Tad - Week 1

I have to admit, Tad doesn't look a whole lot different, but he does appear to be a little larger. I have been feeding him the pellets that he came with but it seems I just clean out the mess the next day -- I guess he's a very light eater. Apparently he gets enough because he is still alive. = )

I tried a side view picture but he is a little hard to see. I keep trying to get a glimpse of whether he is growing legs yet, but it doesn't look like it. He seems a little shy and not real into letting me in on much information. Hopefully, by next weekend we can report some changes. Stay tuned.

Great Day for a BBQ

A 90 degree day did not deter us from having a BBQ where Erik could debut his famous ribs. On the north side of the house, the shade filled in and a little breeze blew which made the day quite comfortable. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of all of the food! You will just have to imagine -- we had ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, pasta salad, fruit salad, Joan's famous beans, cole slaw and rolls. There was also plenty of beer, pop, water and the best -- mudslides -- to drink, thank you Cindy! Dessert, provided by Goni, included fabulous chocolate/caramel/oatmeal bars (we must have the recipe!), mini cupcakes and homemade cheesecake! Renee also brought delicious chocolate chip cookies as an appetizer.


Logan had a blast playing with the big boys and sampling all the food. Here he is after he had eaten. I think he's trying to tell us it was chin-licking good.

Meet Tad!

Our new tadpole, Tad, arrived today. The kids and I will be watching him turn into a frog over the next couple of months and documenting his progress on the blog.
He doesn't have any sign of legs yet, but it sounds like it will take 2 to 4 weeks for him to turn into a frog. At that point, we have to feed him crickets -- yippee! Did I mention that I hate crickets! When cricket day comes along, I can positively say that I will be looking forward to release day. = ) I like frogs, but crickets are another story. In the mean time, he is happy in his new digs and probably a little frightened of all the changes, he wasn't exactly thrilled about the camera flash but I'm sure he will get used to his new celebrity status.

Happy Independence Day!

Check out these fireworks photos! I took them with my Canon, just holding it in my hands. I didn't think it would work well without a tripod, but I was pleasantly surprised. These are fireworks from our neighbors who do this every year and we get to enjoy the show. More photos are posted on the Picasa site.



Earlier in the day, we went to the parade and then had to have an elephant ear. It started raining as we were eating the elephant ear, so we decided it was time to go home. This was definitely one of the wierdest entries in the parade -- not sure what the point was supposed to be!

Fun in the Sun!

Seth was invited to participate in a free Golf Day at Lewis River Golf Course for kids who have never golfed before. It was put on by an Eagle Scout, Jordan Ditzler, and it included a group golf lesson, 9 holes of golf with a mentor/caddy for each child, and snacks/refreshments afterwards. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, about 75 degrees with a light breeze. Jordan would like to make this an annual event and even though there was only a small turnout, it was very successful and a great idea!

Seth and the other golfers were welcomed with this sign:

On the practice range, the group is getting a lesson from Golf Pro John.
Seth getting a little one-on-one regarding golfing one-handed:

A picture of Seth with mentor/caddy Ken after 9 holes of golf. Seth claimed he wanted to do another 9 holes and that he wasn't tired. Yeah right!
Group photo:
Thank you Jordan! It was a blast and very well organized and thought out.

Life's GREAT!

Day 2 of the Great Wolf Lodge! We are having a blast, we are all waterlogged and exhausted!! The wave pool is the biggest hit so far. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures of it because I need to be in the wave pool with the kids. Hopefully, I will get a chance to get their pictures in there tomorrow. This picture is of Fort McKenzie, it is Seth's favorite place. He hangs out on the far right of the structure and controls a lever that gets people wet as they walk up the stairs (two pictures down).

This is a picture of Lacey doing the lily pads. Each lily pad is connected to the bottom with a cable so they move around and you have to navigate across with the overhead rope.
Here's Seth at his "post".


Tomorrow morning includes breakfast and bowling offsite and meeting six other families. We have met almost everybody that is coming to the lodge. There was one family that came in late tonight that we didn't see, but will see them in the morning. Hopefully there will be time to post tomorrow night about Saturday's adventures.

Seth vs. Dentist

Seth had a dentist appointment this afternoon. It was supposed to just be a cleaning, but the dentist advised that two of his molars were loose, one extremely so, and they needed to come out because the teeth underneath were starting to tip instead of coming through. So......Seth had his teeth cleaned and miraculously, when the hygenist "wiped" his teeth to "finish" cleaning them, each tooth came out in her hand. = ) Seth wasn't too impressed until he found out that the Tooth Fairy would be bringing some cash that could be very useful on vacation!

They gave him this little plastic tooth to bring his teeth home in, he loves it!
Other than losing two teeth, the checkup was great -- no cavities!

Play Ball!

Lacey's favorite sport at school is tetherball, so now that school is out, she was having tetherball withdrawals. We had a pole years ago but it was not a very good one and was too wobbly to be usable. Lacey and I went searching for a good tetherball pole today and found a really good deal. Our ground is so hard (clay) that we could not pound the pole in any further than it is, but it is rock solid. Seth and Lacey took to playing it right away and Lacey was quite surprised to find out that her brother is very good at it (I think she thought she would have him nailed on this one!). Here are a couple of action shots:

Down to Business

I have wanted a business card holder for a long time. Not that I necessarily have people standing in line for a business card, but one wants to appear prepared on the off-chance that someone will request one. = ) And, for a bead-related business card, it should probably be beaded! I finally found a pattern that I liked, so here are the results.

Cat in the Hat

Just had to share the latest drawing Lacey did at school. I love it!