Mom's 80th Was a Huge Success!!

We are back home after a very busy week spent at my Mom's, celebrating her 80th birthday. It was a whirlwind of celebrations and visiting with family. We drove down the day before the big event and it poured rain most of the trip. On top of that we chose a different route and it turned out to be a very long drive... longer than usual :-(

But... we finally arrived.

This is a photo of the birthday girl... an amazingly youthful and beautiful lady..................
The day of Mom's birthday we met up with other family members at Kelseys for a luncheon. There was supposed to be about eight of us in total but Mom had two surprise guests... Taylor and Gwen ( my Uncle Doug and Aunt Marg's daughter-in-law and grandson) which brought the total to ten! A very nice turnout. My aunt Verna who I mentioned in the previous post turned 90 the week before and who very recently had hip surgery felt well enough to come and her son Grant graciously elected to bring her so they were there with us! I was so thrilled to get to see my aunt there and looking so well and we had a nice visit. Here is the lovely lady also looking very youthful and healthy....

Grant and Allan..............

My Mom's brother and his wife, Doug and Marg made it too and it was wonderful to see them there.

My Mom's cousin Lynda and her husband Allan came and brought the cake with them... a huge slab cake with all our names on it who were celebrating milestone birthdays this year! Here is a photo of the cake...........
And here is Allan who was sitting next to me and that is why the close up of his head....

Lynda looking lovely as usual.....
The three siblings... Verna, Doug and Barbara...............
We spent about three hours at the restaurant until the visitors started departing for home. Mom and I and Lynda and Allan went back to Mom's where I finished preparing our supper for that evening. Just after eight o'clock my brother Mike and his wife Debbie arrived and the day was completed by their presence.

The next evening us kids took Mom out for supper as our birthday dinner to her. Here are photos taken at the house before we went out.

Mike and Debbie with Mom and our dog Jett...............

And Bruce and Jett...............
Our brother Dave unfortunately couldn't make it during the week as he had work commitments.
He had been there the weekend before to spend time with Mom and take her out for dinner and he brought her some flowers. But.... he surprised us the following weekend by showing up unexpectedly. Thanks Dave for coming... we enjoyed seeing you!!!

For the gift to commemorate the day we designed and produced a 104 page hard copy picture book honoring Mom's life from cradle to present day. There were photos of her as an infant right up to today as well as photos of all those who have figured prominently in her life. The actual book which was still away being printed did not arrive on the day but Mike prepared a digital copy for all of us to see and the book looks amazing. It will be a beautiful coffee table book for Mom to look at and enjoy.

We drove back home to Elliot Lake the following Monday and it was great weather starting out but as we got to Barrie it clouded over and rained again most of the rest of the way although not quite as hard or as steady as it had on the drive down.

Although we enjoyed our time with family you know what they say... there is no place like home!