Flashback Friday: Burton Family Photo

This photo was taken in Rome, June, 1986.

Flashback Friday: Me and My Momma

What?

My mom says "po-po."  Yeah, when referring to the police. She talks about calling the po-po or seeing the po-po.  It cracks me up every time I hear her say it. Po-Po.

Kite Festival

My parents were here this weekend and we went to the kite festival downtown.  Wow.  We stood in line for about 45 minutes to get the shuttle downtown.  Zilker Park was crowded!

People everywhere and kites filling the sky.  I tried to fly one of my kites, but it was so crowded, and the winds were too much for it.

 We moved to a different area of the park and flew our parafoils for a little while.

Ross's kite is the big white and purple one.  My dad is in blue out in the distance.

After we flew kites we decided to check out the vendors.  I like fresh lemonade, and Ross likes funnels cakes.  Problem?  Lines.  The lines were so long to get anything to eat or drink.  I said forget it.  We decided to leave, and the line for the shuttle looked 2 hours long!  We all agreed to walk the 2.6 miles back to the car.  We stopped off at Shady Grove for some lunch and then hoofed it back up to 15th and Colorado.  I slept like a baby after all that walking!

The Big 6-0

We went to El Paso to help my dad celebrate his 60th birthday.

First we went to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to relax in the hot springs there.  The price of the room included one soak on each day, so we had a soak the night we got there and one the next morning.

 Then on Sunday we went to Rudy's BBQ.  Here's the birthday boy.

My dad requested a lemon cake, and I don't have a particular recipe for one, so I used the Mint Cake recipe as a base and doubled it to fill the honeycomb pan.

My dad has been wanting this grill, and I thought they had them in stock in the store, but we ended up ordering it for him and he can pick it up soon.

I'm So Proud of My Mom!

My mom has gone through a lifestyle change and has been eating more protein and doing more exercise since last October. I saw her at Thanksgiving and she'd lost a few pounds, but nothing drastic. When she came to visit earlier this month she was completely different. I've never seen her this tiny! Same great Mom in a new and improved package! I'm so proud of my mom for sticking with her new lifestyle.

For reference you can check out our Family Photo from last July.

Mom Flies!

We went to trapeze lessons again last Sunday. I'm just now posting because my laptop was on the fritz. Thanks Ross, for rescuing my photos and videos.

My mom was super brave and agreed to fly. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to hold on, but in reality, she had much more trouble letting go!

Ross and I learned a new trick--the set straddle whip. Neither one of us was able to complete a catch. Check out the videos.

Longwood Gardens in June

My parents are visiting and we went to Longwood Gardens on Friday. Ross wasn't feeling well enough to go with us (I know exactly how he feels because he passed his disease on to me.)  The last time my parents visited the gardens was in the Spring--so the Conservatory was awesome, but the grounds were a little barren. This time they got to see everything green and lots of things in full bloom.

These glass fixtures light up at night. There are all sorts of lights set up on the grounds for a special exhibit that Ross and I will have to check out soon.

We saw lots of critters at Longwood, but the most exciting thing we saw was this fox.

Family Portrait

It rained while we were in El Paso. After a couple nights of rain my mom's sages bloomed. I've never seen them like that before. We decided to take a family photo in front of her largest sage bush. Check out how my toes are pointing up!

Gramps Got Around

Today my dad found out he had two half brothers that he never met. We knew of one, but not his younger brother, and they knew of my dad, but not his younger sister. Bolivar got around. He had at least 4 wives and 5 children. Well, his sons Jean and Henri gave up their searches for the American side of the family, but Jean's daughter Isabelle has been searching. Thanks to the Mormons, who seem to love ancestry.com (and still baptize and seal us after our deaths--but that's a whole other story), Isabelle has found my dad, her long lost uncle.

I have a French cousin. I don't know that anything will come of it, but finding this photograph of Roderick Bolivar Burton was totally awesome.

Babysitting Bailey

After ten years Bailey is finally warming up to my dad (or using my dad to warm up). My parents spent a couple days in DC while we were in NYC and took care of Bailey while we were gone. I can't believe how well Bailey and my dad are getting along. He's been combing her and she just loves it. She curled up into his lap the other day, but we missed the photo op. Today she laid with my dad on the couch during nap time. I'm sure him feeding her beef jerky helped strengthen their bond. I wonder if she's going to miss my parents when they leave.

We Can All Climb Trees!

The Foxes arrived late last night, and today we took them to Susque-hanna for some hiking and swimming. We even got to pick berries on the trail. All of us climbed the big tree on the green trail. It was humid and we were wearing our suits under our clothes, so we were definitely ready for swimming at the end of our hike.

Swimming in Deer Creek was actually really cool. The rocks were hard on the feet though! Some were slimy and slippery, some were sharp, some were oddly shaped and some were covered in a grassy carpet. The grassy carpet ones were easiest on the feet. We had fun with the currents and finding a couple of deep spots. I think we all got cuts on our feet. Laura broke a toenail and I'm missing a chunk of skin from the end of my big toe. Amazingly, it doesn't hurt.

At the end we drove over to the mill and the girls all got to see the Susquehanna River. I found another few fully laden raspberry bushes behind the mill and we managed to almost fill our bag. We had waffles this morning with raspberry sauce and I'll be making some ice cream soon.

Critter spotting: lots of spiders, two fledgling falcons (I thinks that's what they were), lots of other birds, small frogs, fish, a snake, butterflies and squirrels. On the way home we saw deer, cows, and horses.

Up for tomorrow: DC.