Fourth of July 2017

The Gang's All Here
The stairs (from the bottom) Larry Barns, Dick Bond, Tom Youmans, Luke Barns, Molly Wolf, Doug Youmans, Russ
Wolf, Julie Wolf, David Silverstein, Scott. On the wall (from the bottom) Sean Garren, Will DeKrey, Laura Schutz, Scott Silverstein, Heather, Marty Wolf, Christine Goulet, Leslie Silverstein, Jenny Wolf, Debra D'Arpa.

It was a wonderful Fourth of July again this year with friends and family who have been coming together for so many years. The exact amount of years is difficult to say. We bought Tall Timbers in 1982 and had our first Fourth of July gathering in 1983. Due to scheduling conflicts we missed a couple of years (but got together on Labor Day instead).  Then in 2007 we sold Tall Timbers and moved to The Hundred Acre Wood in Shrewsbury - only 16 miles away. The Fourth of July celebrations continued unchecked at our new location. But we still go back to Lake Rescue with Russ's boat to water ski!
Through the years we welcomed new spouses and then each of the children. Josh, Zoë, James and Jenny were the only ones there from the beginning. Now they are all adults and most of them come back each year along with their parents. Two of our original members were not with us this year. Susan Youmans passed away earlier this year after a long illness. We miss her so much and shared memories of her during the weekend. And David Wood had a car breakdown and had to cancel. As always we hiked, swam, ate (always too much - but it's SO good), played games and talked the nights away. These photos are just a glimpse into the weekend as I rarely think to take out the camera. Larry took the group photo above and it came out great.

Luke made an incredible chocolate strawberry layer cake!
And here he is with Sean & Will - the cake is the star.

Julie sliced it up - with Debra, Scott and Laura in the
background.

Debra and Dick (who came despite having surgery
recently).

Cooking in the kitchen - Leslie, Heather and Julie

Games of all kinds are a constant - here Tom & Will

Play Sean & Julie

Doug and Heather

Will rests up for the next activity

Tom came all the way from the West Coast

Sean strikes a pose.

This time a funny one - he and Will made
one of the dinners by themselves.

Christine, Larry, Leslie, Dave, Doug and Scott

Dave and Leslie with her iconic Fourth of
July cake.

It's "Pick and Choose" lunch - Yeh!

Russ and Scott on the front deck in the early morning solving the world's
problems.