After heading to her 50th High School Reunion in Akron, Grandma Marilyn came to town.  Since she won’t be here in June when Alana celebrates her 4th birthday, Grandma took her out on a special birthday luncheon. This ladies only-luncheon was a dressy affair to the Cheesecake Factory.  Alana dried her hair, picked out her […]

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Last weekend, we headed up to Middle Bass Island on Lake Erie for a couple of days. Our next-door neighbors have a place there, and three families from the ‘hood headed up for the weekend. Eight kids, five adults, two dogs…and a lot of fun! View a slide show or click on any of the images […]

Posted in Alana, Benton, Carson, Elwyn, Julie, Molly, Tim No Comments »

Benton and I have made a couple of spud guns — the hairspray-combustion style — over the past few years. While out in West Virginia and shooting one last month, Benton came up with the idea that we should try to make a mini-marshmallow shooter of the same design. We made a run to the […]

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Benton got a dragon-style kite for his birthday. And, as seems to be the case with kites, the first time he got it out and gave it a shot was on an utterly becalmed day. After a very windy baseball practice this past Saturday morning, followed by a very windy soccer game that afternoon, I […]

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I described in a post last week that our cul de sac is getting into the habit of congregating around a fire pit on weekend evenings when the weather is nice. This last Friday was shaping up to be a little dicey weather-wise, but Thursday evening was gorgeous, so Julie shot a note out to […]

Posted in Alana, Benton, Miscellaneous 2 Comments »

Appropriate for Mother’s Day, a selection of photos from the past week of Julie and Alana. From a Mother’s Day activity at Alana’s school: And, because of Alana’s semi-funky school schedule, a shot from a Mother’s Day activity on a different day at the same school: And, snuggling at Carson’s (windy/chilly) soccer game on Saturday:

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As soon as the Trail-A-Bike arrived for my Mother’s Day present, Caroline, an almost 5-year-old neighbor and playmate of Alana’s, wanted to take her training wheels off her bike.  She started practicing on the grassy hill in her family’s backyard.  While playing at her house, Alana tried riding on two wheels and, thus, began the […]

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Aunt Kim took Alana for her first professional manicure during her visit last week. The nail polish lasted a lot longer than it normally does when I apply it, but, nonetheless, by Saturday night, Alana had decided that she was due for a new color and got the babysitter to tackle the task while Julie […]

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You might have noticed that our posts have become somewhat sporadic, and, if you’re really paying attention, you might have also noticed that Julie hasn’t posted in over a month. It’s not that she hasn’t had time to sit down in front the computer. Actually, she’s spent a lot of time in front of the […]

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I think I’ve mentioned in the past that a local neighborhood recipe has developed that takes the following ingredients: Gorgeous weather (which seems to be in abundance) Friday or Saturday night A portable fire pit Firewood (thanks, Bob) At least 2-3 parents from different houses seeing each other and realizing that no one has big […]

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