Mike and Anna Himes brought Ryan, Molly, and Leela to Willow Valley from Macungie after Sunday School on November 24, 2013, in time for Sunday dinner with Al and I.

Ryan turned 12 last week and is now considered an adult at Willow Valley, which is only fair since he now eats as much as an adult since his football experience this fall.  He is doing very well in sixth grade. Molly is a talkative eight year old in second grade, and is an avid reader. Leela’s fifth birthday was in June, and she is becoming an independent kindergartener.

It was too cold for me to take Leela and Molly outside while the rest finished dinner, so we went back to our apartment and they spent some time looking at the photo albums.

Anna is so faithful about sending me e-mails and photos of their many activities, which I print.  Molly read the e-mails with great interest.

Leela loves to tussle with Ryan, who is a very patient big brother with both of his sisters. Mike was patient with me as he taught me many of the things I need to learn about my new iPhone.

Molly took pride in showing her Dad what she is learning in swimming classes, and Leela is now able to amuse herself in the pool while Anna and I watch and catch up on the news.

We had another very pleasant afternoon being together and watching a growing family enjoying each others company and sharing it with us.

They are planning to go to State College for Thanksgiving and spending it with Barby and Paul Ruskin and Becky, Dan, and Evy Shirer. Becky’s baby girl is due January 25, 2014, so they will make the most of this time together.

On Saturday, November 23, 2013, Matt Best arrived at Willow Valley from New York City about 11:30 AM for lunch with Al and me.

We were especially glad to see him since his job in New York City is about to end and he will starting a month long vacation in South Africa in the middle of December.

He plans to spend Thanksgiving with David and Janet and Jill’s family in Rochester, NY. He expects to hear from the Peace Corps by the end of November about a possible two year assignment, and is still enthusiastic about the experience.

I showed him the two prints from Geoff and Amanda Bennett’s wedding on September 1 that I had framed and just hung in our living room. All 37 members of our present family were there, and it is the first photograph I have of all ten of our great grandchildren..

Matt left about 2 PM and stopped to see Nancy and Gary Bennett before going to Philadelphia to visit friends. He returned to New York on Sunday for a Friendsgiving in East Village, which resulted in these Facebook photos:

We enjoy all our visits with our oldest grandson, but this was special because he is ending one phase of his life and starting an adventure that may make these visits less frequent.  We appreciate his sharing his time and attention with us.

Around noon on Saturday, November 9, 2013, I was surprised by an invitation from our son David Best in Rochester NY, to see him and his grandson, Ben Staggert, on my new iPhone through FaceTime. Al and I enjoyed seeing them and talking with them, and heard Ben speak with his new 14 year old voice. It is such fun, and adds a whole new dimension to family relationships.

We were expecting Suzy and Fran, Andy and Meghan Talarowski from Philadelphia that afternoon after lunch for a visit. When Suzy and Fran arrived alone I was alarmed to learn that Meghan was admitted to Penn Hospital on Friday for some bleeding and contractions too early for her due date of December 24.

We were reassured after making contact through Suzy’s iPad and seeing Meghan and Andy on FaceTime.

I found that I have a lot to learn about using the camera on my first smart phone, but Suzy was able to send me this photo:

We were able to have a virtual visit and see each other and talk about all that is happening in their busy lives. Andy sent me a text message around noon on Sunday to say that Meghan was getting ready to return home that afternoon.

It is amazing what technology can do, and is a great challenge for me to be able to keep up with all that is available and that seems to come so naturally to everybody else. I am so thankful for every opportunity to keep up with the family.

Al and I got home from church on Sunday, October 6, 2013, about 11 AM, just in time to meet Matt Best for Sunday dinner.

He had rented a car in Philadelphia after a train ride from New York City and spent time on Saturday with Steve and Kathy Raffensberger in Leola, then stayed the night with friends in Baltimore.

We are always delighted when he drops in, especially now when we are waiting for an update on his plans after Bloomberg leaves office and he will probably be changing jobs. He expects to hear from the Peace Corps the end of November, and is still enthusiastic about teaching somewhere overseas. He plans to spend Thanksgiving in Rochester, NY, and in December over Christmas will be visiting friends in South Africa, with some of which he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro there many years ago. What an exciting life he leads!

His current project is training for the New York Marathon next month. He runs huge distances regularly, at least that is what it sounds like to us. He looks in great shape, and seems to feel ready for the challenge. He left about 2 PM to return by car and then train to NYC so he would have time to run when he gets back home.

He promised to keep us posted on developments, and to share his busy life with us whenever he can. Oh to be 40 and have his zest for life!

When Al and I arrived at Nancy and Gary’s home about 2 PM on Saturday, September 21, 2013, Geoff and Gary Bennett were making sandwiches for the drop-in celebration of Al’s 94th birthday the day before. Elly and Amanda Bennett arrived shortly afterwards from a shopping spree resulting from Elly’s first pay check in the real world. I asked her what the real world felt like and she said “Expensive!”

Suzy and Fran, Meghan and Andy Talarowski arrived shortly after from Philadelphia and we had a chance to bask in the afterglow of Geoff and Amanda’s beautiful wedding on September 1.

Michael and Dillen Lassman arrived from Scotch Plaines, NJ, about 3 PM; Rachel and Henry stayed behind so Henry could attend 2 birthday parties.

We talked of many things: jobs and new heating systems, old soil pipes and new babies.

Suzy baked Mimi’s buttermilk cake recipe to celebrate Al’s 94 years.

Anna Himes arrived with Molly and Leela about 4 PM after leading Leela’s Daisey Girl Scout meeting in Maungie. Ryan and Mike were attending the football game in Penn State, and Molly tried to find them in the audience on TV.

There was still plenty of good food left.

The kids played outside and inside, and had a ball.

The adults relaxed and enjoyed each others company.

We are all so thankful that Al has had 94 years of a healthy and productive life, and that we  had this opportunity to express the love and affection we feel for him.

On Sunday, September 1, 2013, our entire family met at 4:30 PM at the Old York Road Country Club in Ambler, PA, to see Geoffrey Thomas Bennett and Amanda Rose Hutterer make commitments to each other in a beautiful marriage ceremony.

Elly Bennett was radiant as a bridesmaid, and Michael and Jaime Lassman were handsome as Geoff’s best men.

Al and I were delighted to be included in photographs after the ceremony, especially the one with our 10 great-grandchildren.

After a delicious dinner the adults talked, the kid played, and even Al and I danced.

The kids had a ball on the dance floor, and so did their parents.

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at Fort Washington overnight, and had breakfast together on Monday morning.

Geoff and Amanda joined us about 9 AM, and we had a wonderful time saying our goodbyes after a fantastic family time together.

Al and I are so blessed to have had another opportunity to enjoy the company of our great family. We appreciate all that they did to make it possible for us to attend.

We wish Geoff and Amanda a long and happy married life, and hope that their life together will bring them the satisfactions that our 67 years together have brought to us.

Anna Himes’ family planned to come to Willow Valley last Sunday, but Ryan’s football event took priority, so she and the children came on Tuesday, August 20, instead.

Ryan started football for the first time this month and is on the Junior Varsity team. He will turn 12 on November 19, and had his orientation into 6th grade last week. He is especially interested in computers, and is looking forward to the Computer Club that is one of the many extra-curricular activities offered in his new school.

Molly will be 8 years old on September 26, and will be in 2nd grade. She is part of the girl’s field hockey team.

Leela turned 5 last June 13, and had her kindergarten orientation last week at the same school Molly attends. She will leave at 12:30 PM and return from school at the same time as Molly. She is learning to be a cheerleader for the Kindergarten football team.

Anna is chief scheduler for all this activity. Mike travels quite a bit now with his new responsibilities at Air Products, and Ryan informed me that he now has an office with windows and a lab instead of his old cubicle. It was so good to hear all these updates to life in a very active family.

After lunch they had a great time in the North pool while I watched.

They still enjoy the small rituals that are part of every visit.

Refreshments consist of root beer and small pretzels and Cheerios which they each take in a small bag for the ride home. They look at the pictures I entered in The Pictorial Record of the Best Family 2013 since the last time, many of which are of them. Ryan showed an interest in the booklet from Andy and Meghan’s wedding in Yosemite in 2011, perhaps because we are all looking forward to Geoff and Amanda’s wedding on September 1.

They left about 3 PM because they had to get home in time for dinner at 4:30, then football and cheerleading practice.

They are all growing up so fast! Every visit from family reminds Al and I how fortunate we are to be able to participate in their busy lives.

On Friday, August 16, 2013, Michael and Rachel Lassman brought Henry and Dillon from Scotch Plains, NJ, to Lancaster for a last visit before school starts this year. Nancy Bennett used Saturday as an opportunity to freeze summer corn for Thanksgiving dinner, a tradition in her family. I helped to husk more than 5 dozen ears, with help from Rachel, Henry, and Dillon. Michael steamed the ears for 3 minutes, with Henry using the alarm on his iPhone to time it, and then cooled them quickly.

Nancy cut the corn off the ears and packed it into plastic bags.

Rachel cleaned the bags and dated them. Dillon was wherever the action was.

Saturday was also Reed Lassman’s first birthday, so I was delighted to copy from Facebook the photos Amy posted of the celebration.

On Sunday afternoon Michael returned to NJ for some work that needed to be done, and Rachel brought Henry and Dillen to Willow Valley for a swim.

Henry and Dillen drew pictures for us before leaving for Baltimore to visit Rachel’s parents.

It was a very satisfying weekend for all of us, especially for me. I remember my Grandmother Styer coming to our home on Earl Avenue in New Holland to help me freeze corn almost 60 years ago.

Elly Bennett seemed happier and more relaxed on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, when she had lunch with Al and me here at Willow Valley than any other time I can remember.

She and Jon Thomson completed their New York State law exams last Wednesday after receiving their JD degrees from Georgetown University Law Center in May. We discussed her evaluation of the last three years, and the end of her long academic career. She is ready to start new life in the “real” world.

This weekend she will conduct a wedding ceremony on the Massachusetts coast for a couple she introduced several years ago. She and Jon leave on August 13 for a well earned vacation on one of the Bahia Islands off Honduras where they plan to learn to scuba dive, returning August 25.

Elly had just turned 5 when Al and I moved to Willow Valley on July 26, 1994. We have enjoyed watching her grow “in wisdom and stature”, and she is the last of our 9 grandchildren to complete their educations. It is the end of one era and the beginning of another for us, and we feel so very fortunate to have lived such long and fulfilling lives.

We were delighted on Friday evening, July 26, 2013, when Matt Best called unexpectedly that he was coming to Lancaster and could have dinner with us.

He was on vacation and had been traveling with his English friends, Ed and Roz Clark and their two sons, six and nine. We had a fun evening hearing about their adventures. He is still enthusiastic about the possibility of joining the Peace Corp in January.

Suzy and Fran, Andy and Meghan Talarowski arrived Saturday afternoon for a very welcome visit.

Of course we talked about the new baby expected December 24th, and were glad to hear that all seems to be going well. Meghan has been working since February with the department chair on a book to celebrate the centennial of her landscape school to be published in November. She is doing the research and graphics. She is also volunteering with several playground projects in the Philadelphia area.

Andy had a business trip to NYC last week, and he and Meghan got a chance to see Matt while there, but not together. Matt took Meghan to see his Governors Island project on Tuesday, and he and the Clarks took Andy to a baseball game later in the week. Andy has another exam in his actuary society in October, and with one more next spring will be finished with their requirements for associate.They are still very happy with their new/old house, but will be glad when cooler weather arrives.

Suzy is recovering from shoulder surgery five weeks ago, with one more week living with restrictions. Fran is enjoying the summer break from teaching.

On Sunday, Anna Himes arrived about 11:30 with Leela and Molly from Allentown for Sunday dinner with us.

Mike and Ryan were on a Boy Scout camping trip to Cape May. We had our usual play time in the court yard, this time featuring our duck family.

Swimming at the Cultural Center showed the progress the girls are making this summer.

Leela enjoys swimming laps with Anna, and Molly and Anna had their own version of water volleyball.

Suzy sent me an e-mail with a photo taken on July 5 of 8 of our 10 great grandchildren.

God said,” Be fruitful and multiply”, so we did.

Jill posted on Facebook this week a photo of the other 2, Ben and Jacob Staggert.

Also on Facebook were photos of the Lassman Disney vacation last week.

For additional photos see www.jacklassman.com or www.reedlassman.com

We are blessed to have so many family members who brighten our days with visits and news and photos.