Merry Christmas to All!

I have not written in a while but I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas! We hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends. Wish we could be with you all during this special time!


Look for new stuff on the weblog in the New Year!


Much love to you all!

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Sink Your Teeth In !

Not that he has any teeth! He is teeth-ING, though. He's got a stuffed up nose some of the time but is remarkably content. Colin is such a joy! He never complains, even when he's uncomfortable.

It's also Solid Food Time. Fun, fun! Some of it actually goes in his mouth.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

For some of you it may be the first clear look you have gotten at Colin's trademark hairstyle. Waddya think? It's pretty useful, actually. We can always tell the percent relative humidity by what his hair is doing. I keep telling him he looks like Bill Murray in "Kingpin" - that's the one about the washed up bowler on his comeback tour. Bad combover. He doesn't take it to heart, though.)

After I took the last picture Colin said, "Hey Dad - do I have somethin' on my face?"

Ian Said...

Tonight Ian said, "Hey Dad! You wanna learn 'Eagle Spanish'? You just say eagle-eagle-eagle-eagle-eagle! Like that!"

It was a good thing it was close to bedtime, because it turns out that 17 minutes of Eagle Spanish is about all mommies and daddies can take!

Prince of the Monarchs

A couple of years ago, Steph started collecting caterpillars with Ian. It has become a yearly thing. We all enjoy watching the transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis (Ian invents all kinds of plural forms of chrysalis. I've lost track of the real word!) to butterfly. Then we send them on their way. I always wish they'd come back to tell us about their travels!

Let's Go to the Game!

We always go to a home football game or two in the fall. It's a lot of fun on a nice day. This year Colin went with us!

Our Boys Love Their Books!

Ian looks forward to "Book Time." Colin kicks his feet and looks intently at the pictures.

If You Can't Have Fun What CAN you have?

This spring, I was to build a sandbox for Ian. A simple affair, just get some pressure treated lumber and zip it together with some screws. Well, lumber is expensive! Then, realizing that we needed a new picnic table anyway (we had this old one that I saved from the garbage pile at Steph's father's place of business), I decided to cut up the old one and use the pieces for the sandbox. So, the wood I used has been: a tree, lumber, a picnic table, garbage, a picnic table again, and now, a sandbox. Aren't you glad you read all that? Of course, considering that Ian loves Spiderman, I got the idea that it should be a Spiderman sandbox! Cool graphics, eh? It was fun to make and, as you can see, he gets good and thorough use out of it!

Colin said.....

The other day, Colin distinctly said, "Graaaaaaallkngkkkkaaah aaaaaahhhhphh !" I kid you not! Now is that a sweet thing to say to your daddy or what?

Ian Sees the World Differently

Ian was impressed to see his "whole world" from atop the Ferris wheel (see "We're Fairing Well"). But this was pretty cool, too! In August, he and I went to the DeLorme map store and Eartha exhibit in Yarmouth, Maine. Eartha is the name of the globe, the largest 3D rendering of our planet in the world. (When you look at the second picture, consider that it was taken on the third floor of the exhibit room. Ian was about thirty feet from the globe.) It is composed of 96 panels and is very accurate. It rotates on a tilted axis, just like Earth. It was built by experts within the DeLorme company. Ian thought it was fantastic! I had him close his eyes until we were inside and he was right in front of it. It's always great to get a "WOOOOOWWW!!!" out of him! He knew where Florida was. I guess the next logical step for him is to go into space and see the real deal from there!

Dual Dogs

Our Black Lab, Jake and Kirk's (Stephanie's brother) Golden Retriever, Libby. Cousins are cool.

We're Fairing Well

We started going to the fairs with Ian when he was two. He has been to the Skowhegan State Fair, the Clinton Fair, the Windsor Fair, the Saratoga County Fair, and this year we went with Colin to the Egg Festival in Pittsfield.

No one seems to know why it's called the Egg Festival. They don't have a Hard Boiled Egg Eating Contest (maybe 'cause Cool Hand Luke would win it every year) or a Raw Egg Chuggalug. Nope. Balloon darts, Ferris wheel, fried dough. It was fun, though! The above pictures are from this year's Egg Festival. Note the sheer joy with which Ian descended the Superslide (last pic).

Ian usually goes on a few of the little kids' rides and we walk around a while. We like to watch the pulls (the ones with the working animals) and the horsemanship competitions. Ian's big thing is the livestock. He loves looking at all the animals. If there is a petting zoo we go there and buy pellets to feed the goats. This year he patted the pigs at Skowhegan. He's always eager to see all the chickens and roosters in the Poultry Barn. Just loves 'em!

Last year, Ian got out of the car at the Windsor Fair and immediately looked up at the Ferris wheel. He pointed at it and said, "I want to ride that, guys!" I told him it would look different, bigger, when he got up close to it. "I want to go on that big wheel, though, Dad, so I can see MY WHOLE WORLD!!!" Well, he sure did! He saw his whole world, alright! He absolutely loved it. Didn't scare him a bit. He was probably wondering, though, why Daddy was holding on so tightly to the steel grab bar in the center of the cart (I think I actually might have bent it a bit). Slowly we ratcheted higher and higher, the cart swinging, passengers unboarding and boarding one cart at a time. Who knew it could take hours? It was getting more dificult to keep a tight grip on the grab bar-my hands were sweating. I kept telling myself that I could get off as soon as we completed the first go-round. All I had to do was to scream bloody murder at the operator! Steph could finish this one.

I had successfully avoided that thing for 35 years, but my boy wanted to see his whole world....I wasn't going to watch from down below. We all went on it together.

So, that's the story of how Ian and I both went on the Ferris wheel for the first time - at the same time! I have to admit, once I went around two times, I relaxed and it was really cool. I'm so glad I didn't miss out on sharing it with him. Who knows, maybe we'll go on it again sometime.........maybe!

Bathroom Remodel

The bathroom in our house was a little.....well....past it! A remodel had been in the plans for a while. This summer was the first in years without coursework or testing for my teacher's certification so it was time!

I began work on it in July. We were staying at camp, so we still had facilities there. This meant I had to go back and forth between camp and home (an hour's drive). It quickly became a drag.

I started demolition without a clear idea of what the finished project was going to look like - rare for me. When it comes to things like this, I normally have everything planned out to the last detail. Having to make decisions mid-project caused some delays, but it went well overall. (That is, once I got the 600 lb. cast iron tub outta there. It took me a good part of day two.) I even came in under budget!

I had a plumber help with the tub-shower unit (getting it in there was a real song and dance; plumbing it up was tricky, too). Everything else I did myself.

Everyone says the finished product is great! It really is quite a change. Now all we have to do is make the rest of the house look as good as the bathroom!

Blognotes

Two things:

First......I'd like to thank Jared and Mike, fellow teachers, for helping me simplify and debug some of my blogging.

Second.......if you wish to leave comments, I have made it easier to do so. Before, you had to have a Google account. Now, anyone can leave a message. Have at it! Would love to hear from you!

Ian said.........

One day Ian dipped his chip in his raspberry yogurt. Steph asked him how it tasted. "Yogurty!" came the reply.

In the car after talking and talking and talking..........."I think my breath is runnin' out."

Last night he ate his last bit of food. He apparently was pretty stuffed. He said, "That'll make my belly hatch!" (We watch nature shows.)

There are so many others! I'll have to write more of them down.

Ian had a lot of firsts this summer: trotting on a horse, tubing, solo fish catch, horseshoes, t-ball, holding a frog...............Who knows what things are in store for the fall!

Chillin', Thrillin', and Grillin'

Another place we like to go in summer is Chris (Steph's twin) and Ann's camp on Unity Pond. Their three boys, Kyle, Wilson (often called Wil), and Cooper, like to play games, fish, go tubing, and just generally create a ruckus. Ian loves to hang out with his cousins. And you can't beat the atmosphere..... laid back and all about the fun!

Pictures:

1. Ian's got a frog. (Grampa Ball on right, Wil in background)

2. More s'mores! (L-R: Ben, friend of Wil, Wil, Cooper)

3. Ian with Uncle Chris, fishing off the dock

4. Ian goes solo!

5. Cooper with our Black Lab, Jake

6. Tubin'!

7. Ian's first tubing! (Went over the chop with nary a flinch!)

8. Ian's version of a ringer when he plays horseshoes with Grampa

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

The day everyone was to arrive at camp for the big visit, I used a small ladder to change a bulb in some hanging lights in the living room at camp. Just three hours after putting the ladder back on the side of the shed out back, there was a nest on one of the rungs! Mama's a fast builder. Days later, eggs appeared. After a couple of weeks of checking on it, we saw that two of them had hatched. Mother was skeptical of us, but we were careful not to stress her out. She seemed proud of her little ones!

Fourth of July Get Together

We had a great time seeing everyone who came up: Mom and Dad, Jeff, Marion, John and Kathy, Toni and Tim. Dad played styrofoam darts with Ian, Jeff read books and shared a room with Ian in one of the lofts, Kathy tried out her new kayak on the lake, and Mom got a lot of great snapshots! Marion stayed in the other loft. She brought something special for Ian. All enjoyed lots of cuddles with Colin. We lucked out the night of the Fourth. Across the lake, some folks had some serious "boomers" and right next door they had a lot of fireworks. We kept cheering them on. We had glow sticks, sparklers, a campfire, and, of course, s'mores! And I heard a potato gun a few times..... We ate well, talked a lot, played a full-contact version of Pig (card game) and got caught up on things. It sure was nice to relax and have some fun!