More Christmas and Snow

The Coles moved on to Massachusetts and a day with Bob, Gina, and Bridget. Lots of gifts and good food were passed around, a special time for all. Here we have a couple of pictures of Bridget with new toys.

Here we see Gina in her new kitchen working on a delicious dinner.

There were two new sweaters on display, numbers 12 and 13 of the twelve sweaters of 2012.

This morning we headed out again on the journey. It was by far the hardest and worst day of driving we have ever had. We picked up the latest snow storm in New York, and proceeded down Pennsylvania's mountains in the snow and slush at 45 mph. Not a good day. We have rested for the night in Harrisburg and had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden. The temperature at Cocoa Beach on Wednesday is predicted to be 79. Is it possible?? We will keep you posted.

 Two scenes from traveling today.

A Trip to Portland

As the dust began to settle from Christmas day, Gary and Louise's attention was focused on the pending trip to Florida and the huge winter storm that was in the way. They packed all day Wednesday, and decided to drive to Jon's Wednesday night, ahead of the storm. Arriving in the wee hours of the morning, the snow was falling, and they hunkered down to enjoy family time with Jon, Erin and Emily. Gifts were exchanged and a lovely day was spent.

Emily enjoys a rest in the lap of her Grandfather.

Jon and Erin help Emily into a new sweater knit by the grandmother.

Emily is enjoying a new toy given to her by her cousins Meghan and Ryan.
With all the snow that settled into Portland over the past few hours, Jon did the task of cleaning up the yard, and then went to relax in the hot tub.

We have enjoyed our visit here, and will venture on tomorrow to Massachusetts to visit with Bob and his family.

A Cole Christmas

Christmas was celebrated at home this year with the exchange of gifts and good food to eat. We all gathered on Christmas day, and these photos are a record of it.

The size of the Christmas tree was small, but gifts for all surrounded it.

Ryan helped by Grampy prepare food by chopping potatoes.

Ryan enjoys a glass of eggnog after his kitchen chores.

Jo waits for new socks and the opening of presents.

Meghan practices her mean face as she waits for food and gifts, really not wanting to have her picture taken.

Gary received a new hat that pleased him.

Jessica gets a new chair.

Matthew finds a large box of candy.

Meghan looks happier as the gifts are opened.

 

Andrew finds something that he likes in the box.

Louise also finds candy under the tree.
A nice time was had by all, wonderful gifts were received, and all ended the day with full stomachs.

Winter Has Found Us

The snowless December has come to an end. We had about 14 inches of heavy snow hit us on Wednesday. Today we are having another storm. The heavy snow clings to the trees and gives an appearance of a winter wonderland. It looks like a Christmas card outside. On this shortest day of the year we share pictures of our pre-Christmas snow.

This is looking across the street at the height of the storm. The lilac bush is pretty heavy with snow.

Matthew brought his tractor to visit, making short work of a ton of snow.

Looking out the kitchen window at the cedar trees covered in snow.

Christmas is just a few days away, and then we begin the journey that will take us out of the snow!

Thanksgiving

The holiday has come and gone, but the memories and pictures remain. We spent some time with the grandchildren this year, and have lots of pictures to share. We are thankful for the family we have, and enjoy seeing them get together. This year we did not have Jon, Erin, and little Emily, but all the rest made it to the house over the holiday.

Here we have Jessica, Bridget, Bob, Gina, Andrew, and Gary on Thanksgiving Day.

On Wednesday night Gina prepared a wonderful chicken recipe, with help from the kids. Here we have Jess fixing string beans.

Ryan prepared the garlic.

Here we have the four grandchildren together: Meghan, Ryan, Jessica, and Bridget. Craft projects filled the afternoon.  Meghan and Bridget created a work of art:

The finished project was awesome! Bridget also painted with Grampy.

Bridget dressed up for Thanksgiving Day.

Gary cooked, while Andy carved, and Bob washed dishes.

At the end of a busy day, Jessica and Bridget snuggle up:

Grampy reads a book to Bridget. She had a great time and made it an exciting holiday.

Since Thanksgiving, the days have turned cold and winter is settling into the County. Our thoughts turn to Christmas.

Beautiful Fall Foliage

As the weatherman predicts snow and driving rain to end our beautiful fall, we want to share some photos of what it has been like here for the past few weeks. The trees have been absolutely beautiful this fall, with more color and longer lasting color than usual. We have driven around the immediate area, driven to Portage, and made a trip down Route 11 as far as Sherman to enjoy the views.

These beautiful trees are on the camp road, just above our camp.

This is also the camp road at Portage.

What a great fall scene here! That would make a great painting!

Great colors reflected in the water at the lake.

The leaves have fallen on the path leading down to the camp.

The boat ramp at Portage looking across to the hillsides.

This farm was in Perham, a beautiful spot in the fall.

As this season also comes to an end, we hope you enjoy our look at the beauty of it.

To King's Landing with Bridget and Jessica

We have had an incredibly busy past two weeks, and we will share the highlights of it here. As you can see in the photo, we visited the Mt. Katahdin lookout with Bob, Bridget, and Jessica. Bob and Jessica came to visit for four days and Jessica met them in Bangor to help with the ride. here we have Gary holding Bridget as Jessica look on.

On Friday of last week we visited King's Landing on a beautiful fall day. Here you can see the serenity and beauty of this village.

The village was in the height of their fall preparations, with the Canadian Thanksgiving just a week after we were there.

We rode on this wagon to get back to the Visitor Center. Jess had an allergic reaction after the horse ride, we suspect the horses set it off.

The store was well stocked with vintage items, and a shopkeeper to talk to the visitors.

We ate dinner at the tavern. Here you see Jessica and Louise looking over the menus. We were disappointed that the choices on the menu have been reduced to two.

Here we have Bob and Bridget. Bridget is inspecting her grilled cheese sandwich. She had a great time in the dining room with two other little girls, one of them named Bridget!

Later in the day we returned home by way of the pumpkin farm in Presque Isle. Bridget enjoyed a ride on the toy tractor.

Bridget enjoyed her trip and is seen here having a story with Grampy.