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.