Happy to join the blog also ...

We've so enjoyed the family photos, all the documentation of the latest Baby Boom in our family. I know it takes two to tango, but I'm feeling awfully proud of the procreative abilities of us Ely men. I'm beginning to think we can get a woman pregnant just by looking at her. What beautiful babies. Well, we've got good genes, that came from a good Gene.

We're doing fine out here in CA, we leave on Tuesday for Carmel (I'm singing at the Carmel Bach Festival, this is my third year doing it, and I think our children are under the impression now that we own a summer home up there. No need to shatter their illusions just yet, I guess). So before we go the kids are participating in as much as possible of the summer swimming league that we have here in our neighborhood. There are meets all through July, but we're only here for the first two. Last Saturday went great, but today was a big day ... both Sofia and Marcello won a race for the first time! Sofia took first place in two races, the backstroke and freestyle for girls 6 and under; Marcello won backstroke for boys 7-8. They were both quite excited, as were their parents. Of course we emphasized as much as possible that we were proud of their EFFORT, not of the fact that they happened to win! Maybe you sports-oriented dads and moms can help us through that parenting challenge. The goal of a sport is to win, but the larger goal is to do your best ... ugh, this stuff is hard. Anyway, it was a fun day.

More from Carmel, hopefully, I don't have a laptop so I'll be at the mercy of the availability of the one computer the Festival provides for us to use. Mom and Dad are coming up to visit again, we are all looking forward to a fun month.

Here are some photos of the kids, from swimming and elsewhere.

Love to all,

Michael



Marcello gearing up



Marcello doing the backstroke



Sofia preparing for the race!



Sofia doing the backstroke



Sofia wearing the "bolero" sweater lovingly knitted by her Great Aunt Anne!




Marcello and Sofia at school

Big Nathan Back In Indiana

Well Marg you are not the only first-time-blogger in the family so here it goes. I have included a couple other pictures from our trip back home. Thankfully the weather was not hot and humid and we were able to bring some of the great Portland summer with us. As you can see it was all business on our trip, no fooling around with the youth, strictly business. As Matt knows hanging is an age old tradition in our family and that is what gives us our height. In all seriousness it was a great trip and Allison and I had a great time talking with David and seeing the kids again. I am trying to find another picture of all three kids piled on top of me and will post it in my second blog. Not quite the same as the great Nebraska pyramid, but close.
















We were reading Old Macdonald.

















Yes she really is this cute if you have not seen her lately.

















Andrew likes flying.

Uploading Photos

To upload a photo, go to the "Edit Html" setting and then click on the image of a photo to get the "Browse Your Computer" choice.... and click away. I haven't been able to copy photos from Joe's Flkr because they come out as gif rather than jpg. Does anyone know how to do that?

I think I chose an appropriate one for a first try! After all, Berneice is the ONLY family member with a June birthday. Isn't that interesting??? What a lovely young family!!

Karen

The Divine Miss B

Well, most of us weren't there, but we can still enjoy the festivities celebrating Berneice Abigail Ely's very first birthday! Happy birthday, Miss B!!

Here is one of Joe's photos of the young lady herself on her special day. Follow the link to Joe's Flickr account for some more adorable photos of Berneice, her proud parents and grandparents, her charming twin brothers, aunts and uncles, and various other persons of note.

Also check out Frank's Shutterfly photos for even more great views of the event.

Susan, the castle cake was a sight to behold!

Musings from San Diego

Hello, Ely Family Bloggers !

This is a first for me, as I'm not used to posting blogs. However, with Anne, Joe and Karen being such techie experts, and me being the oldest (or is it eldest?) sibling, I feel compelled to join in the fun -- at least to some degree. Anyway, I'm enjoying the photos we've seen so far, and am looking forward to getting comments from all the nieces, nephews, and many cousins of the Ely family. But first, people have to join the group by signing on. I finally found a way to get on, so now I feel liberated!

We're all thinking about David Ely on his way back to the Middle East for his final tour there. We hope David will log onto this blog over the time he is away and then we'll all be able to hear from him and send messages back via this medium. Thanks for getting us started, Anne.

Marge (aka Geege, Margene, Mom, Aunt Marge, and Grandma!!) I answer to any of them!!

Eugene and Marjorie Ely links

From time to time people ask me for the link to the family photos I complied a few years ago (2003!!). So here it is.

http://www.phy.ohiou.edu/~eichstad/albums/EugeneEly.html


Also here is the site for the Nov 23 birthdays.


http://www.phy.ohiou.edu/~eichstad/albums/Nov23B.html

From time to time people ask me for the link to the family photos I complied a few years ago (2003!!). So here it is.



When time permits (retirement??) I’ll continue the project because I have many more to scan in and organize. But for the time being, this is what is available.

Karen

Happy Father's Day

Here's wishing a very happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads in our family. Am so glad that David and Susan are off enjoying a romantic weekend in Chicago - and he can resume dad-dom as soon as they get back to Indiana!

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend as well. Karen and Frank are in Las Vegas this weekend - Margene is home in San Diego after back-to-back trips - Maureen is going to the Mets-Yankee game tonight, hoping they can repeat last night's 2-0 victory - Dan and I will be selling birdseed all day and are going to a party tonight in celebration of a friend publishing her second children's book.

What's everybody else up to? Hope it's a wonderful weekend for all, and special wishes to all the dads - enjoy the day and enjoy special memories, too!

Cousin-ly Memories

I know that many of you have this photo; Aunt Karen, I think I actually got this off of a website you created some time ago. In honor of David related postings, though, I thought I would resurrect it to remind us all about the cousins some 19 years ago at the GWA.

I want to point out that Nathan, to this day, contends that he and David are not wearing matching sweaters. I would also like to point out that Nathan is wrong.


Gretchen, any thoughts?

Big Weekend Plans

Although it would be hard to top last weekend in Chicago, with Kate's beautiful shower and the great time shared with family, David and I are going to try. We will be traveling to the Windy City Thursday and staying till Saturday for a little R&R, just the two of us. So, with Cubs tickets in hand (praying for a win!) we are looking forward to some time to catch up. Special thanks to the heroic grandparents who make this all possible by entertaining the small ones for us. Hope to have some pictures to post when we get back!

David's Home on Leave

What a great way to start the family blog...with some wonderful family photos.

David got home on 2 weeks of leave late this afternoon and we had supper together. I could hardly believe it, having him at the dinner table with us. He seemed great, though tired from the long trip, fully understandable.

To say that he and Susan were glad to see each other is a huge understatement.

And the twins really glommed onto him in a hurry.

So rejoice with us.

Oh, you kids and that Internet!

This is a blog for members of the large, extended family that began with two very special people - Eugene James Ely and Marjorie Carol McPherren Ely of Auburn, Nebraska.

We want this to be a place where we can share news, memories, and the occasional recipe. We hope to see many photos of the special events and ordinary moments in all our lives. Over time, we can look at adding other features, too - like links to family historical data.

We've set this up as a private blog. So if you're reading this, you're a descendant of Gene and Marge Ely, or you've married one. Nobody else has access to post or to even read this content. Still, let's use good sense and not post highly personal data like financial information, etc. Not that we would, anyway, but just a reminder.

Mother (Grandma Ely to most of you) was a great communicator and famous for her long and detailed family letters, which usually included newspaper clippings, forwarded letters from other family members, and lots of handwritten comments in the margins. We see this as a revival of that custom in a high-tech format. And while online communications did prompt her more than once to shake her head and say "Oh, you kids and that Internet!"...we're still quite sure she would approve.

Let's see where we can go with this...and have fun!