After we visited Idlewild, Beth stayed for a week in Pittsburgh with her aunt Alice and her Baba
Summer power outages didn't stop Ally from her favorite hobby--reading--or from having some silly fun

The girls went to the annual Fireman's Carnival with their friends,
and spent some time on the beach at  Sandy Point State Park

They went to a nearby waterpark...

...and to the county fair...

...but soon it was the first day of school (4th grade for Ally, 10th for Beth).
Ally and her friends clowned around with our neighbors Jade, Dylan, 
Nathan, Jade's dad Mike, and Jade's dog Oreo. Beth did not join in the silliness

Joni's brother Andrew eloped to Las Vegas to marry Shannon, and they held a reception in September.
Ally certainly enjoyed the festvities, especially the music. Rock on, girl!

My cousins Ron and Jeannie Martinez and their girls Lauren and Jessica visited us in October

My Aunt Waltraud visited from Germany, and we took her and the kids to a corn maze

Taking a break in the corn maze. For Halloween, we each decorated a jack-o-lantern. 
Ally's the bee, Beth's and Joni's are next, and mine is that warty mutant one on the far right.
Hmm..."Far Right Warty Mutant Pumpkin." I'll have to name my band that....

This Halloween, we had a notable gorilla infestation in our house. They break into our closets, put on our
clothes, and cause all sorts of problems. But the small ones are awfully cute

Teenage boys everywhere wish they were that pumpkin.
Ally went as Little Bo Peep, complete with tiny little sheep

Speaking of sheep, Joni made a "sheep cake" for Beth's birthday, and we had a bday dinner for her...

...and some friends joined her for a birthday sleepover, with breakfast the next morning

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house, and somehow, I wound up at the kid table. So did Joni's sister Liz

In December, the girls danced at the local nursing home...

...and handed out cookies and other goodies to the residents afterwards

We went with our friends the Cha's to lay wreaths at Arlington National Cemetary

Joni's sister Liz celebrated her 40th birthday at a local "ladies' club," where they made 
several new friends, most of them young, male, muscular, and underdressed

Over winter break, Joni took the girls to the Hirshhorn Museum in downtown Washington, D.C.

Ally finds art astonishing...

We also went duckpin bowling,  a first for all of us

We celebrated New Year's Eve with our friends the Eibels and the Wnuk-Finks, where I demonstrated
once again that I am a two-fisted drinker. That's just soda in Ally's glass. Honest.

That wraps up 2008! More adventures in 2009....