....

We talked about everything from the Minnow ponds to how Carol and I used to collect the money for Jim and Bill's paper route. Lots of laughs.

Katie Works for Habitat for Humanity...

Katie's finance group at Thomson Reuter's spent a day volunteering for Habitat for Humanity a few weeks ago, and they published this nice picture and story on their website. (Click on picture to enlarge). Thought you might enjoy - it was hard, but satisfying work! (Stay tuned for update soon on the Country Living Fair weekend in Columbus Ohio that Carol, Rachel N. and I took last weekend, and a few pics from the Nykerk Reunion at Cousin Dave's......)

Help the Bella Boomers Chicago Canine Rescue Team!

Next weekend, I'll be in Chicago and Katie, Bella and I will be participating in the Chicago Canine Rescue Organization's "Mutt Strut" on Saturday. (Carol, your work with the rescue greyhounds and then our kids' love of animals has really helped to make me more of a real "animal activist!") Our team is called the "Bella Boomers" and if you feel compelled to donate to this very worthy cause, here's a link to our team website:

http://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1531&AID=801&PID=95087

For more about the organization and what they do, click below.

http://www.chicagocaninerescue.org/

Ally on TV!

Ally has been on TV in Chicago! First, click link below:

http://www.wciu.com/udog.php?section=vote

Scroll down page - you'll see "Vote for Top Dog" - scroll until you find "Meet Ally from Wicker Park"

Click on picture of Ally to view video!

You will see that she is a fan of the "Everybody Hates Chris" show. That's her running thru the picture at the end, too. What fun.....