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I recently found (and signed up for) Flickr, which provides a really nice way to upload, share, and manage photos on the Internet.
Flickr even lets you create a Flash badge representing a 'set' of your photos - the one on the right is from our annual 'Camping with College Friends' trip this past summer.
Hopefully, this will inspire me to get more pictures online for family and friends to view! |
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For three years, we've been trying to decide whether to buy a boat or camper...in April this year, we finally made a decision. Here's how we've been spending most weekends this summer:
[OOPS: Broken image link here, sorry.]
As always, we have exceptional timing. This happens to be the year that gas/oil prices have tripled and continue to climb almost daily. That makes towing hurt the wallet, but at least we're comfortable when we finally 'get there'.
If I get the time, I'd like to blog some of the trips we've taken...we've learned a few lessons in a short time that might help someone else...
If anyone cares for details: The camper is a Cougar 301 BHS Travel Trailer by Keystone Corporation (link).
Congratulations to Kerri and Chris! Olivia Kristine Bowen was born Saturday (June 18) afternoon. I'll update this post (soon) with a couple pictures from the big day.
We had a lot of fun getting it, but here's the final product:
Me (goofing around, to my 6 year old son): “Who's your favorite daddy?”
His immediate reply: “You are, 'cause I don't have a stepdad, but if I did, it'd make my decision harder.”
It's been about 15 years since I was involved in the Boy Scouts, and frankly I haven't thought about it much during that time. Now that we have a son old enough to be a Tiger Cub, he and I have both joined Cub Scout Pack 3944 in Roscommon.
I'm impressed with the number and apparent dedication of the adult leaders in the pack. It's great to see how the whole Scouting program has grown (and, apparently, how strong it is in our own hometown) while I was away from it all.
We spent two days last week at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City...what a blast! We played most of the first day, checked in, stayed overnight, then played until lunch time the second day (that's plenty of pool time, I think).
The hotel is really nice, and the water park is awesome. The only complaint I have is that we were told (during the telephone reservation process) that our room would be ready at 1pm...we couldn't get in it until after 4:30pm. That's pretty poor, because the kids needed someplace to go before then...otherwise, a very good time.
Two days after learning how to ride a bike, Johnny earned 8 stitches above his eye...he hit a rock in the road and went down hard...road rash and all.
This afternoon, Johnny rode a two-wheeled bike for the first time! His training wheels are all mangled from dropping the bike on it's side (to be fair, they were messed up even when we bought the bike), so I took them off and told him he was going to ride without them.
It took about 15 minutes (~10 laps around the cul-de-sac), and he was off! I was going through the whole “pretend to hold onto the seat” thing, thinking he would worry if I let go. I had Steph take some laps with him, and she just jogged alongside him...he didn't care at all.
So far, only one significant crash, but it didn't slow him down much. Now he wants to practice "taking off" by himself, so he can be totally independent.
When I was a kid, I really believed for a while that a little man lived in the refrigerator and turned the light on and off for you...why wouldn't I believe it? My parents told me that's how it was.
One fun thing about having kids yourself is you get to mess with their minds the way your parents messed with yours. This weekend, just before my wife took the whole crew out for the day, I pulled our 4 year old aside and convinced him that no matter what anyone says or asks him during the day, he should respond “I'm Batman.”
He did it. To my wife, and to the (surprised) guy running the bumper boats at the local fun park.
This weekend, my 4-year old and I were in the garage when he suddenly started crying out in pain. I went over to him, and he held out a spray can of “Deep Woods Off” insect repellant while screaming "I sprayed this in my eyes!"
We rushed him into the house, rinsed his eyes with water, then dried him off. After a few minutes, the tears stopped falling, he looked up and said calmly to my wife and I, "Remind me not to do that again."
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