Best Post by a Dam Site

I cannot take credit for that title -- it's cribbed directly from the menu of the restaurant we ate in Friday night, which advertised its offerings as "Best Ribs by a Dam Site".  The restaurant, you see was located in very close proximity to Kentucky Dam.  Ba-da-bum.

The whole Crouch three-ring-circus packed up its caravan and headed to the lake this weekend to celebrate DeeDaddy's 60th birthday. 















This particular picture was taken right before we all headed in to Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, Ky, on Saturday night to gorge ourselves.  They're famous for their two-inch pork chops and the ten-inch meringue on their cream pies.  This place seriously needs to have defibrillators in every room of the restaurant.  But it was tasty.

We actually skipped out on the meringue in favor of a similarly heart-attack inducing German chocolate cake on the deck of our lakefront condos in honor of the birthday boy.














And, of course, Walt and Collier had a great time playing and picking on each other.  Three-year-old peas in a pod they are.

River Walkin'

Well, it was a lovely spring . . . all two weeks of it!  But now, the temperatures are already climbing into the 80s before the day has had a good chance to get started and it's time to seek out cool entertainment venues.  Not quite pool weather, though . . . hmmm, what to do?  Time to go River Walkin'!

Somehow, in my 15 (!!) years living in Memphis, I've never made it to the River Walk, which is a 5-block long replica of the lower Mississippi River.  I have been missing out!  Kate and I decided to take Walt and Mer this morning and (apart from the typical sibling-esque bickering), everyone had a great time.































 













Walt just kept saying, "I like it!  I like it!"  over and over again.  And let me tell you who else is going to like it . . . DeeDaddy!  It's full of everything he likes . . . topography, signs explaining topography and shade.  We will definitely be paying a visit next time he's in town.

Construction update soon!

Happy Funtime Saturday

It was a classic May Saturday here in Walt's World yesterday.  It all started with breakfast and a trip to the park with Daddy, Richard and the Lareaus on the patio of our new favorite breakfast spot.  (Not pictured.)

Then Walt, Richard (who is visiting from Holland with Harriet) and I picked up the women folk, including a visiting Aunt Gigi, for another alfresco meal at the patio of our neighborhood Mexican restaurant.  Note Walt going straight for the chips.  Mommy, of course, is taking the picture.

Much to the chagrin of several hundred, local crustacea, each May the Wilhites host their annual crawfish party.  Saturday was doomsday.

Walt wasn't as high on the crawfish as he was before he developed a sense of appreciation that they were once living, breathing, exoskeletal creatures.  He and Mer hung out (read: argued) in Mary's playhouse.

I'm not certain, but it's possible that Clara was offering Mer some advice on how to deal with boys who pick on you all of the time.  At least that's what it looked like.

We're not too worried about them.

This photo was from Friday's school program after which, the school hosted a mobile petting zoo, train rides, balloons, face painting and all manner of fun stuff.  Of course, Mer's balloon got away.  Not to worry.  It had barely risen out of reach before Walt said, "It's OK, Mer.  I'll get you another one."  He lit off toward the door to the gym so fast that I could barely keep up with him and went straight to the far, dark corner of the gym.  All the while, he was saying, "There are more balloons right over here, Daddy.  See them.  I think I see them.  We have to get Mer a new balloon."  Sure enough, though I would never have found them, Walt took us right to about five unclaimed balloons waiting to replace the numerous escapees.  He quickly secured one for his beloved Mer and delivered it to her with obvious pride in his chivalrous deed.  That's my boy.

Spring Sing

Walt + Mer + school program + video camera + new MacBook + YouTube =

Apparently, iMovie still has some kinks to work through at the beginning. 

We Sprung

When last we left the inhabitants of Walt's World, they were wailing and gnashing their teeth over the inadequacy of their poor old laptop.  As luck would have it, the very next morning, Josh received an email from MacMall advertising BLOWOUT PRICES!!  Personally, I wouldn't call them so much "blowout" as $90 off, but given the precarious state of our computing abilities, we decided that it was time.  Plus, six months same as cash means we don't have to actually shell out any cash until December.  (I wouldn't be expecting any nice Christmas presents if I were you.)  So, here's the inaugural post from the brand spankin' new MacBook.  It may not look any different to you, but it sure is nicer over here on this side.

Life in the Spickler household pretty much continues to revolve around the construction project going on at the rear of the house.  Walt has decided that his life's ambition is to be a builder like Mr. Steve (our contractor) and Charlie, Chris and Julio, Mr. Steve's crack team of "worker-men". 

Mr. Steve brought Walt some toy "construction tools" that look suspiciously like gardening tools to me.  But Walt apparently hasn't noticed the difference because every afternoon after the guys clear out, Walt clocks in for some hard work doing 'struction in the backyard.

Meanwhile, the taller construction workers have made great progress.  Drywalling is in progress and the porch is finished except for the screen and the roof.

When cutting the hole for the door from the bathroom to the new room, they uncovered this gorgeous remnant of 70s decorating:

All in all, it looks like things are on track for us to spend the summer enjoying our new room and porch.  And blogging.  Of course blogging.  Because now we have no excuse.

Poaching Content

We really do have a fairly decent excuse for our lack of regular posting as of late.  You see, our computer, it runneth over.  By which I mean it is all full.  In order to download new pictures to it, we (and when I say we, I mean Josh) have to  move old pictures first to his iPod and then to our desktop computer in the back.  As you might imagine, this multi-step process is high on no one's list of priorities.  So, until we decide to spring for a new laptop, the posting may continue to be a bit sporadic.

In the meantime, since I'm currently handicapped in my own multimedia capabilities, I'm going to direct you to sweet Mer-Mer's blog for some incredibly cute footage Kate took the other day while she was watching both kiddos at our house:

http://meredithjubilee.blogspot.com/2008/05/everybodys-workin-for-weekend.html