the kids

Mistie has had a rough time carrying this baby, She has been in to the ER several times with contractions, and everything seems to be fine with Patrick. It was so good to see these pictures of her looking so GOOD!



Tim and "the Boys"







Mistie and her girl...

Hang on Baby!

I just found out by reading facebook, that my daughter-in-law and Son rushed to the Labor/Delivery room because she was having problems. Patrick is not due for 10 more weeks! I woke up this morning and felt like there was something wrong. I checked every door, walked the dog outside to see if there was anyone in the yard, came in and fixed a cup of tea and checked my email and computer, and thought I was just being paranoid, so I went back to bed.

Woke up at 730 same thing. Knew there was something wrong, even said, Please Patrick, be ok for Grandma. and shrugged it off. All day I have felt OFF...no reason, but thought of the baby several times.

I finally got a short nap in, woke up feeling much better, came in here and read my face book, to find out that The baby's heart rate had dropped really low, and he was in distress. THey were in there all day, I am 1.5 hours away, and I did not get a call.

My first Grandchild, my only Son, and I did not get a call. I can kind of understand not calling during the crisis, but they are all home now, and she had time to get on the computer and post on facebook. Tim could have called me. I think I am going to cry! Hurts! a LOT!

Last Weekend was our Annual HISTORIC Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival and we were jammed from wall to wall.

Coupeville holds this festival on Front Street which is 2 small blocks long. It grew in the past 48 years from ten little tables into 220 tents! we have surpassed the capacity of Front street and have now taken over Alexander St also. We block off these roads for three days and become basically a huge store.

The proceeds from this festival ( we get 15% of the Artisans take) go right back into the community in the form of grants and scholarships.


This year just before the festival, the down town businesses, which are mostly art galleries and antiques stores were burgled. Over 25,000 was taken from one store alone, the work of one or two artists who were planning on using these pieces in their booths at the festival. THe word got out to the Seattle News stations that the Festival was robbed, and the artists were all damaged.

Needless to say my office phone started ringing, until I was able to staunch the rumor and explain that it was only a few artists that lost quite a bit. I had several artists from as far away as Olympia, calling and offering to bring their goods up to help us.




All of these artisans were set up in just a few hours by 200 very AWESOME volunteers, who directed traffic to the parking lots, Parked them, directed them to their spots at the proper times, helped them unload, and then get them back out of the way so the next vendor could get in and set up. A Major operation to say the least!

Saturday and Sunday these awesome volunteers were on hand to park and direct the THOUSANDS of cars that came to the Festival. THOUSANDS! the parking lots were full, the school lots were full, and there was a line for a mile down both sides of the highway. We estimate that at least 10,000 were here on Saturday and another good 8,000 on Sunday.

Now we relax for about 2 weeks and then start all over again, planning, executing and dividing up the profits among the many applications that we get every September. This is not an easy job, and our volunteers come back year after year, to do it all over again for absolutley no pay!

What a crew!