Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad

The Mars clan converged this weekend in Columbus to celebrate Mom and Dad's 40th wedding aniversary. Dinner was a selection of memory foods - "Love" sandwiches (Mom's old specialty), organic salad, sweet corn (remember shucking corn as kids?), carrot cake, Great-Grandma McKay's cinnamon applesauce. The 'cafe Mars' had super-delux table service provided by the grandkids, and a continuous stream of live entertainment.

Primary Colors

Amaya has a miles-wide artistic streak, and this often is manifest in her wardrobe selections. Here she is dressed in primary colors: blue, red, and yellow.

Spring Vacation

For spring vacation, we dropped in on Paul and Lydia. Here are some photos...


Ida has started her own businesses. In winter she makes baskets, which she sells from the roadside. In summer she does herbs. While we were there, some folks brought by a bunch of sick seedlings, for her to nurse back to health. So she's grown a reputation as a herb 'vet' of sorts. I believe her baskets are made of strips of white oak (that Paul logs). She stains and dyes the strips, and builds the baskets. Each is signed and numbered. So far, she's made about 300.

Emery has started a harness shop. He builds the equipment that folks need to hitch up their horses to their buggies.

Ida and Anna showing off their sisterly love.

Here is a picture of everyone (Ida, Emery, Lydia, Paul, Abigail, Anna) except Emmanuel. Emmanuel is taking up carpentry, and lives on his own down the road about a mile.


The day we visited was Joe's birthday, and to celebrate, we made homemade ice cream. Paul has a super-delux ice-cream maker. It makes two gallons. The mechanism is so good that Lydi spent about 10 minutes cranking the ice cream!

We stayed in a great hotel in downtown Linden. Although Linden is a very small town, the hotel is really first-class.

Invasion from the Planet Zorgon

Amaya and Joe acted in a production of the subject play. Grandpa and Grandma and Ben came to see the play. This was Amaya's first play. Joe is an old pro at this, of course. Amaya was hilarious as 'Calamity Josephine', and Joe did a great 'Sheriff'.

Last Blast of Winter

On 26 Feb, we got the year's last good dump of snow. Kids were off of school, and Will took the day off. The best part was going to The Hill and getting some sled time. Now I'm ready for spring.

Puzzled?

Kids doing a puzzle on a Sunday afternoon.

Aphrodite

In Anna's 7th grade English class, students studied and recreated Greek gods and goddesses. Anna decided to study Aphrodite. At the end of the project, she got to dress the part and make a 1st person speech.

Bowling

Mom and Lydi bowling. Cooper's Research department recently took an afternoon at the bowling alley, along with our families. Lydi turned out to be a great bowler. Her score was only 2 points lower than her dad's score!

Lydi's Body Art

Lydi's artistic streak has started to show. She loves markers, and her favorite medium is herself.

Merry Christmas 2008

The Mars Cousins re-enacted the Nativity during our clan get-together at Christmas. Amaya was Mary, and Caleb was the baby Jesus.

Sisters In-Law

Leslie, Linda, and Sarah Leona sharing the joys of having a Mars-boy husband.

Surprise Visitors

Lydia, Ida, and Emery Edwards dropped in on us in early December. We have really missed having their family nearby, so it was a delightful treat to visit and catch up with them. While here, Ida called up Chris to reminisce about arm wrestling, and to say 'hi' to Chris' new wife LaTrisha.

Its a wonderful life!

This weekend, Joe performed in a local production for radio of 'Its a Wonderful Life'. Joe played the parts of Harry Bailey (as a boy) and George Bailey's son Tommy Bailey. The production was recorded and will be broadcast on Christmas on WFIN.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we remember with gratitude our Savior Jesus Christ. We are excited once again to enter the season where we celebrate His birth and His life. We are grateful for our family and friends, and the love they bring into our lives. We are grateful for our great country, for its founding fathers, and for the liberty we still enjoy because of their inspired wisdom. We are grateful for what God has entrusted into our hands, and we pray that He will bless our efforts to raise up those things in the right ways.

We also pray for the world Olive supply, that it will remain stable despite the demand of the growing Mars population.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to seeing you at Christmas.

Chris and LaTrisha

Chris and LaTrisha got married on 12 October 2007. Here's a photo of the family at the wedding (right), and of the Mars brothers (left).

Akron Marathon

My brothers Dave and Dan ran the Akron Marathon this year. I took these photos from my 'cheering station' on the top of 'heartrate hill', which I believe was the highest elevation on the course.

A Mother's work is never done

Linda making arrangements on the phone, and cleaning up almost as fast as Lydi can make a mess.

Alpaca Joe

Our neighbor has a bunch of Alpacas. One of them looks just like Joe - Polaris. Can you see the resemblance?

Lydi was here...

Here is Lydi cheering for Anna during an LB football game. Anna was on the field playing flute with the Eagles' 7th grade band. Lydi loves our 'quiet room' where we keep all the crayons and coloring supplies. You can usually tell when she has had unauthorized access.

Lunar Eclipse

Joe took this series of images from our driveway in the early morning of 28 August. We had a total lunar eclipse. It lasted about an hour. I pasted the images together after the fact.