Grandpa G Turns 81

Wow, looking back at the years I have spend with Grandma and Grandpa has been wonderful. Last weekend we celebrated grandpa's birthday with good food and conversation. Thanks for the great times, we expect many more years of unpredictable experiences.

Grandma, Lynne and homeys were hard at work making grandpa's birthday dinner. We also had roast beef and gravy. I could not resist having a little gravy.

Grandma's famous pie crust. This is the best pie crust ever made. You might think I am partial but this crust is simply the best. I have never had a pie crust this light, crisp and flaky. Tasty stuff!

Birthday Grandpa and Jacob hang out before desert is served.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Check out Grandpa's birthday dinner.



Grandpa does a fantastic job blowing out the candles. Watch closely because he will jump the gun and get a head start.

Happy Easter

Spring is a wonderful time of the year and Easter is a holiday I look forward to. When the kids were young we colored eggs and enjoyed many hunts in and out of the house (depending on weather). My thoughts about the resurrection and the examples that can be seen in nature gives me hope for all.

We only have these two little stinkers left but we continue with the traditional Easter basket hiding contest.

Both of them came to me requesting that I hide the baskets more effectively this year. I gave this much thought and came up with what Lynne and I both thought would be good locations.

Heather found her big basket within 5 minutes and was excited she beat Richie. Good job Heather.

Richie started looking upstairs without a lot of success.

Why do they always think I will put it in the oven. This is one of the first places they look. I don't recall ever hiding a basket in the oven.

After a few questions he went outside and without much success became discouraged so he went and found his lucky hat.

Within minutes he found his basket in a plastic bag sitting under the his tree. Good job Richie better luck next year.

This afternoon we had the following for dinner: Greg, Kim, Jaimie, Weston(Jaimie's friend), Stephanie, Jessica, Dan, Jacob, Derek, Jim, Rachel, Grandma H along with Richie, Heather, Lynne and myself. We had a fun, loud houseful. After some turkey, ham and trimmings we had a small Easter egg hunt. Jacob was the only little kid but there were many big kids that had to be managed.

Run Jacob ! Watch out for the big kids.

Jacob had fun collecting the toy eggs and looking inside for a surprise.

I think the little guy out ran most of the contenders.

Run Jacob Run!

Let me give you a hand. Just a few more inches little man.

After he got the candy from the tree, he wanted to put it back. It was more fun to take it down and put it back then it was to find more candy eggs.

Even Uncle Greg found a few eggs.

We also celebrated Rachel's birthday. Take a look at that cake. Heather made it with a little help from Mom and Jessica. I thought it tasted great! Rachel you're getting to be very mature. Rachel is turning 21 this Thurs., Happy Birthday Girl!

Little Derek looks on as we eat cake and socialize.
Thanks for coming over and spending Easter Sunday with us.

Sunday Dinner

Lynne and I wanted to barbecue so we decided on pork loin. My Dad is the master at this cut of meat but he is currently living with Lisa and Jim. So.... we are creating our own version of Grandpa G's pork loin.

We started by taking the loin and wrapping it in bacon. According to Dan "everything is better with bacon". The butcher at the store gave me some string to try our creation. It took us a while but teamwork prevailed and we put together what we call Smothered Pig.

We got a little carried away with the string. I have a habit of over doing it and this over the top in so many ways.

A little chilly outside but I can warm myself with the smoker when needed.

I put the coals and fire wood on the right side of the smoker and the meat on the left. There was no direct heat under the meat. It worked well but was a little difficult to add wood to the fire. I removed the far right grill section for easy access to the fire. I also could slip in wood through the intake vent to the left of the fire. Next time I would not use any coals just wood from the cabin.

Here is our final product wrapped in bacon. The bacon was crisp but I could have left it on just a little longer to equalize the crispness. The bacon remained on the loin after we took off the string.

Dan, Jessica and Jacob came over to test my dish but I think it got mixed reviews with the Astins. I still cannot cook meat that Jacob likes. Maybe in a few years. Jessica is definitely with child most likely does not want me to upload pictures of her. Just know she looks cute with her big belly.

Jacob is a young botanist at heart. He enjoys playing with pine cones in the mountains or in the house. If you check out this last years Pine Valley trip you can see him throwing pine cones into the stream.

If I can only get this seed.......almost.......just a few more....... darnit I can't get it.

I think Rachel or Heather took this image of Jacob. Great smile kid !

Hey Jimmy if we were going to flex you should have told me. Jimmy is supporting a new facial look with approval from Rachel. Looks good my friend.