Down by the River

In honor of Gram and DeeDaddy's visit this weekend, we headed down to the RiverWalk on Saturday morning for some splashing and sign-reading.  Here, Walt illustrates the former and Gram (turquoise shirt) and DeeDaddy (reddish dot in the distance -- he likes to read all the signs) illustrate the latter.

In case you didn't know, Crocs (even fake ones, Daddy!) make excellent riverboats.

A few "Hey, look, there's the bridge!" shots . . .

 

(The elusive Josh and Ginger by themselves shot -- thanks, Gram!)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Walt and Josh had big plans for my birthday cupcakes.  Walt was going to decorate them with candles and Pez (his idea). 

However, despite the fact that the directions were fairly straightforward:

This is how they turned out:

Josh clearly thinks I am too dainty and wants to put some meat on my bones because he substituted oil for the water called for in the PICTURE INSTRUCTIONS, making each cupcake about 750 calories.  To be fair, pictures of water and oil do look similar.  If you're just using the pictures, that could be a problem.  Yeah.

So!  We'll be having birthday ice cream instead of birthday cake tonight.  But I can't lie -- it was kind of worth it for all the laughs I got out of it.

How 'Bout Them Apples

It has been a long time (okay, about six weeks) coming.  All summer long, Walt has been making attempts at jumping off the diving board at the Rhodes pool.  The first couple of times, he would just get to the board's little ladder, rethink his decision, and scurry back to me.  Then he got brave enough to actually get up on the board, but wouldn't venture further than about six inches from the back of the board.  He finally worked up the nerve to go all the way down to the end of the board, but took one look at the yawning cavern of the deep end and headed right back down the ladder.

Finally, on a warm Friday evening when both Mommy and Daddy were there to offer some spotting and coaching, he proclaimed that he wanted to try again.  We both knew how this usually went, but ever the supportive parents, we ventured back down to the deep end.  With Josh treading water furiously and me standing right next to the board, Walt took a few deep breaths, crouched down low and sailed out into the water (almost onto Josh's head . . . but he made it)!  We weren't the only ones cheering his efforts when he surfaced and that was all it took.  It's now pretty much all he does when we're at the pool.  It's funny to see him in line amongst the big kids from the Rhodes basketball and football camps.  But he is quite self-assured and always has a look of sheer joy when he takes that flying leap.  Ah, to be a kid again.

What Porches are Really Good For

The Porch

I love my new porch.  It is already getting us out in the great outdoors more.  There's just something about being able to actually see your backyard that makes you say, "Hey, let's go outside!"  And so we do.  Fortunately, the weather has cooperated and has been quite lovely to date.  That is predicted to change dramatically starting, oh . . . tomorrow.  But it's been nice while it lasted.

Here are a few pics from Kate's birthday celebration on Sunday night . . .

And, oh my goodness, Kate . . . your daughter looks like a teenager in this picture.  A beautiful one at that.  Yikes!

Really This is Just a Post to Show You Our Pretty Grass

After having a yard that consisted mostly of weeds (or bare patches where even the weeds wouldn't grow), it sure is nice to have a nice, soft lawn to play on.

Batter-Man

Basil is Pretty

See?

Finished! Mostly!

Is it ever really finished?  I mean, I hope there comes a day when people with tools don't show up in my house without me realizing they're there, but despite the fact that we had our final inspection today and received the official okay from the city, there will still be people coming to touch up the painting, change out the hinges that are the wrong color, etc. etc.  But still!  We are (pretty much) finished!  Here you have it . . .

The breakfast area (sans one doorknob, but we'll have that back tomorrow).

The den-type area.  Ignore the dirt and spots of tape on the floor.  Those will not be part of the permanent decor.

The porch.  Nothing much new here from previous posts, but didn't want it to feel left out.  Plus, this is where I plan to spend my time while Walt and his buddies entertain themselves here . . .

Yeah, he loves it.  Not sure about the flowerpot in the foreground.  I think that was Mr. Julio's attempt at decorating.  It has weeds growing in it.  Which is more than I can say for most of the rest of our dirt yard.  Just know that if you let your children come over here to play anytime before we get around to coaxing grass to life back here, they will be returned to you in a Pig-Pen-like state.

He's pretty proud of himself for this new skill.

At the top of the rocket slide.  (One of these days we'll post video and you'll see why I call it that.)

The toy garage.  The trike just made a very ungraceful exit.

So there you have it.  Construction 2008 has come to a close.  Please feel free to drop by and see the finished product in person.  We even plan to have furniture in there soon!