Happy 70th, August 2025

Play slide show — just for looking at the pictures.

Sarah and I drove down to Atlanta for Loren's big 7-0 birthday party. Actually, it's been more like birthday party season — they started celebrating with kids and grands on Ocracoke last month. While we did run into some traffic on the drive down (not unexpectedly), we managed to join Loren, Susan, Steve and Helen for Friday dinner.
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025

The party was Saturday night, so we were able to enjoy one of Loren's piano practices and some travel Catan before the local guests arrived.

It was great to hear all the stories told from a variety of points of view — there were lots of outbursts of laughter.

August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025
And then we all sat down to a fabulous meal from Gene's BBQ, and it got quiet for a while.
(Below from front row left, clockwise: Helen, Sarah, David, Sandy, Paul, Nicole, Loren, Susan, Amy, Alan, Craig, Steve, Aaron. Bigger version, same "big_" trick works for all the photos here.)
August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025

The meal was topped with a fantastic chocolate cake from Little Tart. (The cake may have been happier in the fridge while all the merrymaking was going on.) It was a great celebration and we really enjoyed all the new stories we heard.

Happy Birthday, Loren!!!

August 2, 2025
August 2, 2025

Vacation notes: