Grandad's Birthday: An Essay in Pictures

What we did on our trip to Oregon:

In spite of arriving 14 hours later than expected, we made it to my Grandad's 90th birthday party on time...which meant we were some of the first people there! We had a potluck in the park--and, my, can the Bunns throw a mean potluck! All of my usual Bunn Family Potluck favorites were there: tuna-noodle casserole, berry pie, and, of course, homemade apple sauce. Mm, mm, mmm!

We crammed a lot of catching up into a short amount of time. We have a large family, so there were a lot of people to talk to--and a few for Jason to meet for the first time! Jason has figured out the inlaw (affectionately known as "The Outlaws") art of finding one or two safe people and a good corner and then visiting for hours. Dad mastered this art 30-some years ago. Casey and Kim = safe people.

It was quite a crowd ready to sing "Happy Birthday." I think we had 70 some people there, almost all Bunns!

Last year Grandad blew out 89 candles, but that might be the limit for a cake. The big, fat 90 seemed much more reasonable!

Between conversations, Cole and I put together a nice collection of leaves and pinecones.

The Cousins (or, at least, many of them). I'm not sure if we've ever managed a picture with everyone looking at the camera. Poor Mason is a little unsure what to do with Grandad's beard!

Later that night we went over to the Beckwiths to eat African food and look at pictures from Auntie Fay and Mom's latest trip to Kenya. It was really neat to see what they have been doing there, especially after having been there ourselves.

On Sunday morning we went and hung out at the Farm with Grandad for a while. It was fun to watch Cole run around and play in the same places we'd played as kids...and Mom and her sibs had played as kids (she and Auntie Fay told us that they used to play in the hog shed where there was this big boiler that they used to cook up all the guts to feed the pigs, and Grandad warned them that if they played on the boiler and fell down the shaft with the pig food, he wouldn't be able to get them out. Yikes!).

It was beautiful at the Farm, as usual. Blackberries were growing along the road, the sun was shining bright, and the leaves were beginning to change. Jason had never been to the Farm, and I'm so glad I got to share this special place with him!We took Grandad to lunch, then headed to the beach for a day before catching a reeeeally early flight back to DC. Quick trip, but full of good times!