Hilton Head Vacation

Here are some random pictures of an impromptu getaway to South Carolina.

It's hard to ride your bike, hold the camera out in front of you pointing back, and hope that you get the little girl riding the tandem attached to yours. Lindsey didn't miss a beat and was ready with her smile.

Let's go fly a kite! Reece's kite is at the top, Austin's in in the middle.

Strawberry Picking

There are several places to get fresh strawberries near our house. The kids had a lot of fun getting these by themselves (and eating them later!)

Easter Pictures

Our Little Model

Lindsey just loves to show off her new clothes! (Thanks Aunt Nar!)

Universal Studios

Austin and Lindsey got an opportunity to go to Orlando with their mommy last month and spend a couple of days with their Aunt at Universal Studios.

It was their first time flying (well, Austin flew when he was about a year old), and they had a great time. Here are a few pictures.

Lindsey "Makes" a Bear

It was Elliana's birthday, and Lindsey was invited to make a bear with her. What a pair!

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Fall Changes

I tried to get Picasa to save some of the lighting effects so that this was a little more even, but I didn't win that battle.

These pictures were taken over a period of about a month starting mid-October. This is me trying to stand in exactly the same place on our deck and take the same angle.

Austin's 8th Birthday

One of Austin's recent math assignments was to bake a cake. I think it had something to do with learning measurements, or a practical approach to dividing the cake into fractions, I don't know, but he sure did enjoy it. So when it came time for his birthday, he announced that he wanted to make his own birthday cake so he did. Here are some pictures from that event.

Up in the sky!

Back in October (I know, I have some catching up to do), Austin came running inside from the back yard exclaiming that there were letters in the sky. He was right. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything too interesting. These were made by planes flying together turning on and off their smoke to make "digital" letters. They were intended to be read by fair goers at the NC state fair. Kinda cool. I wonder if all that is automated or if they have to manually turn the smoke on and off.

And BTW, the image isn't inverted, I guess it's supposed to be ready by people further south, looking north.

Our Back Yard

I finally got our patio furniture together. This was the time to year to buy it too, even though it's Wal-mart furniture, it seems to be solid and it was about $100 off the original price. I see that I didn't yet get the cushions on the chairs either.
After getting the pieces out and up onto the deck, it was a no-brainer that we should have dinner out there. So here we are, enjoing a meal overlooking our lush back yard. We feel fortunate to have no houses behind us (yet) and we have such a peaceful view with nothing but trees behind us. We've even seen a few deer wondering around our neighborhood! We are gradually getting out of all our boxes and we've sold some things that we can't use in this house through Craigslist, including getting rid of most of our boxes through the "free" category. We are almost to where we can get one of our cars in the garage. After tomorrow, we hope to have gotten rid of a couple of large items: A computer desk and two twin box spring matresses.

Before and after pictures of the newly painted rooms are coming soon!

We have a house

We closed on this house on Monday, the 11th and since then we've been over there every spare minute painting just about every room in the house! Not that they needed to be painted-- We just decided to add some color. Mike and Travis were a HUGE help Wednesday night as they painted the family room in one shot. Very steady hand on the trim work, Travis!

My mother also came for the week and painted the boy's room and Lindsey's room and then did a lot of nice stenciling in Lindsey's room as well. We hope to be finished with the painting this weekend so that we can concerntrate on packing next week before our move on the 23rd.

Lindsey Loves Soccer

Today was Lindsey's first day of organized soccer. It's just a six week instructional league for five-year-olds, and she had a great time, playing with other girls and trying to kick the ball to who-knows-where!

Bumper Bowling

It was great to have Miss Emily visit over the long Labor Day weekend. One of the many things we did was bumper bowling. This is bowling in a regular bowling alley, but they pull these little fences up on the sides of the lanes so that the ball doesn't fall into the gutter. Kind of a cool idea! Unfortunately, it's only intended for kids so the fifteen or so balls I pushed right into the gutter (and the one time I fell into the gutter) did not benefit from having those up on our lane!

Here are some pictures of the kids giving it a try.

One of the funniest things was watching Reece, who always wants to do everything all by himself, pick up the six pound ball, carry it to the front of the lane and push it while we wait, and wait, and wait for the ball to knock over a few pins.

Here is a audio-less video of just such an event:

Sense of Humor

Where do we learn a sense of humor? How does it develop? Austin's visual attempt seen here is pretty funny. In case it's not abundantly clear, this is the sun, complete with shades, cooling himself with a fan.

Good stuff. 

Reece Turns 3

We have a three-year-old. Reece is now three and hasn't skipped a beat. I was video taping when he blew out candles on his cake. Dad, did you get pictures of that? Here Austin is enjoying Reece's gift. Reece is getting to where his birthday gifts are ones that Austin will enjoy also.

Reece is in a sling. It's not on his arm right in this picture, it's supposed to be holding his arm close to his chest, but it always slides back. Reece broke his collar bone jumping or falling off Lindsey's bed July 31st. He seems to be getting better as he is using his arm more and more. He'll get an X-ray this Friday and we'll know how it's healing then.

Three Weddings and a Funeral

It's been a crazy couple of months for our family. We did a lot of traveling and saw a lot of friends and family, mostly as a result of planned events but one, unfortunately, unplanned.

Wedding Number 1
We began Memorial Day weekend, which seems so long ago. I guess it was! Austin and Lindsey were asked to be a part of a wedding for a family friend long before we moved. Heidi was Austin and later Lindsey's first baby sitter and Janet and Heidi's mother used to work together in our "before kids" days at Mogadore Christian Academy. So it was great to have the kids be a part of her day.

They both did a great job. Austin pulled a wagon down the isle as a ring bearer. The wagon had two < style="font-style: italic;">and exiting the church. Upon reaching the front, they did a good job of smiling and standing still--for the most part.


Wedding Number 2
Megan mostly exists in my mind as a 12 year old young lady, who, along with her three sisters were a part of our wedding in Iowa in 1995. Well, she's all grown up now and called over a year ago to "book" me to play for her wedding. We thought it would be great fun since we often make a summer trip to Iowa to see Janet's family anyway.

The second weekend of June we made the long drive out there and had a great time. Her sisters were part of the bridal party and it's amazing how they've all grown up into beautiful young women! (My wife's words, honest!)

The best picture I took of the bride and groom are of them "escaping" after the ceremony.











The Funueral
Brian's maternal grandmother went to be with the Lord early in July. This forced an unexpected trip to the Philadelphia area. It is still so sad that my grandmother is no longer with us. My grandfather had died almost 20 years ago. I was 16 at the time. Grandmother had kept busy all these years, staying as active as her health would allow until just the last couple of weeks when she no longer had the strength to carry on.

One of the things about funerals, like weddings, is that it brings families together. This is a picture of my mother's siblings. I hadn't seen a couple of them in years. I mean since 1985 or so. It's a shame that it takes some one dying to get the family motivated to come together.


Wedding Number 3
It was great to be a part of my good friend Matt Laun's wedding in mid-July. Matt and Jessica had been dating for a long time. A really long time--and finally decided it was about time for them to get married. It was great to see his family again (I did the music for one of his sister's wedding). It was a quick trip. Got on a plane, flew up for about 48 hours and flew home. I got to see a few Chapel friends while I was there, but not many. The purpose of the trip was Matt's wedding and I wanted to be available for that.



Well, the traveling should be done--at least for a few months. We're looking forward to not loading up the van and driving and driving. We have enjoyed what awaits us (or who awaits us) at the end of our trips, but how about you drive down here and visit us for a change?

Austin and Soccer

TODAY was Austin's last soccer game. It's hard to say how much he enjoyed it. He had about ten games or so and I think he did actually begin to learn how the game was played a little. He has not shown a great deal of aggression in the game, as the video shows, he'll get to the ball eventually. Reece, on the other hand can't wait to play. He loves to kick the ball and doesn't want anyone else to get to the ball before he does when it's kicked in his general vicinity.

Another great attraction during game time (besides kicking the ball with Reece and Janet) was the ladybug found under Lindsey's chair, which provided several minutes of quality entertainment.

Cast off Party

We were so relieved that Lindsey began walking again after her cast came off. It did take her a little while, but she finally got the confidence to start walking and now she's doing pretty well. While she had her cast on, we asked her what she would like to do to celebrate when it comes off. She wanted to have a little party with her new little friend Elliana. So they had a fun adventuresome day. They played so hard, they could hardly stand it.

Carolina Beach

We finally made it to the ocean. We were trying to remember when the kids were last at the beach (besides Lake Erie). Austin was almost three, Lindsey was a little over two and a half months, and Reece? No one ever heard of Reece the last time we were at the ocean. I remember the occasion pretty well. We were with my parents at Sea Isle City, NJ when the infamous events of 9/11 happened. Kinda put a damper on the whole vacation.



This trip, however was a day trip to Carolina Beach, just beyond Wilmington. It is a straight shot down I-40 (take it till it ends) and then look for some parking. Here are some pictures of our fun day in the sun.

Before & After

BEFORE...(photo by Austin Megilligan)
Four weeks is a long time to live with a four-year-old with a cast on her ankle. I know many people have it much worse, but it was still an adjustment to make--especially as spring showed up and we were ready to do a lot of outside things. We were able to borrow some strollers and get around a lot easier that way, and that was very helpful, but we just couldn't WAIT to get that cast off Lindsey's leg.

Finally the day came. Last Tuesday, Lindsey went to the doctor and had her cast removed. The initial excitement was short-lived as she could not bring herself to walk on her healing foot. Probably her tendons were still tight and a little sore and so she feared she wasn't all better--so for the next five long days she refused to walk. She wouldn't even put any weight on her foot. We tried every bribe we could think of, tried to help her by holding her hands, moving her feet ourselves, etc., etc.

Nothing worked.

We took the kids to the beach (future post coming on that), and still she would not try to walk a bit in the sand. We took the kids to the Y pool and she kicked and swam normally, just "walked" on her knees in the water. Then I stuck her on her bicycle. She loved it. Peddled and peddled. Clearly her leg/foot was fine--everything was mental.

Then Sunday morning, something happened between when she went to Sunday School and came home. She got the courage to try to take some steps. She held on to me or Janet or the wall or something, and limped gingerly on her little toes.

We were all ready to make an appointment with her on Monday for physical therapy. But now she's making sudden and real progress! So here we are, with Lindsey limping, but walking without holding on to anything, looking a bit like a pirate as she limps along, but happy and excited to be off the floor. So are mommy and daddy.

...AFTER