Category Archives: Family

John Leslie Wood, Jr.

4 Replies

No sooner had Becky posted her previous entry about Human Fun Day, when we received a terrible phone call. My uncle, John Wood Jr, who had been at that party just ten days earlier, had just passed away. He was just sixty years old, and on the evening of August 28, 2007, he died suddenly in his home of a heart attack. It’s hard to believe that just ten days earlier, he had been in our own backyard with his wife, brother, sister, children, grandchildren, niece and nephews, laughing, chatting, playing bocce and enjoying a cookout, I remember how his son was taking a toronto first aid training because he wanted to be there for his dad if he ever needed him. It makes Becky and I all the more thankful that we were able to plan that get-together and get such a large group of family together, just in time, as it turned out. What’s even more amazing is that I was able to convince everyone to sit for a series of family photos during the cookout, so we have a wonderful memory of that time we spent together.

This weekend we attended memorial services for John, and while it wasn’t the happiest occasion for us all to be together again, I was glad that we had such good recent memories to think of when we got together to remember his life.

We’ll all miss John sorely, and we’ll surely remember the good times we’ve had in all of our future family get-togethers.


John, left, with my father Stan and my aunt Joan

John’s obituary can be found here.

Human Fun Day

1 Reply

After a week full of family fun you might think we’d like a quiet weekend to ourselves… No Way, No How! Auntie Kirsten and Uncle Mark flew in from Ohio on Friday evening and thus began a weekend full of family.

Peter and I recently took Catherine to Brooksby Farm in Peabody. While we visited the animals and bought some corn we noticed that they were planning a Peach Festival for Saturday. We thought it would be a perfect pre-party activity.

We visited the animals again, had some grilled peaches and squash, did a little shopping, and took a hay ride! We didn’t take them up on the offer to ‘pick your own’ peaches. On the hayride we saw a sign near the peach orchard that made me glad we didn’t pick- it said “caution, beware of the poison ivy”. I like peaches, and picking them, but not that much!

After lunch we made final preparations at our house for a long overdue Wood/Ethier/Carter family reunion…er…Human Fun Day. With family in from Ohio, and the rest living here in MA (save a couple) we thought it would be the perfect time to get together.

We all had a wonderful afternoon and evening visiting, playing bocce, eating, roasting marshmallows and getting to know each other better. Some of the clan hadn’t seen each other in eleven years and a couple had never even met! Peter set up his tripod and got a ton of great family photos including this one:

Hopefully it won’t be as long before we all get together again!

Island Hopping

1 Reply

We were excited to show Peter’s parents a good time on Martha’s Vineyard during the Grand Illumination.

After we got a good night’s sleep and had wound down from the night’s excitement we made plans to visit Mytoi Garden on Chappaquiddick Island.

Despite all the time I’ve spent on MV I had never been to Mytoi before. The gardens were lovely and it was a very peaceful place to stroll around in. We even saw a few turtle, goldfish and bullfrogs.

While we were on Chappy (currently an honest to goodness island) we headed over to Dike’s bridge to look around and then back to the On Time Ferry for the three minute ride back to MV.

All told, we spent just under 48 hours on the Island with Catherine’s four Grandparents. It was a great little escape and a fun time. You can see all the pictures in our MV Album.

Portsmouth Children’s Museum

3 Replies

We have had a very (very!) busy week.

On Monday Catherine and I made a second trip to the Portsmouth Children’s Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We decided it would be more fun if we took Dad along this time! The three of us had lots of fun exploring the museum. Especially exciting was the Music Matrix. I’m not sure who had more fun with it- Catherine or her parents!

The museum is still a bit above Catherine- which is great because we still have many trips ahead of us before she outgrows it. Even so, there is tons of stuff for her to do. She played around with the exhibits meant for older kids and had a great time watching everyone else. The museum even has a special room on the top floor specially designed for the under 4 crowd. It has a train table, playstands, puppets, books and a great collections of random ‘things’ for the little ones to touch, turn, toss, and explore.

After a good time at the museum we headed into town for some lunch. Our destination was an old haunt of mine during my Strawbery Banke days; Dos Amigos Burritos. Yum, yum. Peter and I both had (and loved!) the sweet potato burrito while Catherine devoured her own kid sized order of rice and beans.

All the pictures from the day are here. Stay tuned for more news from the week!

Real Life-Virtual Friendships?

4 Replies

Does having a blog strengthen or weaken one’s friendships?

I was talking to a friend of mine (Jill from theholtsite.com) recently. Although we hadn’t spoken in a while Jill commented that she felt like she knew what I’d been up to. This blog had done a pretty good job of keeping her up to date. She also said that another friend of hers had likewise made a similar comment about her blog while they visited at a wedding.

“Did you hear that Dan got married?” Jill asked. “Yes,” I quickly responded, “I read about it on your blog.”

After laughing about these comments our conversation suddenly became quiet. We were already caught up on each other’s lives! What more could we talk about?

This got me thinking about the purpose of blogging. I often tell people that we blog in order to keep our far flung family and friends up to date on our comings and goings. For those that we don’t talk to frequently it works well. When we do get to talk with them we can skip past the daily stuff and go onto more personal matters.

But, what about people we see frequently? I’ve brought up topics with family members who look at me and say, “yeah. I read that on your blog…” and I’m stopped in my tracks. Quickly, I try to find a new topic of conversation. It isn’t so much that it is difficult to find a new topic, just that I’m still surprised when others already know the story I’ve thought to share with them.

Have you found this happening in your relationships? Are you able to balance your online relationship with your real life relationship with your friends and family?

Weekend in PA

Leave a reply

This past weekend, Becky, Catherine and I drove down to [Schuylkill Haven, PA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuylkill_Haven) to visit with my Mom’s side of the family. We don’t get to see them very often, and when we do, it’s usually in the midst of Christmas festivities… not leaving a lot of time for any one-on-one interaction.

We stayed at the home of Mom’s sister Christine and her husband John. We relaxed at their house and were given the bed and breakfast treatment by Christine. We had a great time getting to see them, along with the rest of the Keefer clan who came over on Saturday evening for subs and high-stakes Uno. 🙂 Since I was enjoying spending time with my family, I didn’t take too many photos, but the ones I did take can be found [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2007/pa_visit/) (family access is required to view the gallery).

Christmas

5 Replies

Our Christmas this year spanned an entire week… from Friday, December 22 to Saturday, December 30!

ppp|Catherine|ppp

December 22

After I got out of work on Friday, we drove up to Townsend, MA to spend the weekend with Becky’s folks.

December 23

On Saturday, the Lowe side of Becky’s family came up to visit. Tom and Gabi and their boys came, as well as Sue, Pete, and Greg. We had a nice dinner of ham and turkey, squash, decadent mashed potatoes, green beans sauteed in garlic and butter, rolls… yum. We exchanged gifts and had a nice time chatting with everyone and playing with the young’n’s. (Pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/christmas_lowe/) for those with family access.)

December 24

On Sunday morning, we went to the Christmas Eve morning church service in Townsend. We then headed out to Shrewsbury, MA. Our first stop was at my Aunt Joan and Uncle Errol’s house, where Scott, Kim, and Mark were visiting. They all had a chance to see Catherine, as well as catch up with Becky and I.

ppp|Catherine with Mark and Scott

Catherine with Mark and Scott

|ppp

After that, we headed just a few streets over to the Quitadamo Christmas Eve party at Richie and Julie’s house. The whole clan was there, and we actually managed to get a nice group photo! We had the gift grab, and also showered the kids with gifts. Our dinner was Italian… eggplant parm, antipasto, lasagna, Italian wedding soup, stuffed mushrooms. The works. (Pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/christmas_eve_quitadamo/) for those with family access.)

For Sunday evening, we headed back to Townsend, and went to the midnight church service. I always enjoy the singing of soft carols on the night before Christmas, and the candle-lit mood at the end.

December 25

Christmas Day was spent at the Lowe household in Townsend. We opened stockings, had Belgian waffles for breakfast, opened presents, and then spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing with our new stuff. We had a lot of fun playing our new Karaoke Revolution game… 🙂

ppp|Catherine checks out the gifts.

Catherine checks out the gifts.

|ppp

ppp|

Playing Karaoke Revolution

|ppp

After eating a dinner of some very delicious leftovers from earlier in the weekend, we packed up the Corolla to bursting (really, we couldn’t have possibly fit more in the car…) and headed back to Beverly.

December 26

I went to work.

December 27

I went to work.

In the evening, my parents arrived in Beverly. They had flown from Ohio to Pennsylvania to visit my mom’s side of the family, and then drove in a rental car up to Massachusetts. We hung out and played Karaoke Revolution.

December 28

I took the day off of work!

My parents came over in the morning for “Christmas” breakfast and a gift exchange. Becky made a breakfast casserole. Mmmm. 🙂 We had subs and pizza for lunch, hung out for the afternoon, and then Mom and Dad babysat Catherine while Becky and I went out to dinner and a movie. We saw [Night at the Musem](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0477347/), which I highly recommend! It was a lot better than we had expected… very funny. A great movie for kids and adults alike. After we got back, we had a mini birthday party for Mom.

ppp|Mom and Catherine

Mom and Catherine

|ppp

ppp|The family opening gifts

The family opening gifts

|ppp

December 29

I took this day off of work, too!

My parents came over again, and we all piled into the car for a little trip. Our first stop was at the new [LL Bean](http://www.llbean.com/) store in Burlington, MA. It was packed with shoppers returning or exchanging their Christmas gifts, as well as people taking advantage of after-Christmas sales. After the Bean, we headed out to Framingham to meet Joan and Erroll for lunch at [Chef Orient](http://www.cheforientrestaurant.com/). We ate in the Japanese half of the restaurant, and we all had teppanyaki entrees, cooked in the usual entertaining style. We also had a another little birthday celebration for Mom (and Joan). Joan and Erroll had brought out a delicious cake and some gifts for mom.

ppp|The Woods and Ethiers doing teppanyaki

Teppanyaki at Chef Orient

|ppp

ppp|Stan and Joan

Stan and Joan|ppp

After we got back to Beverly, we relaxed at home, and played some more Karaoke Revolution as well as Dance Dance Revolution.

December 30

Mom and Dad came over with breakfast from [Bagel World](http://www.bagelworld.net/). We checked out some of the photos from our last few days together, and said our goodbyes, as they had to head back out. We’ll miss them, and I know that they’ll miss us (especially Catherine!)

ppp|Mom, Dad, and Catherine

Mom, Dad, and Catherine

|ppp

We’ve spent much of today cleaning up the apartment, sorting out and putting away the gifts, and getting ready for 2007. We don’t have any big plans for the New Year’s weekend… mostly just to rest and relax!

We hope that everyone else has had a great Christmas!

Thanksgave

2 Replies

I hope that you all enjoyed that Turkey Day [picture of Catherine](http://prwdot.org/2006/11/22/gobble-gobble/)… I know that I sure did. 🙂

We spent Thanksgiving morning out in Townsend, decorating gingerbread houses and celebrating Corey’s birthday.

ppp|Becky's House

Becky’s House

|ppp

ppp|Corey's Gift

Corey opens his gift from us…

|ppp

In the afternoon, we headed down to Boston for Thanksgiving dinner (and another Corey birthday celebration) with Tom and Gabi and the boys. My personal favorite dish was the baked, seasoned squash. 🙂

See pics of [Thanksgiving in Townsend](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/thanksgiving_in_townsend/) and [Thanksgiving in Boston](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/thanksgiving_in_boston/). (The Boston pics require family access – let us know if you need it.)