Family Together-ness

the Wilbur Family Reunion 2008 . . . in Charles Town, WV . . . what a wonderful weekend! I only wish Matt could have joined me there. On Thursday (7/24/08) I flew to Baltimore, and Jackie met me at the airport. Jackie and I had a lovely afternoon (with adventure at Panera Bread . . . we're glad she still has a car!), and by early evening, the rest of the family had arrived at Jackie's. Dad, Mom, Grandma, Wayne, Aunt Diana, Aaron and Kristen all joined the festivities. Jackie, Dad, Grandma, and I all pitched in and made chili with corn bread for dinner (best chili Aaron has ever had!) . . . and desert included way too much wine for me (savingon blanc with a grapefruit flare)! The night flew by with everyone's stories of recent events . . . Aunt Diana's nursing tales (and mine), Aaron's recent girlfriend trouble, Jackie's recent nanny-share nightmare, Wayne's itchy health problem, the hoped-for sale of Grandma's house in Florida, and so on . . . Lucky for us, Jackie and Connor had plenty of room at their house for us to sleep, and plenty of wine, white russians, keg beer, etc for us to drink . . .
Friday morning we journeyed to Charles Town, which was about an hour and half away from Jackie's. I rode with Aaron in his new car (not too scary), and we all arrived at the hotel by 1:00. That evening the whole family kicked off the weekend reunion at Valerie and Rich's house . . . a beautiful historic estate in downtown Charles Town.
First picture is from Valerie & Rich's estate . . . Jackie waiting for the rest of us by the hydrangeas . . .

We spent a good part of the evening enjoying their gorgeous house and grounds . . . dinner was excellent (fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, fruit salad and chocolate cake for desert). After dinner, the entire family returned to the hotel and carried on the festivities, with lots of alcohol. (Yes, too much drinking . . . with a complaint from another hotel guest about a certain family member running up and down the hall, dancing and singing . . . and no, it wasn't me!) Saturday morning came too early for many of the party-goers, as the tee-time for playing golf was 8:00am. Jackie and I had a leisurely morning, which included a light run around the downtown area and breakfast at the hotel. Saturday afternoon, a group of 12 decided to do white-water tubing . . . what an adventure! Jackie and I flipped our tubes over as we were hanging onto each other going over a mini-waterfall (scared us both . . . and we ended up with many bruises and scratches). The river we were sailing down was breath-taking . . . a deep ravine carved in a valley of green lush forest and peaked rocky hilltops. It was heartbreaking to see litter in the river :-( By the end of the trip, I had done multiple head-counts to make sure everyone made it down . . . with Paul and his girlfriend bringing up the rear . . . hummmmmm . . . anyway, the tubers included Connor, Jackie, Dad, Aaron, Uncle John, Daniel, Leighann, Kaitlan, Kristen, Paul, Brittney, and me.
Saturday night, we had dinner at the hotel (leftovers from Friday night and pizza) and we did the gift exchange . . . mom ended up with playboy bunny boxers! Then some of us journeyed over to the horse race. What fun! I lost ten dollars on my first bet that Danai Landing (horse#2) would place . . . Danai Landing came in dead last! I made $1.40 on the second race, as I bet on Sid's Star to place, and this horse won his race! The race track was a lively place, and we stayed until 11 pm watching the horses race. Dad made $27 on his $5 bet . . . I obviously need to take tips from him! I was exhausted by the time we got back and went straight to bed, but other family members stayed up until 3:30am (I heard this included Grandma!).
The whole weekend went by way too fast, and this morning I said good-bye to my relatives (most of them from NY). Hopefully, Matt will be able to make it next year! Here are a few snap shots from the weekend that went by in the blink of an eye:

Valerie & Rich's backyard

Valerie's back porch . . . Jackie greeting new comers . . . Aunt Pat, Daniel, Aaron, Grandma . .

the front of Valerie and Rich's house . . .

their kitchen . . .

their newly restored library . . . (Matt would have loved this) . . .

the next day (Saturday) . . . Grandma and Aunt Diana at the pool . . .

Jackie and Kristen by the pool Friday night . . .

Mom with Noah and Aaron swimming in the hotel pool Saturday morning . . .

Jackie and Wayne by the pool . . .

Cool shades . . .

Just before the tubing adventure . . . Aaron has donned his tubing attire with his lucky socks . . . behind him, Uncle John is weighing the risks of white water tubing . . . to tube or not to tube . .

Jackie and I . . . after our scrape with death on the river . . . good thing we're such strong swimmers with an amazing ability to float in the water (ha!) . . .

Back at the hotel Saturday night . . Jackie, Noah, Aaron and Paul are gearing up for the exciting gift exchange . . . who is going to the lucky one to take home the bunny boxers?

Who knew that Aaron could play kiddie songs?

Fun at the gift exhange . . . tell us how you really feel . . .

Grandma and Wayne at the gift exchange . . . both look a bit concerned . . . Grandma did not want her Panera gift card getting taken away!

thanks to all of our family members who attended this year's reunion . . . especially those who travelled long distances . . . it means a lot to see everyone! until next year . . .

Richard's graduation tribute

The urology chief resident at Tulane is graduating! Congratulations to Richard! And hello to Matt, new chief resident . . . with lots more work and responsibility. From left to right, you see Luke Fifer (3rd yr resident), Richard Matern (graduating chief), Brian Richardson (2nd yr resident), and Matt Raynor (4th yr resident).

In honor of the graduating chief, Luke, Brian and Matt made a video clip of "A day in the life of Richard" - there are seven scenes, and they are all posted on You Tube. Click on the following link to see the video clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B_432fZ86c

Once you are on the website, click on "More from: carrenee" (on the right side of the screen) to get to the other scenes.

To drive . . . or not to drive

We opted not to drive in this flood . . . many of the roads were also flooded, not just our parking lot! Two weeks ago, we had such a storm - lightening, thunder, torrential downpour - and it lasted for several hours on Sunday morning. The drainage system must have been clogged with debris and pine needles - the water level in the parking lot kept rising - until finally, something broke loose and all the water began pouring down the drain (as you see in the picture below). The water came up over the curb, over the speed bumps, up onto the grass - almost up to our neighbor's knees! That's what you get when you live in a city below sea level!

Here is our (crazy) neighbor . . . contemplating a swim?

Here is picture during the storm . . . as you see, the water is creeping up our tires.

As Dr. Fox would say at Tulane, . . . Unbelievable!

Beach Bums . . . Vacation at Little River

April 26th - May 4th . . . Our beach bummin' break, and we were soooo ready for a vacation! Flying into Raleigh and out of Wilmington, it was a time for relaxing and hangin' with our family. Our first stop (Saturday) was Chapel Hill, where we stayed with Mick and Elaine, and got to know their new son, John. We had dinner that night at Spice Street, and Cooper and Andrea drove up from Greensboro to dine with us. After that, we spent two days in Southern Pines. Sunday night we met the Pinehurst Urology group at Dr. and Mrs. Chamberlain's house, and Monday was Matt's interview with the group. The urology group was very welcoming and Matt enjoyed his visit with them.

Then . . . on to the Beach! We stayed with Becca and David at their house in Little River. You see here Matt, Jackson, Bailey and Maddy . . .

Becca and David's little dog, Maddy, at first liked Noah . . . but she soon learned to stay away from his advances and expressions of love!

Shelton, David, Becca and the kids . . .

Matt and I at pool night in Little River . . .

Our sisters . . . the pool sharks

Jackie and I decided to both wear our new matching shirts . . .

My parents and Jackie, Connor and Noah stayed at the Little River condo for the second weekend of our vacation. This was Noah's first trip to the beach (note - see Jackie's blog for a beautiful description of his reaction!).

Grandparents and grandbaby . . .

It only takes three grown adults to dress one 16 month old child . . .

Shelton, Sally and Mathew . . .

Noah and Connor . . . first walk to the beach (for Noah) . . .

Oh! What a glorious day at the beach for Noah!

Scooping sand on Daddy's belly was the best . . .

Margarita break . . .

Loving our Company!

First came David and Becca, then came Cooper and Andrea. We have had a ball with our company . . . and only wish they could have stayed longer.

David and Becca (Matt's sister and brother-in-law) arrived the end of February. Becca was in town for a gymnastics meet, and David came down to join her, make a long weekend of it. Sunday we went shopping on Magazine street, to all the little boutiques and dress shops - then to dinner at our fave, Dante's Kitchen - then to play pool at the old Rivershack (dive) bar. Monday, as Matt was at work, David, Becca and I went on a swamp tour (interesting) - and then met Matt for dinner at NOLA, a fabulous resturant in downtown 'Nawlins (as the natives call it).
Here is the four of us (David, Becca, me and Matt) at NOLA . . .

I love this picture! This was Sunday afternoon when we were shopping on Magazine street. One of the boutiques had a waiting area for the guys with a sofa and Maxim magazines! Needless to say, we were able to shop at this store for as long as we wanted!

This is Captain Tom, from our swamp tour, holding a baby gator. He said it was a fiesty one, so we couldn't hold it, but we were all able to pet him as we walked by. Now, I know you're jealous of that experience!

After we were introduced to the baby gator, we all piled onto a rickety river boat and toured around the "swamp" lands of Nawlins. Yes, there were real gators swimming up to the boat! This one just ate a marshmellow that Cap't Tom threw out to him.

David and I, enjoying the beautiful afternoon, amidst the gators . . .

Here is David and Becca at the Rivershack, listening to Cross Canadian Ragweed and playing pool. Can you believe that some other guy in the bar also listened to and liked Cross Canadian Ragweed? I had never heard of it before!

Cooper and Andrea (Matt's best friend from Southern Pines) came for a visit the end of March (Wednesday to Sunday). Unfortunately Matt and I had to work Wed - Fri. We still went out to nice dinners every night. Thursday to Cochon (beef-creole cuisine). Friday to Upperline (New Orleans' style down-home cookin'). Saturday afternoon to NOLA for lunch. Sunday to Dante's Kitchen for brunch. We were all fat-n-happy by the end of their trip!
Here we are Saturday night watching the Carolina NCAA game in our living room.

Sunday brunch at Dante's Kitchen - seriously good food! (Matt, me, Cooper and Andrea)

We had such a good time with our company! And we miss them already! We are looking forward to being in NC again and being closer to everyone!