Austin's Birthday and Party

Thanks to so many of you who regularly check out our family updates. Our biggest regret is that we can't keep it updated as often as we'd like!

Here are some pictures of Austin's birthday with our family...

The day starts with the traditional "wake-up-to-find-balloons- in-my-room" birthday event.

The "Spiderman Cake." I don't even know where he's heard of Spiderman, but for some reason he's into him. I think he saw the
DVD cover of the Spiderman movie I rented once and that was it!

Later in the week we had a little birthday party with some of Austin's friends from church. Since his birth date is so close to Halloween, Janet made it into a little costume party. Here, the kids are waiting for the pizza.

Janet wisely planned all sorts of activities so that we could keep everyone occupied. Here, the girls are decorating their own pencil box. (All the kids happen to be home schooled, so it's at least something practical). Janet's sister, Lynette (aka "Aunt Nar") visited for the weekend and helped out a lot with the party.

The evening ended with the smashing of the pinata. Emma won the prize, crushing the side of the Spiderman candy-holder. As you can see, the goodies scattered, and the kids dove for them.

We have a seven-year old

Austin turned 7 on Tuesday (25th). That's wild. We did a little family celebration with cake and presents, but the real fun will be today when we have a small party with some of his friends. Aunt Nar is hear from Iowa for the weekend and we'll be having all sorts of activities and games tonight, plus pizza, and decorating one's own cupcake, and "pin-the-nose-on-the-clown."

Pictures will follow.

Boo at the Zoo

What is it about Paul, Dena, and Logan, zoo pictures, and this blog? Well, here we find ourselves again at a zoo. This time, it's the Akron zoo, where all the little kids come dressed up and collect candy at various stations around the zoo. Oh, and sometimes see the animals. Commnetary provided for free.

Every time I tried to take a picture of Reece, he'd look into the camera, make a face, then by the time the camera "fired," Reece would turn away and I'd miss the shot. Paul suggested I try the "action mode" which takes pictures much quicker. Here is the result, though without a flash. Reece rode in the stroller tonight. Didn't seem to mind. He went as a lion.

Lindsey went as a M.D. this year. Who knows what her future holds! You can see her holding the little plastic bag they hand out to all the kids so that they can collect their candy. It's quite a racket. Our family has a zoo pass, yet we had to pay for the kids to get in. $8 each. The candy they received didn't amount to THAT much!

I didn't get a great picture of Austin by himself. Here he is with Lindsey and Logan (the other Spiderman) while we were waiting to get in. Austin took his role as Spiderman very seriously and insisted on remaining in character as long as he had his mask on. I don't know where he's learned all that he knows about Spiderman. If he could, I think he would be spiderman when he grows up!

We were led around by this dynamic duo tonight. Here, Dena tries to recreate her pose made famous at our previous zoo outing in Toledo. She just loves it when I do that to her.

Paul, who was there at least physically, clearly had his mind on other things. As you can see here, he was busy accomplishing a complicated business transaction while we waited in line. Something about chickens and wings and a guy named Dennis. Hmmm...

Go Fly a Kite!

The last time I remember flying a kite was when we lived in Berne. I couldn't have been more that 12 years old. If I was 12 when I last made an attempt, then here we are 21 years later and I'm flying one again!

I'm sure that if we didn't have kids this never would have happened. How can watching a piece of nylon attached to a string float in the breeze be so enjoyable? Well, something about it was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it too. Both Austin and Lindsey got a turn at flying the kite.

There's a nice big parking lot not far from our house where we take the kids to let them practice riding their bikes, and now it has become a place of kite flying. No cars in the evenings, no power lines, (just a few parking lot lights here and there!)

Once the sun set, the breeze energy dissipated and the kite started to fall to earth. I hope we can enjoy another nice evening like tonight to try it again sometime.

Trip to Grandmom and Granddad's

It was supposed to be just a short trip to kinda get away before the Christmas craziness really hit. What really hit instead was a tree branch that landed on our van! It was a wet, rainy, and even a little stormy weekend. While parked at my parent's house in West Chester, PA, a branch rotted off a tree and landed on the roof of the van, denting some of the roof, the luggage rack, the top of the sliding door, and as you can see, shattered the window.

Time for a call to our insurance company! Fortunately, we were able to get the glass replaced before we drove back on Tuesday. It looks as good as new, but the dents and scratches remain!

Aunt Sharla Visits

It was fun to see Sharla for a couple days last weekend. She made a little tour of some college campuses and stuck a visit to NE Ohio in between. It had been a while since the kids got to see her (Late February) so they had a fun time getting reaquainted. One of our fall traditions has been to take the kids just a block or so away to Kingsway farm.

It is always a bit of a challenge to get all the kids to pose at the right time.

Austin always enjoys feeding the ducks and geese.

Lindsey couldn't get enough of holding this kitten. I think she would have taken it home if she could have.

Reece enjoyed talking with the cows, sheep, and goats.