Winter Wonderland 2012

We first took Henry to Winter Wonderland in December 2009 and have returned a few times. This year, Elliot and Henry enjoyed the merry-go-round (but not on the horses!), and making special holiday cookies covered in icing.

Happy Birthday Oliver August! You're 2 Today!

Roses are red
Violets are blue
There's no one as cute and fun as you
Happy Birthday!

What did Nietzsche say?

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."  Wonder what's on Henry's mind?

OPPAN GANGNAM STYLE?

What are Benny and Elliot up to here?  Are they on their way to a party?  What's next? A horse-riding dance?

In Final Leg of Month Long Journey....

... the gang heads over to Holland to surprise Opa for his 70th birthday.

Henry, at 4, Gets a Driving Lesson -- in a 1961 Porche 356!

Looks Like Daddy Has Arrived in Gosport!

This is Grandma and Grandpa Bohling's house in Gosport, a town on the south coast of England.

Henry, Ollie, Mommy visit UK/Europe for Whole Month!

In July 2012, you guys spent a whole month away from the States and in the UK/Europe visiting friends and family.  Here's Mommy's account, sent July 27, of what sounds like a truly memorable trip for all:

"Well we've reached the last leg of our month long vacay to the UK and Europe. Despite 2.5 weeks of constant rain in the beginning it's all gone rather quickly and well.

"The highlight for Henry was and continues to be Thomasland. The highlight for me without doubt was Cornwall. We got lucky with our weather and where we were located on the Rosalind Peninsula there was so much to do and so little time to do it! It felt a lot like door county in its peninsular community plus the Cornish are a bit like the Welsh with a strong micro culture of their own separate from the rest of England. Our last night the boys and I enjoyed a summer fete out in a farmer's field. It was so quaint!!!!!! One old man tending one of the games looked at me and stated the obvious, "well you're not Cornish!" clearly.

"It was very family friendly, lots of Europeans on the beaches which surprised me. Lots of yummy restaurants and a few family friendly hotels that are fairly chic. We however stayed in a house that was a converted barn. Ollie slept in a big boy bed almost the entire time! And in fact did not start to sleep through the night til I let him. HE has changed a lot!!

"The boys were able to have fun with cousins Connor and Euan. Visiting their  campsite and playing at the beaches, learning to float on a boogie board and fly kites and the best part of course was fish and chips on the beach! All of you would love the feel and pace of the area and I hope someday we might all be able to go back sometime-- the cornish wouldn't know what to do with us!!

"We had a five hour drive back to Gosport/Portsmouth yesterday. Lesley joined us for the ride and the boys were awesome! We only stopped once for an hour and then Henry and Ollie slept for a lot of the rest of the way.

"It would be an understatement to say how excited I've been to be driving on my own! I did dent the car however, ironically at Charlotte's house up against a wall -- at least there was no one else involved! : )

"Driving here has been a lot of fun as its kept me on my toes and the roads are meant for cruising! Lots of curves and beautiful views!!

....

"Dom is mid Atlantic as I write and Henry woke up this morning saying, "Ollie guess what? Daddy's here today!!!!" We are all SUPER excited to see him.

"Despite the exhaustion and hard work with the boys, it's been so nice to have focused and uninterrupted time with Henry and Ollie and to have them to myself. They've been for the most part really, really good. Needless to say there is probably no way I'd have been able to do this without the help from Lesley. I owe her a vacation complete with spa day!

"Off to Holland tomorrow via Brussells. Peter's 70th bday party is tomorrow and I don't think he knows we're coming tho he must suspect something! We'll be at a hotel for three nights about 15 mins from his home. 10 years ago I flew to Holland with Dom to celebrate Pwter's 60th. It was the first time I ever met his Dutch circle. 10 years later... Hard to believe we have two boys and I have a lot of wrinkles.

"We've missed you all and look forward to seeing you when we get home!!"

Elliot's Unicortical Supracondylar Fracture!

Not quite 24 hours into his vacation to Atlantis with Mom, Dad and Benny, Elliot decides to jump on the hotel bed and.... falls off!

Oops!

His very first (and last?) cast is for a broken elbow. But he is a brave boy!

Happy Birthday Henry! You are 4 today!

Here you are with Daddy at a very special birthday party our parents gave you. The theme, as you can tell, is PIRATES!!!!

Arrrr!

Your Great Grandma Swoyer - Myfanwy

This is your Great Grandma Swoyer. Without her there'd be no you. A truly wonderful woman, as I'm sure your own Moms will tell you. I wrote this 10 years ago, just after she passed away. Remembering Myfanwy April 30, 2002 First of all, there’s that name. I can remember a time in my youth when that name embarrassed me. It was so different. And this was during a time when I wanted nothing more than to conform to everything and everyone else – same haircut, same clothes, same likes and dislikes -- same same. The last thing I wanted was for anything to distinguish me from the other teenagers in my crowd. Why couldn’t my Mom have a name like Mary or Sue or Pat? Worse still, there was a butt joke in that name. “Did someone say, ‘Fanny’?!” And, can we at last settle on how to pronounce Mom’s name? Dad called her “Mah-VAN-oo.” Folks at the nursing home called her “Missy.” Somewhere in between there are “Mah-van-WEE,” “MIF-uhn-wee,” “Mah-FAN-oo,” and I’ve even heard “mih-FAN-uh-wee.” Perhaps it’s best to hear how the choirboys pronounce it in the old Welsh song by the same name: “Myfanwy, may you spend your lifetime Beneath the midday sunshine’s glow, And on your cheeks O may the roses Dance for a hundred years or so.” How fitting. In the country of Wales, there’s a 13th Century stone fortress that reputedly was the home of a woman named Myfanwy who spurned the amorous advances of a guy who just happened to be a poet. Thus rebuffed, this broken-hearted suitor wrote a love poem, called “Myfanwy,” that was set to music. And this is what became one of Wale’s best-known songs. But, what does the name mean? “My love,” is what I was always told. But, I’ve also seen it translated as “my fine one” and “dear woman.” Regardless, in every instance, they all apply. In Mom’s senior high school yearbook photo, underneath her name, is a quote from a Wordsworth poem: “A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye!” What is missing from the yearbook, is the rest of that line: “Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky.” Indeed, Myfanwy Williams Swoyer was a very special person. For a while, she called her son-in-law Brad, “Bob.” She was always embarrassed about this, but in the end she amended the mistake in a profound way. In the end, after she had lost all recall of many other names and faces, she always – always – recognized Brad. Melba remembers how thrilled Mom was when she learned she was going to have a grandson. “The Swoyer name will go on!” Mom cried. Erik recalls that Mom could “chug” a drink with the best of us – even if it were only a glass of water. Tom first met Mom at a family party. She was having trouble remembering names and finally said to him, in despair (and I’m sure she tsk’d before she said this), “Tsk, tsk, tsk, I don’t know any of these people.” Tom said, “Neither do I, we will sit together.” They were friends from that day forward. Kim, I know, loved Mom deeply and with the same tremendous amount of respect she always has shown our family. I believe she felt Mom neatly and perfectly filled the bill as Grandma to Jess and Cobey. But as a Grandma, Heather and Eileen really got the best of Mom – in her younger years. Heather remembers her words of wisdom: “Now, after a bath, dry between your toes to prevent mold from growing!” Eileen remembers Doctor Grandma, who prescribed for a headache, alas, a day without TV; and Chef Grandma, who at Christmastime would make vanilla ice cream with crème de menthe. Jess remembers her Grandma’s big blue eyes that’d only get bigger with excitement. And, she has picked up a few of Mom’s traits, beginning and ending her sentences with, “Now, wait…” Both Cobey and Jessica have fond memories of visiting Grandma and Grandpa and how they’d always be at the window waiting for us at the exact time we arrived at their apartment (and this was in the days before cell phones). Cobey also recalls playing with the ancient toys Grandma had saved since Judy and I were kids: dominoes with splinters; a clicker-clacker that made enough noise to drive everyone crazy. Grandma was in her late-70s when Casey was born. As he says, it’s hard for him to remember any specific stories. But, Melba will tell him that he used to take long walks with her. And she’d point out all of life to him, like all the things that float in the puddles after a rain. A bond was formed from these walks, I know. I know this because when it became even too painful for me to visit her, he would say to me, “But, Dad, we have to visit Grandma.” Elizabeth Myfanwy will remember the least, of course. Then again, with all of us by her side, she will remember everything about her great-grandmother. Also, let’s not forget, she has been blessed with – that name! As a Mom to me, well, how much time do you have? We’re talking about a woman who gave birth to me when she was just entering her 40s. Do you think I gave her any dispensation for this? Hardly: I was just like any other son. And she shone as a Mom – mightily. On the one hand, she was a tough broad: I can remember in awe as my friends and I watched her pull apart two giant backyard snakes – one that was swallowing the other. Dad would never have done this. On the other hand, she was a gentle flower, like the violet in the poem. In the afternoons as a child I would climb on her lap and she’d sing just to me all those songs that the folks at the nursing home have come to love. In those private moments, we were the only two people in the world. And I’d fall asleep in her arms. In all that I have ever done, I have always seen Mom before my eyes. My sister Judy has a lifetime of memories about Mom – enough to fill a thousand 10-page letters. And, over the years, she has written these letters to Mom what seems a thousand times. I couldn’t bring to these memories the justice they deserve. Judy remembers everything – which, by the way, is a wonderful thing she learned from Mom. I wonder, what is the most important thing to say of all my sister’s memories of Mom? It is this: It is that this child thought enough in so many special ways to tell her Mom how much she loved her – over, and over, and over again. But it’s time to wrap this up. And, we cannot forget that Mom was a loving wife; a good, loving wife – in a different way from today’s world, but first-class, just the same. I believe Mom was happiest when Kenneth was nearby – even when she was angry with him. That’s the kind of wife she was. There’s a famous line at the end of “A Tale of Two Cities” – “It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done…” But it is the rest of this line that I believe is befitting the moment: “It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” Sleep well, Mom. For, you are with Dad once more.

Happy Birthday Elliot! You're 4 today!

Just think: it was four years ago when I was standing in the hallway of the hospital where you were born when your daddy walked up to me, gave me a big hug and said, "It's a boy!" Everyone who was there screamed with joy! And we're still screaming today! Happy Birthday, fella.

Forget love! Fall in chocolate!

Looks like Henry never met a chocolate he didn't like!

Valentine's Day 2012.

Happy Birthday Benny! Two years and counting!

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it...

...cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?
Michelangelo