Birthday Photos

 Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes! There got to be so many that I wasn't able to respond individually, so I pretended I was Neil Gaiman and couldn't respond to all my fans. Sadly, I wasn't able to duplicate the accent, or the looks, or all those book sales.

I did intend to ask everyone to buy one of our books for my birthday, which would be an awesome present ... but I seem to recall doing the same thing last year. So, just buy one now, instead.

(That never works, but what the heck.)

 

On a related note, I stopped doing any work on my writing for most of the week. Why? Well, to start out both the dog and I were sick--me with a ginormous sinus infection, Beowulf with a tooth abscess. We even both started on antibiotics at the same time. (He's a lot better now.) Still, after a few days Emily was able to shepherd us up to Michigan, where my oldest daughter Charis and her family were staying at my ex-father-in-law's cottage on Lake Bellaire.

(Lake Bellaire, not coincidentally, is the setting for my novel Radio Red)

So, we got to celebrate my fiftieth birthday up there!

(There was apparently some kind of math error.)

That's Charis and Vince and--oh, Beowulf!--waiting for one of Lake Bellaire's awesome sunsets. I spent most of my time sitting, being still under the weather, but there's something about that place that's just--relaxing. And if you're going to sit, isn't it better to sit on a shore watching the lake and sunset, and eating S'mores? I agree.

Speaking of S'mores, we had cake, ice cream, biscuits and gravy for both mornings we were up there, and some yummy grilled chicken, and I didn't have to cook a bit of it, which is probably what made it taste so good.

Above are my grandkids Brayden and Hunter, and the beginning of one of the coolest sunsets I've ever seen ... which I'll post photos of later.

So yeah--we had a great time. Now we're home, and I'm still spending a lot of time sitting, but hey: We have books.

Oh, and if you want to check out Radio Red:

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

 

 

Family Christmas photos

 I don't get to see all three and a half of my grandchildren all together that often, because of schedules, and pandemics, and the like. But we were able to have a small gathering the morning of Christmas Eve (After that it was my weekend to work). Shockingly, we (mostly Emily and Charis) took pictures. I didn't get a picture of the third and a half grandkid, because she's still baking, and should come out of the oven in the spring.

These are the kids: Charis on the left, Jill on the right with her second daughter in hiding, and the big kid in the middle, otherwise known as Father Sithmas.

These are the grandkids, although the fact that I positioned us wrong for the picture is glaringly obvious. (Get it? Glaring?) Hunter on the left, his twin Brayden on the right (they are SO twins!) Between me and the Christmas tree is Lilli.

Getting Lilli and Beowulf together and unmoving long enough to take a photo is like capturing a fart in a skillet, although--who would want to do that? He was pretty much glued to her most of the morning, though.

I realize now we didn't get a picture of Vince--I'll have to shoot for that at our next family gathering. But Charis took this photo, so here's Emily with me and Beowulf--and Lilli photo bombing. Clearly Charis is the better photographer.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

 

Grand-twins!

A couple of weeks ago I posted three month old photos of my six-month-old granddaughter, because getting a post ready and actually posting it are two different things. It's only right that I do the same with the grand-twins. In other words, in a case of epic fail, this post has been in my draft folder for almost four months. These are also from my dad's 80th birthday party, which took place when people were praying for summer:

Brayden debates politics, or possibly football. Probably football.

"I was promised fudge. Where's the fudge?"

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that when you get a dozen kids in a room, they make three dozen kids worth of noise.

Happy 9th to the grand-twins

Emily and I helped celebrate Hunter and Brayden's 9th birthday Friday with a pool party, which is pretty much the only way to do an outdoor kid's birthday party in June.

That's Hunter on top and Brayden on the bottom, despite the fact that Brayden is taller (for the moment).

Did I mention the pool part?

When you're about to turn nine, opening presents is a group activity. There were adults there too, but our group activity was hamburgers and German potato salad.

It's always better with ... Batman.

 

Bonus video! If it works.

Emily and I gave them a telescope -- always good to keep your eyes on the stars.

Turning Seven

My grandkids are turning seven! It’s particularly hard to believe, as I’m clearly too young to be a grandfather. But time is a thief that steals from us all, as I’m sure someone said sometime.

I’ll worry about them forever as I worry about my daughters, nieces and nephews, in this world where technology brings us new ideas and possibilities even as people and governments seem to get worse. Still, things have looked dark before; we can only hope it gets better again.

But there’s time for them to learn of all that later. Until then, leave them to their LEGOs, Mutant Turtles, and Ghostbusters!