VBS Sunday

A view from the A/V balcony of the exciting chaos that is VBS Sunday! Jordan is the one in the white VBS T-shirt.

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New neighbors

Can anyone identify this bird? It's a very small bird, mostly velvety brown. Jordan and I think we saw some new baby chicks in its nest under the deck today. If I had a better telephoto lens I might be able to get some clearer pictures of it (Jessie would love this one for her birthday coming up next week).

Mowing in the sun

It was supposed to rain this evening, but it's bright sunshine now so Claudia's taking advantage of the cooler evening to get some mowing in. Like I said, in Virginia in the summertime rain is always just out of reach.
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Three-square

Neighbor kids over playing three-square this afternoon with Jordan. It's a hot game to play in 95 degrees!
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Evening chores

A waxing moon
and a million fireflies light the woods
behind our barn
tonight
as I bring water to the horses, one final chore for the evening;
And heat lightning flashes incessantly in the clear sky,
teasing us with its threat of rain,
seeming, like the fireflies and a cool bed,
always just out of reach.

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Summertime, and the livin' is easy

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Father's Day

In my Father's Day card from Jordan today, he listed washing cars as one of his favorite things to do with me, so we made good use of that and washed and waxed three of our current collection of vehicles, and got nice and wet in the process. :-) Even Jessie joined in the fun. Spending an afternoon washing cars and cleaning up the garage currently rates at the top of my preferred activities for a relaxed weekend too, so it's nice as a Dad to have an activity I can share with my son. After washing cars, we went to the Cockerill's Creek for a highschool graduation party, and got to get wet again (see previous post), as well as eat great food, play volleyball and kickball, and sit back and chat with old friends (no photos of those activities because for once we just enjoyed the moment instead of pulling out a camera).

In case it's not obvious, Jordan wants to make sure you notice the water apparently erupting from the top of his head.


Introducing my latest commute vehicle, a Toyota Prius hybrid. It's replacing our trusty Nissan Altima which I've finally retired after 220,000 miles.

Happy Father's Day to all the rest of you fathers out there! Hope yours was as nice as mine.

At Cockerill's creek

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Saturday morning on Goose Creek

Jessie had her first kayak outing today as we all cooled off on (and in) Goose Creek. She enjoyed the water, but didn't find the life vest quite to her liking. However, I was just happy that we found a life vest approved for infants -- I didn't realize they come that small, and I worry about taking her in a boat without one, even on something as shallow as Goose Creek. That's probably being overly paranoid, but I'd rather be that way than overly lax, I suppose! The most difficult part of taking Jessie kayaking is her incurable desire to put everything in her mouth, including mud, sand and crayfish! Jordan never really went through that phase, so this is a uniquely Jessie thing in our family.

Play ball!

Hello?

Jessie loves talking on the phone, and will pick up any phone or remote that she finds laying around and hold it to her ear like this while she "talks". Very cute! She's going to be a communicator as she grows up, that's for sure!

Hail King Richard!

Jordan acted the part of King Richard in his school's Robin Hood play last week, and did great! He even got the most laughs from the audience because his part was used for comic relief throughout the play. In the real Robin Hood stories, of course, King Richard doesn't show up until the very end when he comes back to England from captivity and sets everything right in his kingdom. In this version, though, King Richard doesn't want to wait until the end so he keeps popping up in the wrong scenes and has to get shoo-ed off stage and told to come back when they say "1-2-3- now!" Despite some nervousness prior to his first time on stage, Jordan loved it, and played his part very well.

Walking!

We've got a walker! She's holding my finger in this picture only because she won't walk on demand, but she walked on two separate occasions unprompted, of her own accord. Eleven months and two days old.

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Alphabet soup

A freak storm blew up a few minutes ago. The first thing I noticed was the alphabet flying across our lawn. I ran out to see what else might be flying, and found Jessie's play area (see the Memorial Day post) was almost entirely gone -- lawnchairs, tables, umbrellas and a cartop carrier were heading down the driveway in the squall! It was over as quick as it came, and now is just a normal gusty rain.
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What we're up to

Claudia: sorting the day's garage sale finds
Jordan: reading the last Harry Potter book
Jessie: staying up when she should be napping
Ben: blogging (and before that cleaning the garage)

What are you up to this Saturday?

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