Some of you may remember that I swore I'd never have kids, or that by the time I would be settled down enough to want them, I'd be too old to have them. I got lucky and married a man with 5, including one set of identical twins. Over the past 25 years (our 25th anniversary was April 1st) they got married and had their own families. We now have 13 grandkids. See the list at the end of these party pictures for the breakdown.
Yes, it was a zoo, but a fun one. The food was great. The kids got there early and decorated the place. They did a great job. These are some pictures from that evening. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of everyone, but when I finally get on Facebook, I'll be able to see the pictures many others took.
The woman in the purple and green in the foreground is Ramona, the youngest who just graduated from UW and is now in an archeological field school on the island of Gotland, Sweden. The kids have Scandinavian heritage on both sides, Swedish from their mom, Sarah, in the white on the right and Icelandic from Trout.
The 33 at 65 banner is all about his racing. His car number is 33 and the colors are blue and yellow. That's our son, Lee, taking a picture of me while I take a picture of him and GK Brynne looks on.
The balloons marked Trout's spot at the table.
This is Jason, Ramona's husband. He recently got out of the Navy and is studying forensics for his civilian career. He spent much of his time in Naval law enforcement, so it's a good match.
In the foreground is Dorothy, one of the twins.
Trout looks all alone here. I think he's enjoying a break. It was a good time for all the kids and grandkids to get together. The last time they did that we know of was in Utah on a camping trip the first week of April, 2010. It was very cold. Not all of the GKs were even born then.
This is Audrey, daughter of our oldest, Katie.
This is Dorothy, daughter of one of the twins, Ruth.
Here is Sarah and Katie. I loved it when Katie turned 39, the same age Trout was when we got married.
Left to right, this is Kaya, the oldest GK, her sister Phaedra and their aunt, Ruth. Yeah, when they were very little, they did confuse her with their mom, Dorothy. As did her husband, Aaron. He wasn't able to be at the party because of truck trouble. After the party, we helped them out a bit with that, Trout more than me. We missed you, Aaron!
This is Melissa, Lee's youngest daughter.
This is Dorothy, with her youngest, Gavin.
This is Kiersten, with her little sister, Dorothy.
Now we have the group pictures. Missing spouses are not there because they weren't there or because they were taking pictures.
I wondered what Trout was pointing at in some of these pictures, but I realized he's "directing" the Happy Birthday song.
The chef and owner of FCB&G, Diana, made a red velvet cake to die for. She also made some chocolate espresso flan, also to die for. And for the honored guest, she made a special little bowl of gazpacho as an appetizer earlier, complete with a birthday candle stuck in a dinner roll beside it.
When Brynne, whose parents both have dark hair and eyes, was born with red hair and blue eyes, we thought she'd be teased by her older sister, Morgan, about not being a part of the family. Then when Lee's youngest, Melissa was born with light red hair and blue eyes, we decided his wife must have some Scandinavian heritage, too. We missed you, Hilary!
This is Ramona and Jason's only, Aidan.
And here's Morgan, Lee's oldest.
A good time was had by all, I think.
Now here's the cast of characters:
Trout -- Father and grandfather.
Lo -- Step-mother and grandmother.
Sarah -- Mother and grandmother.
Katie -- the oldest. Husband - Jim. Kids - Jimmy, Audrey, Joe.
Lee -- the only boy. Wife - Hilary. Kids - Morgan, Brynne, Melissa.
Ruth -- one of the twins. Husband - Aaron. Kids - Kiersten, Elijah, Dorothy.
Dorothy -- one of the twins. Husband - Phill. Kids - Kaya, Phaedra, Gavin.
Ramona -- the youngest. Husband - Jason. Kid - Aidan.
Some of you may be wondering what this racing thing is all about. Trout wanted to do it from the time he was about 12, but he never had the money until the mid-to-late 80's. He loved the sport so much, though, that he worked turns and did lots of other volunteer work at the tracks in British Columbia, Oregon and Washington.
When we moved to Tucson, he was hoping that the racing here would be good, but so far it is not, so he goes back to the NW during the summer to race there. If it was good here, he'd race in the winter down here. He keeps hoping...
These pictures are not all recent. They are just some favorites of mine. He calls his "team" Rainbow Trout Racing, hence the colors on the shoulders of his suit.
Most people only know about Nascar or some kind of racing on oval tracks. We find there aren't many followers of Formula 1 or open wheel, road racing. This is his car.
Here he is on pre-grid.
And on the track.
And back to the paddock safely.
In 2012, he raced a lot. He ended up with the 2nd place trophy for Formula Club Ford from the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs. International you say? Remember that part about British Columbia? Whether the race is there or Washington or Oregon, both the Canadian and US flags are flown and the anthems are played.
Now for a little attitude...
