Spring Has Sprung

Spring has arrived in Speigletown, New York. The grass is green. The hyacinth, daffadils, forsythia and weeping cherry tree are all in bloom. You can see buds on all the trees, shrubs and the lilac bush. This is my favorite time of year. I even enjoy the chirping of the birds waking me up. These are all signs the best is yet to come.

Pictures of My Grandchildren

Shelley has a new post on her family blog. There are great pictures of the boys. I have also added a slideshow of Easter to my grandchildren's blog. Check them out when you get a chance.

All you family members, please share pictures of your kids. We love to see them. Hope everyone had a great Easter.

Samantha's Spring Break with Grampa and Gramma

This year for her spring break Samantha visited us in Fl. We had a great time with her and I'm sure she did the same. We are looking forward to going out to Ca in May for her graduation.

Update on the Valiquette kids

Michael and Allison are doing well at Shenendehowa and Siena. Along with Michael winning the Karigon logo his name is going to be on a book cover, I'll explain. Several years ago there was a lady that was in an abusive relationship and her husband eventually beat her to death. Although that is very sad the best friend of the lady wrote a book about it. She conducted a national search for the book cover and Michael submitted a photo that won. So the short of it is that his picture will be the book cover. He gets to go to Minnesota for the book signing and he is very excited about that. His track coach told him he will most likely get a division 1 scholarship for track so we are hoping the combination of track & field and his knack for graphic design will get him into a good college. Allison is doing very well at Siena. So far this semester she has straight A's. Hopefully that will get her into Notre Dame for law school with no problems. She moved into a dorm room and that took some time getting used to. To summarize, both kids are very smart and doing well. Thank god they don't take after their father.
Love to all
Joe Val

A song Kara learned at school

Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a heater, accidentally turned it on and burnt his little weiner!! Sang by my 8 year old, with bright mischevious eyes at bed time. Perfect time of day to mention that singing about weiners at school is not super duper appropriate. Just thought I'd share......
Love, Kristen

Our Trip Down Memory Lane

Forty-one years ago this coming September, Ken and I were married and spent our honey moon in Miami, Florida. We stayed at the Sherry Frontenac Hotel for a week. While here in Deerfield, we decided to visit Miami and see what the Sherry Frontenac looked like now. Seeing the building was disappointing, but going into the lobby brought back lots of wonderful memories. The pool area didn't look the same to me, but Ken said it did to him. It was fun reminiscing. The Sherry Frontenac is not a place I would stay at now, but seeing it again was well worth the trip.

Ryan Family Vacation

The best part of our trip to Florida had to be seeing everyone - we never saw that many Ryan's when we were in NY! Thanks to everyone that got together at Uncle Chucky's and Aunt Susie's on such short notice! Although it was a short visit it was great to see everyone and yes, both kids were fast asleep before we got to the hotel and stayed asleep until morning even after that can of soda! Of course as you've seen we also had a great time watching Ryan, Kaitlyn and Carrick enjoy a day at Disney World - it's a good thing all the kids like the Haunted Mansion. Enjoy the pictures and thanks again to everyone for making the trip even more worthwhile.

Shawn, Jen, Kaitlyn and Carrick

Winter Break in Disney World

Here are some pictures of our day in Disney World. We drove up from my parent's place to see Shawn, Jen, the kids, and Uncle Gordy for the day. It was great to see Ryan playing with his cousins and laughing together. It really is a magical place!

Breaking News - Mike Valiquette

This appeared on the Shenendehowa Central School web site. Wanted to share it with the family:

Posted 2/17/08
Mike Valiquette, HS East 11th grade student, has won the design contest to create Karigon’s New Logo! Karigon’s Class of 2008 fifth graders decided upon a “Puzzle Piece Logo” sign for the outside of the school as their gift. The next step will be to turn this logo into a sign which will be placed on the outside of Karigon. Congratulations Mike!

Congratulations, Mike from all of us:~)

Let's Go DUKE....!!!!

Newest member of The Cameron Crazies....

North Carolina Blizzard

We finally received our first snow of the year and yes, this amount of snow closed school for 2 days and Shawn got 1 day off for it! The kids had a blast, Kaitlyn sledding for the first time and Carrick throwing snowballs. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love, Shawn, Jen, Kaitlyn and Carrick

Our Kaz Kids with their Gifts!

Here are pictures of Nina's family, Family #9, receiving their gifts. I see lots of smiles in these pictures. All of you made these smiles and this party possible for these wonderful children. Below is the note I was sent with the children's pictures:

Hi Barb,
Yay! The packages were delivered earlier today!!! Attached are the photos. Nina looks great! Thank you and your family so much for doing something special for Family 9! The children's excitement is evident in many of the photos! This meant a lot to them---especially the fact that they EACH got something! I thought you did a great job picking out items to send! Thanks again!
Apryl

It is all your donations that made it possible for each of these children to have a holiday celebration where they felt special. It may not have happened on the Holiday - but it happened. Those smiles were put on those faces by all of you. Please go to http://www.antaresorphans.blogspot.com/ (a link is on the right side of this blog) and read what Laura, one of our contacts to the orphanage, wrote about all of you and your generosity to these wonderful children. You know the saying: "But for the grace of God . . . . "

Thank you doesn't say all we feel. I hope you enjoy the show!
Love,
Ken and Barb

Boxes Arrived in Kazakhstan

I received word yesterday that the three boxes for Family#9 have arrived in Petropavlovsk, Kaz. The first two boxes had arrived some time ago, so I really thought they would never see box three. Ken and I have sent many boxes to Nina and they never took this long. It must take much longer at the holidays. I will post pictures as soon as they are sent to me. Thank you all again for your generosity.