Finally, The Family Blog Is Updated!

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:56:00 GMT

I took a long blogging hiatus and I have paid the price for the last month and a half as I have tried to catch up. I have moved the blog to a place where I don't need to take the time to maintain the code. You can find the new blog here:

Reflections From the Sun

I put the entries on the actual date that they occured in the new blog, because it was very hard to go back and find things the way I did in this blog, with everything on the day that I actually created the entry. And it would have been one ginormous entry with over a year of pictures on it. The link above will take you to the beginning of the new entries and if you hit "Newer Entries" on the bottom of each page it will take you through the new stuff in chronological order.

So please join us over on the new blog site!

Fires, Field Trips and Easter

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 02:39:00 GMT

Well, the alliteration did well in the title right up to the Easter part, but that's the best I could manage tonight. And I'll put up thanks right up top here to Grandpa Q who contributed quite a few of the photos in this entry, and I think Aunt Christie may have snapped up the camera a few times to grab a few shots too.

March 31, 2012
The first fire of the season. It's the official start of the cooking things outside, hanging out by the fire after the kids go to bed, enjoying the warm weather season.

We start out in the daylight at dinnertime (Laney was here for our fire too):

And go on through the twilight where we bask in the light of the fire and Grandpa's iPad:

Until it is well and truly dark and you can barely see Daddy poking at the fire:

It was a really great night:

March 3, 2012
Today was the class trip to Jamestown and Yorktown. I had never been before, I grew up in upstate New York and we went to Ticonderoga, Blue Mountain Lake and Saratoga. So with Sammy growing up in Virginia we get a whole different set of field trips and I get to see new places.

The first stop was the glass works:

where we watched them make some onion bottles that looked like this:

This was really the coolest part for me because I've always been fascinated by glass blowing.

After the glass we went to see the least convincing looking Native American ever:

And watched how they prepared animal skins:

We actually got to go on this replica of the Susan Constant which was one of the ships that brought the colonists to Jamestown.

And we walked through a little replica village:

That was the morning, in the afternoon we toodled over to Yorktown, which was a lot less crowded. You are greeted by a setup of the tents that the soldiers would have lived in:

They also have a little village and some gardens. When we were done we were waiting at a display where they have flags for the colonies and Sammy conquered North Carolina:

April 3, 2012
It was the day before Easter and cousins Layla and Makayla joined Sammy and Grandma Q in coloring some eggs:

Outside the boys were hard at work on the tractor. At first Daddy and Owen were just spectators offering moral support:

while Uncle Richard and Grandpa Q worked on taking things apart:

But who can resist playing with a big red tractor? And Daddy had to join in:

But they had no hope of fixing that tractor because Owen secretly had the missing piece that they needed:

That blue Lego was just too much fun to give back to the tractor!

Once the eggs were colored the kids all came outside. Layla couldn't get enough of throwing a stick for Jigsaw to fetch:

Uncle Richard thought that perhaps he was in the desert (or perhaps he was protecting that sunburn he had developed):

And Owen went back to his supervisory role with Grandma and Daddy:

April 8, 2012 - Easter Day!
We opted for the untraditional Easter dinner outdoors because it was such an unbelievably nice day out.

And the girls decided on dinner in the bed of the Beater:

There was much blowing of bubbles:

And people taking pictures of people taking pictures:

Kites were flown:

Bright ideas were had:

Bob!

And snuggles:

The girls were all ready for a much anticipated ride through the field in the Beater:

But there was a slight delay of game while the battery was reconnected:

Repairs were made and the girls (and Owen in my lap up in the front seat) got to have a squealing good time bouncing around the field.

After that it was almost time for Uncle Richard and family to head back to North Carolina so they got in some last minute snuggles:

and everyone posed for some more formal type pictures:

After they left I decided that it was just too nice of a day to not keep taking pictures for a little while to capture the sunshinyness of the day:

I did try to get a picture of the two kids smiling and looking at the camera, but I got things like these:

Sometimes though you just have to go with the silliness of the moment. Owen sees his sister being silly:

And decides to join in for the perfect fun picture of the day:

We will close though, with a nice Easter family portrait:

Tales from the Mountaintop

Finally, The Family Blog Is Updated!

Fires, Field Trips and Easter