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Dear Market Basket Employees,

August 8, 2014 By JulieK

I have 3 words to say to you all…

You.Are.Awesome

You’re not a just a group of employees, you’re not a union, you’re a family. When your family was torn apart, you banded together to fight back. It’s never been done before, a group of workers fighting FOR their former CEO. I would dare to say that 99.99999999999% of you cannot afford to lose hours, most of you are probably not able to make those ends meet for very long without hours and pay, and yet you are still standing up for what you believe in. As a family, we’ve been to the rallies, and we’ll support you as much as we can… But I wanted to come out and say “WOW” you are awesome! Thank you for reminding us that it’s collectively possible to stand up for what you believe in and do it in a positive way! I know that growing up in this area, most of my friends and I all worked at Market Basket at some point in our lives, and we shop there regularly, mostly just to support a well run mostly local business… But, except to attend rallies, we won’t be back to Market Basket until there’s a positive resolution for the people who work there. I just hope for your sake that the powers that be come to their senses sooner rather than later. They are driving their business into the ground, and seem to not care even a little bit… It’s very sad to see them throw away everything that has been built up. Stay Strong!! We support you!!

After coming home from the last rally, this is what I saw on the kitchen table… The kids making their own “kid sized” signs to carry at the next rally!!

Oh, and I just wanted to also send an FYI to the current members of the Tewksbury Board of Selectmen. We are politically involved in town, and are embarrassed by your lack of support for the Market Basket employees. It would be a Win-Win situation for you to support the local people who are standing up to corporate greed. There is NO downside… Do you really think that Artie S will vote for any of you? or that the greed culture of the current board will send lots of $ toward the town of Tewksbury? Supporting the local workers would ONLY help the town, but none of you have the gumption that the non-elected employees have. So, I’m putting it out there right now… PLEASE do not call us for support during the next election, as you will not get it. We will not make a donation to your campaigns (we’re donating to any of the Market Basket workers that we can), we will not attend YOUR rallies (too busy attending rallies of people actually willing to stand up for something), and we certainly will not put your campaign signs in our yard. You all should be ashamed of yourselves, and maybe take a lesson from those workers who cannot afford to do so, but are standing up for what they believe in.

Happy 13th Birthday!!

June 29, 2014 By JulieK

Ok, first… I need to say that I cannot believe that I am now the mom of a teenager!!! How on earth did that happen?? It seems like just yesterday that 8lb 11oz hunk-a-chunka came into our life, and now he’s 13??? We are thrilled beyond belief at the wonderful boy he is (most of the time :) and so proud of him. 7th grade, here we come!! There’ll be no “iceburg death march” this birthday :) we’re home so it’ll be something local, and whatever he wants to do!! Happy Birthday Buddy!!! We love you so much!!! How about 13 super cute pics of my Birthday Boy??

Here’s a pic from a short hike last week :) look at that teenage looking boy!

and sitting in the Mustang one last time before it went to its new home.

and back when we first got the Mustang :)

how sweet is this face in 2006??

and on our “Train-cation” in 2006

Riding on the train with Dad :)

A couple weeks ago at our first car show with the new car…

Last summer in Glacier! This pic is one of my favorites… It just screams them!!

on his birthday last year… At infamous Iceberg Lake!!!

and… of course… a couple of my all time favorite baby pics :) look at that face… don’t you just want to reach in and pinch those cheeks and the Michelin Man arms and legs???

and this one with Gram… He was almost as big as she was :)

and, oh my heck… is there an award for EXTREME cuteness??? This one would definitely win :)

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!!

Father’s Day Fun

June 21, 2014 By JulieK

Last week for Father’s Day, we let Mike pick what we would do :) We hiked Mount Monadnock and it was a slog!! It was fun, but being our first trip out this season, we were sore!! It was a GORGEOUS day!! Here’s a few pictures… I only brought my phone, not the big camera, and realized when we got home that I didn’t get any pictures of Mike (he was NOT sad about that, he hates having his picture taken). Usually, we walk at different paces, so one of the kids is with each of us… This time, we started out with me and Kathryn together leading the “pack” we’d stop and wait for the boys to catch up. Here’s Kathryn at a place we stopped to rest a few minutes.

The boys caught up with us, and I got this pic of Sean.

Look at that!! They’re both smiling :)

We stopped at one spot to build a cairn.

Girls selfie :)

Please ignore the floppy hat :) it was REALLY windy :)

Really windy :)

It was a lot of fun!! And, a good reminder that we need to get into MUCH better hiking shape before our big summer hiking vacation!!!

Our First Car Show!

June 2, 2014 By JulieK

This past weekend we took “The Midlife Crisis Car” to its first east coast car show :) I can’t remember if I posted here on my blog or not, but here’s the story of the car, and some pics of our first car show!!

When we got married (14 years ago!!) we had a SUPER COOL car :) a 1967 Corvette Convertible… I always say that that was the one and only time in my life that I was actually cool :) When you drive down the street in a ’67 ‘vette, people literally stop what they’re doing and look, most also wave!! It’s really fun to go for a ride!!

Here’s a picture of us, at our wedding, in our first Corvette, just before we left!! Funny, once we managed to squeeze my dress in, we went for a drive all around Andover… My veil was wild in the wind, but my hair didn’t move :) (it’s a cell phone picture of a picture from our wedding, quality isn’t the best, but you get the idea).

I seriously LOVED that car!! But, when we had Sean, Mike thought it was more responsible to sell it, you know, ’cause it only has 2 seats, and we were a family of 3 :) so… A couple of years later, we bought a Mustang convertible… 4 seats, and pretty cool :) The kids call it the “race car” and we go out for rides in the summer…

Fast forward… This year, Mike decides he “needs” a new Corvette (and by new I mean ’67, and it needed a big block, side pipes and be a standard… he’s not picky!) :) I had to agree with him, we definitely did need one:) He finds the “perfect one” and buys it… Only problem?? It’s in Carson City, Nevada… Over April vacation, he and Sean fly to Nevada, rent a truck (for parts etc) and a car carrier and drive it home!! The epic adventure!!!

This weekend, we took the new car to its first east coast car show at Skip’s Hamburgers in Merrimack, MA. There were 320 other super fun cars there in the show!! We had a blast, and everyone was so nice!! We’ll definitely be back again!! (and you just can’t beat those burgers!!) I followed in the Jetta :) and we all met up for yummy burgers and fun!

Here’s a few images from the weekend!!

This is an overview shot of the show from where our car was (with many other Corvettes, including a 2014 that was parked right behind ours, what a nice looking car that is!!)

Sean holding court, and answering questions :) That’s our beautiful car beside him.

Kathryn holding down the fort :)

Both of them in front of the car… Notice that Sean looks THRILLED to be next to his sister…

View from the back of the car :)

Hanging out and having snacks!

Sunday we got the Mustang all cleaned up, and we’ll be bringing both to the next car show :)

Pinch me, I’m dreaming!

May 21, 2014 By JulieK

Remember my recent post about applying to the Google Teacher Academy? I was VERY excited about applying, but as much as I really wanted it, I knew for sure that it was a LONG SHOT. Literally hundreds of people apply for a very limited number of spots. That was back in April, and applications didn’t close until last Wednesday… The downfall of applying early is the WAIT!!! That, and stalking, umm. I mean watching everyone else’s videos and praying that yours will hold up!!! And, trying not to second guess your decisions…

Well, today was the big announcement day. Applications said we would know for sure (either way) on or before May 21. I know that I was not alone in my cyber-stalking of Twitter and my email all day today!!! Twitter was full of hopeful people all wishing together… I had an IFTTT alert set up on my phone to text me if I got an email from Google… Everyone online was on pins and needles, even though it was nerve wracking, it really was fun hanging out with other people waiting for the same thing all day…

But, after school there were errands to run and things to do and places to be… I was knitting in the car, waiting for Sean to come out of his piano lesson this afternoon… I finished a row and decided to check Twitter “just one more time” (it’s how I managed to stay sane… Knit a row, check Twitter, knit a row, check email) … Someone had just posted “I got in…” on Twitter, which sent me to my email…. nothing… refresh… nothing… refresh… and then this…

I easily read it 10 times to be sure that I wasn’t reading it wrong… O.M.Gosh!!! I still can not fully believe it!!! I’m going to Mountain View in July with 64 other people who love all things Google as much as I do!! I am honored and humbled and thrilled by the opportunity… AND!! I get to go to THE GOOGLEPLEX!!!! THE GOOGLEPLEX!!!! OMGosh, seriously, how cool is that???? Ok, time to come down off cloud 9 for a little bit, get the kids showered and in bed, clothes and lunches out for tomorrow… then back into the routine until July!!!