Yes, Mother.

Hello out there in the blogosphere! I begin this blog under protest. Facebook, journal, scrapbooks, flip video, photo albums, baby books and now--what!?! Is it possible for me to spend more time documenting my children's every move? I ask you, did your mother publish a blog about your first whittle in the potty seat and your first trip to the post office? I don't think so. And yet, you still function as a human person--now how is that?

My mother in China requested this blog so that she could keep up with her grandchildren, so here I am. It'll probably be a good thing for our Washington Grammy, too. And I'm sure that after much grumbling, I'll get used to it and probably enjoy it.

The extended Kevin Holderness clan got together this weekend to reune. Kenny, Katie and the five Newbry kids stayed with us, and Samantha and Hannah had a great time together. Dave and I hosted a barbecue for 75, and we're either getting better at this catering thing or our standards are really sliding.

The kids and I went to the zoo where Sam almost climbed in with the groundhogs and Mike got into a fight with a couple of geese. Mike kept waddling closer and closer to the babies, and he thought it was hilarious when the gander would hiss. I grabbed him before he got nipped at. Do geese have rabies or salmonella? Maybe I should have let him face his natural consequences.

We also went to Roaring Springs Water Park and the kids had a blast. Michael loved the endless river--he sat with me on the tube and hummed us a song while we floated around. He was a real chicken when it came to the water slides--I finally had to push him down the kid slide. But he was really into trying to throw rocks into the pools. Samantha was so brave! She climbed up to the big slide with Daddy, positioned herself in front of the black gaping hole, and pushed off all by herself. I could hear her screaming the entire time from the bottom--she was so scared in the black tunnel! It took her a full five minutes to calm down, but by the time we left she was bragging about it to her cousins. It was a fabulously exhausting weekend and we were so glad to be with so many of you!