Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: Family Edition

We've got a lot of blurred lines in this week's PHFR. There was so much pretty/happy happy/funny happy/real, etc, going on that it's hard to categorize many of these photos.

Dharma, Vance, Fidget and Rosebud came to visit this week. OFF-THE-CHARTS-HAPPY! And we were way too busy all week for me to report on the all the pretty, happy, funny and real going on around here.

But here we go...let's just assume for the sake of convenience that all of these are all PHFR:

Rosebud feeding the chickens

We went to our favorite local farm to ride hay wagons, feed animals, enjoy live music, pick a few ears of corn and a few stray peaches and nectarines, and stock up on apple cider donuts!  It was the perfect way to usher in the month of September and the season of Autumn.  As Daria said, the only thing missing was dancing around the cauldron!

Redheaded Snippet proving she's not yet too old to enjoy a cider slush on the playground

Fidget, happy to show the barnyard how, "silly chicken," is done!

Fidget really was not that forlorn; the camera just caught her in a pensive moment

We also went to our family's favorite seaside resort, Ocean City, NJ.  Actually, they went.  As I hate the beach, I stayed home and made this:

The Viking's favorite "Kick-Ass Cobbler"

Because, when a crazy, old, Italian woman leaves you with an enormous bag of peaches sure to go bad on your kitchen counter before you can possibly use them all, you make peach cobbler!  Two of them (the first was already eaten by the time this photo was taken)!

If you look closely, you can see Man-Cub and Redheaded Snippet up on the right

Gram and Rosebud

Fidget in motion, as nearly always

Ocean City is his favorite place on earth!

Every generation of our family has ridden these boats

Ditto for that merry-go-round

Rosebud and her Papa, Vance

My beautiful family.  Wasn't I clever to choose such a man as my children's father?

Daddy's little girl...

Peas in a pod

Dharma, Vance, Fidget and Rosebud

The whole OCNJ crew

The following photos are rather more real:

Operation Hurricane Readiness

The Viking is a volunteer firefighter.  Which meant that, instead of being home with us weathering the frightening...um...weather, he spent almost all of last weekend at the fire station on duty because of Irene.  Believe me, the children and I would have much preferred to have his reassuring presence with us throughout the ordeal, but we understand what he does and were very proud of him.

They really DO sleep with their boots on!

When the power went out and repeated tornado warnings drove us into our dank, damp basement (with water from the torrential rains seeping in around the corners--ugh!), he risked life and limb by leaving the station and rushing home to check on us.  We eventually evacuated a few miles away to Mom's house where we spent the rest of the fearful night in comfort with electricity and dry floors.

Breakfast for the hard-working firefighters

And all is well.  None of our trees fell, the basement wetness stopped at mere seepage and the power was restored so quickly that our ice cubes in the freezer didn't even melt.  Thanks be to God!  That certainly makes me Happy!