Coming to a farm near you

We had a great time shooting clays last Sunday afternoon. I think we're all still looking over our shoulder for mad cow #10, but we also know that Stella would protect us if necessary - or at least be a temporary diversion.

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Another photo of Clara

As promised, here's a better photo of Clara from her first day of school. 

Lessons learned

Sorry for the few posts these last several weeks.  Christopher and Clara have started school and things are beginning to pick up with Baby #5 coming into town.  I (Adam) thought I'd share a few thoughts from the past few weeks just to keep you bloggers out there up to speed. 

As you may recall, Clara and Christopher have been moved into the finished basement for their new bedroom.  Things have been pretty smooth with this, but there are still a few bumps now and again.  Recently, Christopher wasn't ready for bed yet and Clara was out of her head tired, so I took her downstairs and was trying to get her to calm down.  I placed her in her bed and in protest she threw her blanket and stuffed bear onto the floor.  She insisted that she didn't want to be downstairs alone because she was scared.  I told her there is nothing to be scared of and then proceeded to pick up her bear and blanket.  Suddenly out from underneath her blanket scurried a small spider that completely refuted my claim of nothing scary.  She freaked out again.  I killed the spider.

 

I hope the other spiders were watching and learned a lesson. If you scare my little girl, I'll kill you. 

Herd of Worms

Saw this in the restroom at MegaCavern in Louisville last week. Went on the underground zip line with Pops, Todd and Tim. Had a great time, but couldn't help share this sign with you. What's a herd of worms?

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Clara's First Day

It was raining this morning so I wasn't able to snap an appropriate "First Day of School" photo of Clara in the parking lot.  Annette took some photos at the house and snapped one of me walking Clara into school.  Annette told me Clara requested the pig tails this morning, which is highly unusual for our little girl who doesn't even want a brush through her hair.  As of 12:30 p.m. this afternoon I received a report that all went well on the first day.  I'm sure there will be more details later to share and probably even a better image, but for now this is the best that I have.

Driving to School

Christopher rides with me (Adam) in to school daily. He tells me some off the funniest stuff. I thought I'd share with you today's comment. This morning he told me he has Xray vision. He could see the cars lined up at the traffic light in front of a giant SUV directly in front of us. Also, he told me his 3rd favorite holiday is Christmas, 2nd is St Patrick's day and 1st is Halloween.

Clara starts preschool today. Photos will be posted later.
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First day of school

We insisted that the boy would ride the bus on his first day.  After looking up the schedule on the school district's website, we learned that the bus was supposed to arrive at 6:57 A.M so we prepared many mornings for an early start to the school day.  And so we worked and worked to get the routine down ... and then this morning the whole plan came crashing down.  We were ready at 6:57 a.m. at the place identified by the district's website, but unfortunately three buses passed but not the one going to St. Paul's.  So we looked for the information again on the school district's website but it had crashed (probably from several people doing the same thing that we did).  We made a game time decision and Adam drove Christopher in to school.  Upon arriving at the parking lot of St. Paul's, Christopher asked, "Dad, will you walk me in to my classroom?" 

And thus the photo. 

He did great this morning.  Can't wait to hear the stories later this afternoon.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Our boy heads to first grade tomorrow. We are trying to squeeze out every last drop of summer so I was delighted when we walked out the back door and found our first sunflowers in the "Sunflower House" have poked their heads out. I can hardly believe these beautiful yellow sunflowers, blue sky, white cloud photos are in our back yard. And look, just how proud the kids are of their crop!

Of Doors and Six Year Olds

On our way to Todd and Heather's, Annette wanted to swing thru Louisville and snap a few photos of Christopher against some doors we inadvertently discovered the last time we were in town. Here's a shot of Annette working her mojo. We'll post photos from this shoot later.
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Master and commander of the Ducks

Today we went to the duck pond to, um, entertain the ducks.  We had a great time picking out the geese from the ducks, the domestics from the mallards.  You may be interested to know we didn't see any male mallards today.  Christopher couldn't help himself and insisted on speaking with all the ducks.  Unfortunately they didn't feel like listening today. 

Gone Country

This past weekend, we adventured out all the way to Campbell County for their Backroads Farm Tour and had a blast! Some of the highlights? Petting a day-old calf, fresh honey, mooing with the cows and chasing chickens (see below).

Super Hero seeks Super Name

These characters are the reason I come home for lunch from time to time. Can you name the Super Hero in this photo next to Christopher?  Extra points awarded for creativity... 

Farm Tour photo in paper

Last Saturday we went on the Campbell County Farm Tour and had a great time. Turns out we were spotted by a reporter and subsequently our picture is in the paper. That's two weeks in a row now.

We'll post some of our own photos sometime soon.

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Famous Turtles

This crew of Turtles was in today's Boone Co Recorder. Christopher and his buddies are in the paper from their Zoo performance several months ago.
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Another

Another zucchini harvested, in case you were keeping track at home.  This one was brought in by Clara this morning - unbeknownst to Annette.  This happens from time to time.

A new blueberry tradition?

We went blueberry picking today up in Milford, OH for the first time.  We were invited by the Browns who made it up earlier in the morning.  Clara was the blueberry picking fiend ... Christopher was looking for the juicy tender blueberries... Sabrina was interested for the first 45 minutes ... and Molly kept saying "More!  More!" so that Adam would continue to slip her a few.  We had a good time and perhaps even started a new blueberry picking tradition.

Zucchini from the garden

Annette's Garden is coming along strong. So far we have harvested 2 zucchini and one red chili pepper. We see bean pods and tomatoes coming along. Oh yeah, and there are some black eyed susans as well.

In this photo, my young harvesters are searching for the next zucchini. At the time of this posting, Annette was cooking the zucchini to add to some spaghetti sauce for lunch.
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Helmet while painting?

Christopher and Clara helped Annette recently paint Sabrina's new bed.  Of course the color of choice was pink.  After reviewing these photos, a question popped into my head.  Why do you need to wear a bicycle helmet when painting the foot-board for a bed?  

Sparkler Fun

Last night the kids came out for some 4th of July Sparkler Fun.  They were up MUCH later than usual so we'll probably pay for it over the next few days.  However, they were patient enough to allow us to practice writing with sparklers in the air.  Here are two photos of Annette's work in writing Christopher and Clara.  We tried to write Happy Fourth of July but it just looked like a plate full of spaghetti.  The camera was set at f/18 with a 30" exposure.

Fishing Derby

This past Monday Christopher and Adam participated in a Tee Ball Fishing Derby at Camp Ernst Lake.  We borrowed a fishing pole from the Northern Kentucky Fly Fisherman's Association and tossed in a line to see what we'd catch. Unfortunately the fish didn't bite.  But Christopher didn't seem to mind.  Especially since he got to eat a hot dog. 

Adventures in Parenting

Sabrina was quite the artist while accompanying her father to Home Depot this weekend.

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Hangin' Out in Central Park

Annette wanted to take Molly's 1 year-old photo tonight at Central Park. So while she was chasing around our little girl in the Children's Garden, I was chasing around the big 3 in the adjacent (that's fancy for next to) play area. (By the way, have you ever read a Fancy Nancy book? If so, you'd understand.)

Anyway, with the closing of the photography business, I (Adam) have decided to take up photography as a hobby again. Once Annette was finished with taking photos of Molly, I pulled out the camera and started to chase the kids around the park. Everyone was quite agreeable - except Molly. As you'll see, she had quite enough with the camera based on her expressions in these images.

Butterfly Show

Today Annette, Grandma and the kids went to the Butterfly Show at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. The butterflies were from Brazil this year. For some reason they seemed to like Grandma's shirt. The kids loved seeing them up close. Here are a few photos to share.

Only on Father's Day

Let's just say on Father's Day, Dads have immunity.
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Nearly 6 and Stylin'

We've been waiting several months for our eye appointment to order new glasses for the boy. Now, with a new prescription (his vision's getting better, yay!) We headed to the eyeglass store. He knew exactly what he wanted. He's going to be so stylish for first grade!
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A horse named Penny

Recently I was privileged to offer Sabrina a ride on the horse at our grocery store.
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Molly and Babo

Took this quick snapshot of Molly entertaining Babo at lunch today. The whole crew went out to lunch at T.G.I. Friday's and the kids did exceptionally well. Molly was very cute in her expressions and kept Babo very entertained. Fortunately it was a very nice day and we might have eaten outside had it not been for the stench from the newly re-surfaced parking lot.
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Reading to the birthday girl

Tonight, Christopher read two books to Molly. For the record, she's not much of an Iron Man fan.
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Happy Birthday Molly!

Today is Molly's first birthday! She has 2 teeth, she can walk and she is starting to babble. The past year has gone by very quickly...

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Lost a friend (con'td)

Here's a photo of the tree.
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Lost a friend

Last night's storm took out the tree in our backyard. The kids were grieving this morning over their lost friend.

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Fun in the backyard

This past weekend we played outside all weekend long.  On Friday we rented a tiller and began to prepare the soil that will eventually become the garden.  Saturday was spent creating an area around our 2010 Christmas Tree which is showing signs of new life.  Yesterday we played out in the sun again until it rained.  All in all we had a great time and have some great memories from the weekend.  Now all we need is for the sunburn to go away and we'll be in great shape!