Sunday In The Park

Karen's been busy painting our bedroom this weekend, so I've been the child care provider. Karen says since I was gone all last week and will be in Seattle this week that I should spend time with the kids. Little does she know, but I'm on to her. The quiet solitude of painting compared to entertaining 3 hot and sweaty kids. But actually, we've been having a lot of fun. This was their firetruck that they would "drive" to put out fires. Annandale needs a fire prevention outreach program because Reuben and Jacob must have put out 15 fires while we were at the park. At one point Faith's bench caught fire, but when the boys went to rescue her she wouldn't leave. Suddenly, the bench turned into the hospital where Faith was being treated with Cheez'its. Magic slide... Jacob goes in, Reuben pops out! The Sad Swing

Farewell Andrea

Today we said our goodbyes to Andrea, who is going back to college. This morning we all went out to breakfast at Silver Diner. Karen made Andrea a nice photo album filled with pictures from the summer and gave it to her over breakfast. Afterwards, Andrea had to finish packing while trying to keep the biggest suitcase I have ever seen under 50 lbs. She succeeded, 45.5 lbs. The boys played outside while she packed. Reuben got a bit dirty... Finally the time came to say our real goodbyes. And don't forget... Then off to the airport. If there is a still a dry eye, let me say that we were lucky to have her with us for the summer. And, the kids absolutely adored her. We will miss her very much and hope she has good semester at school.

Nature Trail Hike

Last Saturday the boys and I took a hike through a neighborhood trail. Here is our story... This is a 12 minute movie; nothing that different happens after the first 30 seconds ;-)

Nature Calls

Faith has been begging for purple underwear for about 2 weeks now. So I got her some at Target the other day and they just came out of the wash. Andrea put her on the potty upstairs after her nap. Nothing. So we gave her the purple underwear. She was very excited. But within 2 minutes she pees in the underwear. So we tried putting her on the potty again and loading her up with liquids so she has no choice but to pee in the potty. These are the pictures above. Right now she is sitting there with a stack of books on her lap and her legs crossed. Very cute. But so far still no pee. I know as soon as she gets up she is going to have a giant pee. - Karen

Great Car Washing Weather

Reuben hard at work. Faith getting sudsy. Pretty soon the whole neighborhood is washing my car. Well deserved break time. 

At Least We're Not Turkey

It always amazes me at how science-phobic this country is. Here is a recent European and US survey on evolution published in the journal "Science" and reported by the NY Times. The survey asked if you believe that human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals. The question, as stated, is very open to interpretation on what the driving force of this development is/was; pure natural selection or some intelligent guidance. Even with this way out for ID believers, the US was the second lowest nation answering with "Yes" votes. As far as I am concerned this is not a Faith question but an ignorance statement, and as a nation we should be embarrassed. If you answered the question using the Vatican's official position, you would have answered Yes. In 1950 Pope Pius XII stated the Church's position on evolution, "Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God" The key here is the nice differentiation made between the body and the soul.

Saturday - Closing Credits

My Little Daredevil

Faith at the park. She's starting to get daring...

Saturday Afternoon

Lots of pictures today. Not sure why, but I'm playing with some settings on the camera. Faith: secret agent woman Ode to my favorite civic authority Rebels without a cause !!! 

Motivation Craze

My shot at motivation. See others at: James's site KenG's site And if you want to try it yourself follow this link. 

Saturday Morning

We finally brought out the Lincoln Logs. They were a hit. Jacob and I built the farm house. He played with it for a long while until Tornado Faith blew by and leveled it. In the process she earned herself a timeout. We also played outside in the back this morning. Beautiful day!! About 75, dry, and sunny. Here is Reuben making like a Three-toed Sloth. He was very excited with his imitation; much more excited than I'm sure sloths actually ever get. Finally here is DIY Faith instructing us how to sand our living room coffee table.

Something I Thought I Would Never Say

"My son was bit by a duck." Yes, its true. Jacob was bit by a duck that looked something very similar to this. Karen said the actual duck was all white. Fortunately, only mammals get rabies so he will be fine. Apparently this was a very aggressive duck. They were walking over to a pond to feed the ducks crackers. Jacob had one in his hand when this duck led a pack of other ducks. The lead duck charged Jacob and snapped it out of his hand holding the cracker. The bite broke the skin. The duck then grabbed his shirt. Andrea and Karen had to kick at the duck for it to let go. Jacob was, to say it mildly, surprised. He is now taking it in good spirits. When I got home from work he told me a duck bit him, but that the duck liked him a lot. He then started quacking...

Video Blooper

Karen was trying to film the water machine dumping water all over the kids when... she got interrupted.

Last of the vacation movies

All the kids riding the Whip!!! Naturally Faith is in the pink car, Reuben in the blue car, and Jacob in the yellow one. Its hard to make out the faces once Google compressed the video, but Faith loved it, Jacob liked it, Reuben... well not so much. Next movie features Grandpa and Faith again playing with the water machine, but its Jacob who comes in towards the end and gets a big surprise. (Jacob actually gave the same response to the surprise all 10+ times it happened to him) Finally, here are all the kids playing nicely with the train sets at the Railroad museum.

Natural Birth Control - A Visit To Stride Rite

If anyone is on the fence about having kids, visit Stride Rite during their back to school sale and no sales tax weekend. It will quickly knock you back over the fence! We took all the kids there this afternoon; my first time to stride rite with the crew. Next time their feet grow too big, I'll be sure to hide. The task was to get new shoes and sneakers for each of the little ones. How often do you have to sign in to get shoes? Its like a doctors office except with kids running all over the place and throwable objects lining the walls. Do the purple shoes fly further than the white shoes? Definitely the questions pouring through all the customers' minds. Anyway, our kids turned out to be pretty well behaved. Even when Jacob put on another Mother's shoes and starting walking around the store showing off his new shoes, the Mother didn't seem to mind. Why the Mother had her shoes off I have no idea. Well, after signing in and waiting at least 1/2 hour to just have their feet measured I guess it wasn't too bad to walk out 1.5 hours later with 6 pairs of shoes and only $200 lighter. I'm sure they will all have a growth spurt next week and we can do it all over again. Like I said, natural birth control!

Penn. Railroad Museum

We spent Thursday at the Railroad Museum. It was pretty impressive, but not air conditioned. Also, there was only one engine you go into the others you could only look into. Still it was pretty impressive and my Dad and I enjoyed it. The kids were interested and it held their attention for close to an hour. We broke for lunch and then came back to go in the kids area where they some super model trains and tons of Thomas train sets for the kids to play with. We were there over an hour.

More Amusement Park Pics

Faith loved this ride. She went on twice in a row and then got very mad when Karen went to go get her. She held onto the bar and yelled, "No. More!!" Here is Jacob on the parachute drop. Mommy was very scared but hid it well. Even still, when Jacob got off he told me that he held Mommy's hand because she was afraid. Grandma and Reuben riding the train around the park. Hi Five, Dog !!! (From Jacob) Goodnight Princess!!

More Movies: Water Slide and Bumper Cars

Water Slide Jacob shoots out first and then some other big kid ;-) Bumper Cars Reuben and Karen VS. Jacob and Barry In a grudge match to end all grudge matches!

Faith and Grandpa Playing In The Water Fountain

Faith is amusing herself following the "dancing" fountain around, while Grandpa seems to want move on to a more exciting destination in the water park. He loses ;-)

More Dutch Wonderland

Great place. Kids have loved it. The kids slept until 9 this morning, a first. Had breakfast and got to the park around 10:30. We did the rides in the morning and had a great time. I'll post some ride pictures next time. We had lunch at the park and then headed back to the hotel for naps. Reuben, Faith, Grandma, and Gramdpa all napped. Jacob and me had decent rest... But no rest for the weary! After naps we headed back out for an early dinner and then back to the park and the water. We wound up closing the place at 8:30 with Dipping Dots ice cream for everyone. Tomorrow its off to the railroad museum; we've heard very good things from folks doing a similar vacation in reverse order.