We Went Camping! (Kind of)

For some reason I decided that I wasn't being a good father unless I set up the tent in the backyard and let the kids sleep out in the great wild world. I think Michelle's quote was, "Just for the record, I think you're crazy." She's quite perceptive.

Anyway, I got the tent set up, and now it's time to load it up with all the important things - sleeping bags, blankies, teddy bears, books, flashlights - you name it, we had it.

Eli is obviously quite excited to help get the tent set up.

Koleman shows off his nice new pajamas, just perfect for a night outside.

Kelson doesn't want to show his nice new jammies.

"Help! We're trapped!"

Look, they're all in the tent, and they all seem happy!

It's not quite bedtime yet, so it's time to play in the wilderness.

"I'm an excellent driver."

Kelson knows the proper way to drive.

Shortly after this picture was taken, they both melted into butter. Mmmmm... pancakes...

Finally, sleeping kids!

Now, even though Milena's eyes look open, I'm sure she's asleep here. Perhaps she's part wizard. You'll notice that Kelson didn't last the whole night. He decided to go inside with Mom at about 9:30. The other three slept well (for a very, very, very broad definition of "well").

And here we are, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:15 in the morning. Was the camp-out a success? Probably, but I think I've had enough camping for this year.

Kids at the Playground

I think it's been a while since I've done playground pictures, so here's the latest batch. Michelle and I noticed that in these pictures it looks like the kids have grown lately. Here is how Eli attempts to get as tall as Koleman.

This is about as far up the monkey bars as Kelson will go.

Hanging Child I: Eli.

Hanging Child II: Milena.

Hanging Child III: Kelson.

Hanging Child IV: Koleman.

A Rush of Blood to the Head.

The Long and Winding Road.

This picture was taken a fraction of a second before Koleman got brained by a frisbee.

Eli is the frisbee throwing king.

I certainly did not teach Eli that proper frisbee catching form included having your eyes closes. He figured that out all on his own.

And I have a couple of videos that you can watch. The first one shows Eli and Koleman playing catch with the frisbee. Click here for the video (7.7 MB). The second video is just Kelson running and being cute. Click here for the video (5.1 MB).

Landscaping Project? Done!

As many of you know, Michelle and I have been on a mission to rework the landscaping in our front yard. After many long months, we have finally reached a point where we can say, with some confidence, that we're "done." As a point of reference, here is the house a year and a half ago, before it was painted and before we started to rip out the dead and ugly looking plants.

Here's a more recent picture, partway through the project. Most of the rock has been transplanted, and the bushes are all (thankfully) gone. Note that at this point we still have three big trees in our front yard, which look pretty crowded.

And here is the finished project. Yes, the plants are all pretty small, but they'll grow. The middle of the three trees from our front yard was donated to Gustavus (they took it away for us and filled the hole with dirt - the tree is now on GAC's ring road).

And now, since I can, I'm going to show some before and after pictures of parts of the yard. Hey, don't complain, you don't have to look at this! Before...

... and After.

Before...

... and After.

Before...

... and After.

Before...

... and After. If you look very closely at the bottom right of the mulched area, you can see the end of a soaker hose poking through. My father gave us the recommedation to run soaker hoses under the mulch and around the plants, which makes watering everything very simple.

Here's the watering "system" that I use. I have three spots where the soaker hoses start, and I connect to all of them at the same time from the main hose. There's a timer at the faucet so I can have it run for a certain amount of time without having to monitor it. Turning this on waters all of the bushes and plants that we put in, even down the side of the house. As of now it seems like a brilliant plan. Hopefully it will still be working in a few years.

Koleman Has a Pet!

Here is a picture of Koleman playing outside with his brand new pet.

And a closeup of the pet. Isn't he/she beautiful? For the sake of convenience, we'll call it Unnamed Caterpillar. What an amazing specimen.

There's nothing more pure than the love of a boy for his caterpillar.

[Editor's note: Since these pictures were taken, Unnamed Caterpillar has passed on. This caterpillar is no more. He has ceased to be. He's expired and gone to meet his maker. He's a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. His metabolic processes are now history. He's off the twig. He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisibile!

To quote Koleman, "I didn't take good care of him." Oh well.]

Tannie and Anner are married!

Well, the wedding of the century was a smashing success, at least from my point of view. The kids were happy to get all dressed up, and had a lot of fun doing their job. Before the wedding starts, Koleman shows Annie that he has a fancy tie.

Look at the beautiful bride!

Kelson (properly dressed, with hardly any marks on his face) liked to spend time with Signe. She's a little old for him now, but when he's 140, she'd only be 162!

Aren't they adorable?

What a handsome pair of men!

This was Kelson's signal that he was done taking pictures. He wasn't screaming or crying, he just shut down. They had pretty much finished taking pictures at that point anyway, so his timing wasn't all that bad.

When we got out Kelson's wedding outfit that afternoon, he said, "I like that!" And he wanted to wear the hat almost the whole time.

Eli, of course, was a ham.

And he tried to get in good with the bride.

Milena was impressed by Annie's flowers.

Ooooo, pretty!

Here is the happy couple, enjoying the last few remaining minutes of happiness in their life, er ... I mean, basking in the coming glory of wedded bliss. Yeah, that's it.

And now the wedding is over! Making sure the kids got up and down the aisle didn't allow any chance to take pictures. Oh well. They did a great job. Koleman carried the basket and walked with Eli, while Milena and Kelson trailed behind. Even though Milena and Kelson never took more flowers from the basket, they were passing flowers out all the way down the aisle. I think the appropiate term is "redistribution." Just because a kid handed you a flower didn't mean you were going to get to keep it. They were cute and chaotic.

Here is Milena, happy to be at the reception.

After a long day of wedding stuff, it's good to just relax with a bowl of ice cream.