Yes, I'm Older Than Dirt!

On our side trip towards Iowa to see my side of the family this trip, there were enough attendees for the gathering to justify moving the event to a church basement!  I smelled a surprise birthday party, but Melinda told a lil' white lie that "no birthday cake was involved" to her knowledge.  Well, whenever you complete another decade (yes, I'm turnin' 6-0 in another week or two) people make a fuss.  There was cake, not only to celebrate my birthday, but also that of my Aunt Velma who remains ageless - around for as long as I remember and always part of our family.  She had celebrated her birthday on Thanksgiving Day with her kids...  So while not a surprise, we had a great celebration with a huge batch of lasagna thanks to my sister Linda (who claims the recipe was from a former girlfriend of mine!), and a plethora of sides to make the Ketelsen family proud!

My goal for the night was to get a decent picture of great-niece Claire.  Being the big, scary uncle you only see a few times a year makes it tough to put the subject at ease, and I got lots of her peaking from around her mom, or picking her nose, or otherwise not having a camera-ready attitude (unlike her dad growing up who was always ready for a photo!).  What finally worked was this shot as they were about to leave where one of her aunts attacked me with a stuffed puma, with me adding suitable crying sound effects to get the needed reaction.  Hey, whatever works!  Not bad shots of Jeff and Sandy either!