hinckleys united

here is a picture of pat and all of siblings and parents from the weekend.
here are the grandchildren that were there for the anniversary (minus fritz and mallory who i guess were napping).
here is preggie annie. doesn't she look great. my other sister-in-law, ashley, is pregnant, but i don't think she'd appreciate my posting her pix. but since she's so cute too, you can go here to see her preggie pix. i truly don't think anything is cuter than a pregnant belly!
colin and fritz. as annie said, they are quite different personality wise, but are both so good natured that they got along well.

recounting march

the weekend of march 15-16, we went to new york city to see my brother-in-law, brian, perform with the american sympony orchestra at lincoln center. (i forgot my camera so sorry for the lack of pics). brian did a great job and had some of the prettiest music to sing. the whole oratorio was well-performed and i especially liked the music from the destruction part of the piece (no surprise - i always love the big, climatic scenes/music). pat and i went down saturday afternoon and stayed at the same hotel as ann and brian. this made for an especially nice weekend sans kids!! and as always, a great hinckley quote came out of the weekend. here it goes:

the scene: (ann, brian and two of their friends plus us eating dinner after the performance)

brian (to his friends who sat with annie): "did ann say 'bravo'?? you want to see your wife cheering you on after a performance."

ann: "it's just embarassing."

me: "it's ok, brian, i was yelling at the intermission (while everyone else was clapping) and pat told me to stop."

ann: "see, it's just not the hinckley way."

[the hinckleys also used to only hug at weddings and funerals, but i think all of us in-laws are softening them there.]


then easter weekend, pat and fritz flew in to surprise pat's parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. all of his siblings were there (including three others who flew in for the surprise). his parents were truly surprised. everyone was asked to bring a gift that to symbolize a family moment - i.e. pat's brother gave them a bag of wheat in reference to the year that he kept bugging his parents that they had to do better on food storage and so his parents gave him a huge bag of wheat for christmas.

pat's mom and dad
here are his parents opening pat's gift which was a lockable wallet. when pat was little, money kept disappearing out of his dad's wallet. i think some older teenage siblings were suspected until pat's grandpa came over one day and pat showed him his stash. his grandpa said something like: "should pat have $80?"
here is pat's mom opening the pasta bowls that his sisters bought. this is in reference to what has become an infamous hinckley story. when pat's mom was pregnant with ann (the youngest), the kids were driving her crazy. she took a tablecloth, put it on the table and dumped the spaghetti out declaring: "if you're going to act like pigs, you can eat like pigs." half of the kids were offended and walked away while the other half thought it was the best meal ever! the siblings have often been defined by that split. i'll let you guess which way pat went.


here's pat's brother russ modeling his dad's old jumpsuit (which he used to wear at home). russ gave his dad a track suit in honor of the jumpsuit's memory and then his mom confided that she had never been able to throw it away. so russ did a little modeling later in the weekend.

once again, the weekend didn't fail to give a great hinckley quote. this one was from pat's mother, jean:

pat's sister (in reference to all the kids coming in to surprise them): "you probably didn't think you had such thoughtful kids."

pat's mom: "no, i didn't."

pat's brother: "i'm offended." (as he feigned leaving the room)

remembering grandpa jim

march 8th, my grandpa's ashes were laid to rest and a memorial service was held for him. it was a cold and rainy day; one of my uncle's played a recording of bagpipes playing "amazing grace" at the grave side. another uncle, who is a former minister, led the graveside service.

we then gathered at my aunt's church where my dad had set up a display on my grandpa. it was fun to see all the old pictures and hold the book his colleagues in the military had signed all those years ago. later, in the warmth of that church, we shared memories of my grandpa. it was fun to be reminded of his determination (which at times translated to stubbornness), sense of humor and intelligence. i found out that he used to read the New York Times with a red marker so he could correct the errors and then he would send them in. my dad displayed a letter from the New York Times editor in which the body of the letter contained one word: touche! another fun story was the time in alaska when he wrestled with a 40 - 60 lb fish for 45 minutes only to find out the fishing pole line was entangled with the anchor of the little boat they were on. the fish had given up earlier and who knows how long he was wrestling with the anchor.

the final thought i'll share is the quote that is on my grandparents guest bathroom. it reads:

before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.

that way, if they get upset, they're a mile away and barefoot.

my BFF

march started out with a visit from my best friend in high school ( i am too horrid at keeping in touch to be anyone's best friend forever - plus i'm no longer in high school).

anyhoo, i met darlene when i was 11 and moved from CT to New York. we were fast friends. i don't think i've ever met anyone who could follow my crazy thought process like dar. when i would just randomly interject something in a conversation (which made sense in my mind because i had followed a few steps in my head to get there), dar understood what i meant and how i got there. i truly believe we were cut from the same cloth in heaven (althought she got the smarter part of the cloth). she was a bridesmaid and flew out to utah when i got married and helped me finalize the wedding stuff. i truly don't know what i would've done if she wasn't there; she kept me sane those last two days before i got married.

she's a great, caring and smart person. i've written some fun facts about her; see if you can spot the false fact. the answers/comments are at the bottom:

1. She has three sisters whose name also start with "D."



2. Her birthday is on the ides of march.



3. She was born in Innsbrook, Austria.



4. She drove a big, yellow Monte Carlo in high school.



5. She was on the math team in high school; she later went on to get a PhD in math.



6. At her wedding (which was outside in Stowe, Vermont), a huge stom came in just as the best man was about to give his speech.



7. After being an aerobics instructor for years, she's now in training to be a jazzercise teacher.



8. She's a major in the Vermont state militia.

(ANSWERS: #1 - TRUE - their names are donna, diane and debbie. i absolutely adore her family too; her parents are the only other people other than my own who i called "mom and dad." #2 - TRUE - i meant to publish this post on that day - march 15th. #3 - FALSE - she took a ski trip there in high school. #4 - TRUE - she loved that car. #5 - TRUE - we were both on the math team in high school; although this was a well kept secret (we're both closet nerds - although as mentioned previously she's smarter. she does have her PhD in math while i never went farther than calculus). #6 - TRUE - it was absolutely gorgeous when she got married and then this crazy storm just all of sudden was upon us right when the best got up. i remember trying to help tie down the sides of the tent. #7 - TRUE - it was here jazzercise training that brought her to CT. #8 - TRUE - she teaches at a military university and all of the teachers must be members of the state militia. they recently promoted her to major. she even has to wear a uniform to school everyday. she says loves teaching at the military school and even likes the uniform!)

for sally and tice

i've been suffering from the bloggidy blah blah blues. i've had one post written in my planner for over three weeks now, but just seemed to navigate elsewhere whenever i turned on the computer - and then i purposefully navigated elsewhere so i didn't have to see my un-updated blog. so thanks tice and sally for the nudge to get back to blogging. i also just saw that i've written 110 posts since last march - tice, didn't you do over a 100 in one month?

well, march was a busy but very fun month with a couple of great extended family hinckley quotes. get ready for some great posts, people (if i do say so myselft - which i did - rather typed - but you get the point)!