Larry and Julie Myers live in San Francisco, CA. Julie is the step-sister of Peter, Dick, and Sterling -- daughter of Mary Louise's second husband, Art Williamson. She is an interior designer, graduated from San Jose State University and had a full design firm in San Francisco for 18 years. It was there, doing design work for Security Pacific Bank that she met Larry and they married 25 years ago. Larry is from southern CA and had been in banking his full career (41 years), then working with Julie when she took over the ownership of her company.

Larry and Julie now spend their time on the pleasure boat in the waters around San Francisco and taking cruises to various parts of the world. Anything that has a boat involved is great!

What about pictures???

So the burning question is...where are the pictures??

By now you should all have received an invitation from Tim about a group account with Flickr (affiliated with Yahoo!) . This account allows us all to upload our respective photos and share them with the group.

One word of caution: your monthly upload limit is 20Mb. So if you have a large mega-pixel camera and each picture is over 1Mb, you won't be able to upload very many pictures! If you are unfamiliar with how to resize pictures to make them smaller, send me an email and we'll discuss...

As of this evening...Sunday, July 9, there are 449 pictures for us to view and share! Wowser!

Chasing the doctor away

Chase Ambler, of Asheville, NC was born in 1931, son of Arthur Chase Ambler, who was the eldest son of Chase P Ambler. Retired from teaching at The Asheville School, where Chase P and Arthur C were school physicians for some 60 years. Still happily married to wife Connie. Two sons, Arthur Chase III and Scott S. Loves to travel, having been out of the country about 30 times. Mountain climber of sorts. In 1978, Chase I followed John Ambler up Mt. McKinley. John was in the party which first climbed the mountain in 1951 up the west buttress.

Chase and his sister Mimi (pictured with him here) love to show visitors the site of Rattlesnake Lodge, which was the summer home of Chase P Ambler, our common paternal ancestor. The current Chase has written a pamphlet about the history of Rattlesnake Lodge that details much about its interesting history. It's a beautiful area to visit, so look up these Amblers if you find yourself in this neck of the woods!

Wow!! Was that fun or what?!?!

What a wonderful experience! We had an excellent turnout and I think everyone truly enjoyed seeing and getting to know each other. Some of the feedback so far:

A warm and loving THANKS to all for making the plans and effort to be at Estes Park for out get-together...... It was a special time for us and I hope for you. What a wonderful bunch of people.... lots of varied interests and places in the universe but ALL family... My greatest wish is that the younger generations found a sense of family and will be interested in keeping the relationships alive.....

We arrived home this afternoon (Tuesday).... total drive for us was 8000 miles but of course that included OK, ND, SD, WY, UT, IA, KY, TN, KS, NE.... the highlight for me was being with you all.....

Love to each of you, and yours....

Pete

To all -

I echo Uncle Pete's sentiments - it was a wonderful time! It was so much fun getting to know everyone . . . and getting along with everyone!

A very special thanks to all of you who participated in my surprise birthday party! I can't tell how warm it made me feel to be able to share that day with all of you. Your presence is what made it a special day for me. Thank you all so much for your kind wishes.

All my best to all of you,
Kelly

Amen! I still am choked up...it was great to reconnect with cousins I hadn't seen in so long, meet the next generation and hear great stories from the first and second generations! I looked at the kids together and knew that they were building memories and bonds that would last a lifetime. Autumn came home gushing about her "big" family, and thinks the Amblers are pretty cool.

Throughout the week I'd look around and say, wow!...this is my family! Seeing the sea of blue shirts was awesome, and I love that I'll have a group photo to look back on over the years! Thanks to all of you for making it happen, and to you, Jane, for riding herd on logistics. Glad to hear that some of you road-trippers made it back safe and sound!

Much love,

Bridget

It was wonderful to see how the brood has bred. Many, many thanks to everyone who spent so much time planning, plotting and pleading to make things work out so well. Now comes the spin doctoring. For example, I want to see the picture of Pete on horseback! And, of course, I am looking forward to getting the professionally taken photographs. Seriously, these are very special memories for me. Thanks again.

John

Indeed it was a great time -- can we do another sometime ?

I didn't get home until 1:15 AZ time Tues, because the plane had "mechanical problems" so after 9 hours of sitting in the Phnx airport US Air put us on a Greydog bus to Flag. Of course, my car was at the airport, so I had to take a cab to get it. Dick

Hope all your ears are burning as Larry and I haven't stopped talking about this great family we have had the grand opportunity to be a part of all these years. The AMBLER clan is to be commended. You're all the greatest.

Lotsa love, Julie and Larry

Ster and Dottie - Colorado's own

Sterling is the eldest of the 3 Ambler boys, sons of John Ambler and Mary Louise Sterling Ambler. Sterling passed on in May of 2004 of leukemia. He was a lawyer, skier, hiker, climber, and lover of everything Colorado. And he could lead you in all six verses of most any song you'd sing around the campfire - or over a keg.

Dottie and Sterling married in 1975. Dottie is a retired librarian bookseller. She has 2 children. Her son Richard teaches chemistry at the University of Northern CO and is married to Lynn, another chemistry professor. They have two children. Dottie's daughter Susan is a physical therapist.

YMCA Room Assignments

All the rooms at the YMCA are in the EastSide Lodges. All of the rooms are supposed to have one queen size bed and two sets of twin bunks. Jane will get the keys on check-in and distribute them.

These are the room assignments that I'm sending in:

1) Ned, Jane, Adri, Nora
2) Sue, Ray, Stewart, Forster
3) Jim, Robyn, Cameran, Maddy
4) Tim, Mary, Brianne, Ethan
5) Kelly, Dale, Bridget, Autumn
6) Devon, Thea, Emily
7) Dick, Doug
8) Jordan, Joseph, Jansen, Daniel (who doesn't arrive til Thursday night)

I would suppose that people can move around within those rooms without much problem once we get checked in.

Pete and Phyl, Julie and Larry, and Dottie will all stay at a condo in the village of Estes Park. John and family and others from Denver area will make day trips up to visit.

D and Lee

Daniel Patterson is the eldest son of Ned and Jane (Ambler) Patterson and is just turning 23. Daniel graduated from LSU last December with his BS in Information Sciences/Decision Sciences (Business degree with computer emphasis). But Daniel's been a web designer since he was 12 and I first showed him how to code html, and he was fortunate enough to find a job in that field after graduation. He works for a company called Shoppers Choice which specializes in all things Barbeque, but is branching out to selling a wide variety of products over the web. Daniel's also done web design for the band 311 , an unofficial site for Palermo, the star soccer player on the Boca Juniors Argentina soccer team, as well as others. While in college, he and a partner started up a website to enable college students to electronically share class notes. The site NoteSwap.com was the first of its kind.

Daniel's girlfriend Lee Couvillon also graduated from LSU in Dec '05 with a degree in Anthropology/Archeology. Amazingly enough, she was also able to find work in her field here in Baton Rouge. She works for a company called Coastal Environments, Inc, which among other things does survey work for large state and federal construction projects. The team that Lee works goes over the area first to see if there's anything of historical significance to be found before construction begins. Lee plans to go to field school and on to graduate school at some point.

When they're not working, Daniel and Lee enjoy video games, international soccer on TV, Family Guy and other silly shows of that ilk, live music, and spending time with friends. In the fall, it's all about LSU Football!!

Unfortunately, due to work demands, Lee won't be joining us at the reunion. We're lucky to get Daniel at all -- he'll be arriving late Thursday night and joining us for Friday only.

George Michael Ambler 1961-1996

For those of you who never had a chance to get to know Mike (George Michael Ambler), he was the middle child of Dick and Kerry (born 1961 in Flagstaff, AZ, died 1996 in Minneapolis, MN). Mike certainly would have thoroughly enjoyed a family reunion!He had a wonderfully wry sense of humor, which could make him quite fun to be around. He related well to children, in part due to his ability to live in the moment. Mike's major interests were football, rock-N-roll music, puzzles, camping, and geology.

Drs. Ambler and Brown

Kelly (Susan Kelly Ambler) is the eldest child of Dick Ambler and KerryO'Sullivan, and the older sister of Bridget Ambler. She was born in 1959 in Tucson, AZ while Dick was attending graduate school. After spending most of her childhood moving around the American Southwest, Kelly went to graduate school in San Diego, where she received her Ph.D. in cell biology. San Diego is also where Kelly met her significant other, Dale Brown. Kelly and Dale share a number of interests, including a general love of nature, scientific inquisitiveness, trying different cuisines,progressive politics, and rock-N-roll music. They spent 10 years inChicago, where they learned about prairie ecosystems and big citylife. However, the mountains called them back to Colorado, where they havebeen ever since. After being separated from the sprawling Ambler BrambleBush, it has been quite a novelty to be in Denver with so many relatives! Kelly and Dale are both on the faculty in the Division ofCardiology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, studying the role of inflammation in heart failure.

Kelly's favorite pastimes include gardening, restoring their 1891 Victorian house, and keeping up with their 5 cats. Unfortunately, these activities don't allow much time for many of her other favorite activities, such as hiking/backpacking, wildflower identification and bird-watching. In addition to having a great time with so many wonderful Amblers, Kelly's hoping to get in a good mountain-fix at the reunion!

from the Sunny Southwest...

Devon Ambler, youngest son of Dick and second wife Patty Richards, was born in 1980 in Flagstaff, Arizona. After short stints as Quickie mart attendant, pizza delivery guy, and telemarketer, Devon now works with local USGS Astrogeology team as an IT system administrator. Devon graduated college in 2004 with a BS Computer and Information Systems. He loves hiking, boating, fishing, traveling, music, computers, and disc golf. He recently helped his Mom move to Ensenada, Mexico: he and a friend a Uhaul to San Diego and transfered stuff to an import/export company before driving down.

Devon met Thea in May of 2002 while both of them were working at a Osco drug. Thea and Devon are engaged to be married and have set the date for May 13th, 2007 in Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona, AZ.

Thea was born in San Rafael, CA in 1979. She is completing a Bachelor's degree in Social Work. Thea loves Nature, cats, and being a soccer mom!

Emily was born in Vail, CO in 1999. She recently completed the 1st grade. According to Devon, "Words can hardly describe Emily, you have to meet this firecracker for yourself!"

what to bring, what to wear

What to bring, what to wear!

- Jacket, sweatshirt, etc. Average temps in the area are high 70's during day, high 40's at night for this time of year!
- Raincoat, umbrella, or poncho (it rains regularly in the afternoons in the mountains)
- Bathing suit and towel -- there is a pool
- If you're rafting, waterproof shoes that won't fall off your feet (no flip-flops)
- If you're riding, tennis shoes or shoes w/ small heels that will also stay on
- Cameras! You'll want to take lots of pictures
- If you need to/want to bring a computer, they tell me wireless internet access is available on the premises. However there is no access to World of Warcraft!
- small flashlight
- cell phone w/ charger IF you have free roaming/long distance! Check before you come if your plan allows use there without incurring extraordinary fees
- checkbook so you can pay for the room/board and other things (like photos!)


Where to go

When you first arrive, you will go to the Administration Building to the Conference Center for check-in. (you can check the YMCA website for a map, but I think it will be pretty easy to find) I believe the plan is that I will be given all the keys and will distribute them appropriately. Check-in is at 4:00 pm. Check-out on Saturday is at 10:00 a.m. and I believe again that I'll be responsible for collecting all keys and making payments.

Our Meeting Room is Longhouse Room A and it will be available after 2:00 on Tuesday (or after I get the key). We are planning a Get-Together in that room for Tuesday evening. We will have a key and be able to leave things in that room overnight if we choose (like kids :-) )

Photographs by Dill

We will be having professional photographs done by Dill Photography on Friday, June 23 at 1:00. It would be wonderful to include as many people as possible! We will meet in our Meeting Room at 12:00, and then we'll have instructions about where to go for the photo session. I believe they'll start with the large group and then they'll photograph any combination of family unit we want after that. All the photos will be available for viewing and ordering that same day. Pete is springing for the photo session cost, but if you want to buy pictures yourself, be prepared to order on your own!

Here is a link to ==> Photos by Dill, Inc that will give you more information.