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Showing posts from June, 2014

Some Dead Life, and Some Live

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 Joss and I took Eli to the newly-reopened Bean Museum on campus. This is the one that our friend Ethan O. calls "The Museum of Dead Life". It is, mostly. Here the boys are playing Ugly Grizzly Bear and as you can see, here they are "shaking their head in anger at the crowd around the cage."  Here Joss was happy to be wrong that they did not have an elephant. They did indeed.  Eli in front of the butterflies. I am still such a sucker for a blue butterfly or a green scarab beetle.  And we imitated many different animals, alternating between fierce predators and horrified prey. We went to Carterville park and played around until nap time (we are specializing in tiring out toddlers right now).   That evening, we went out to El Azteca for dinner, Pop 'n Sweets for dessert, and walked around the west side of campus.  There we ran into a deer who was pretty far from the mountains. And several new families of ducks. They're doing a lovely

Because Pirates Aren't Punctual . . . Are They?

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 I was pushing the statute of limitations for holding birthday parties, but we did it anyway. Over a month late! We decided to do our old favorite, the pirate party for Joss. If you look closely at the picture above, you'll see that the dining room is no longer red. It's blue. I was going to paint it a nice warm cream back before my birthday in April, but that is what life's like around here. You think you're painting something cream in April and you end up painting it blue in June. Some of the food: wee fishies (goldfish), cannonballs (whoppers), peg legs (baby carrots), and a pirate's fruit salad (I am a big fan of the blueberry cannonballs).  My decorating team really outdid themselves with this one. I loved the centerpiece.  The birthday boy, working on his squint. I learned from this party that it's better to do something you know you can do well than to listen to the whims and desires of a 6-year-old, who wants to roll every birthday party h

We got another cousin!

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 Yay! Benjamin was born this week and we got to go see him!  He is absolutely perfect and so cute!  We've gotten to have his big brother Eli around while his mom was in the hospital.  Here are each of the kids getting to hold him.  They all seem to have inherited their dad and grandpa Shumway's abilities with wee babies. Welcome baby Ben!

Scout Overnighter: Goblin Valley

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 Going through our pictures, I realized that Rob has been doing a really good job as scoutmaster. They have done a whole lot of stuff together. I had forgotten all about this trip down to Goblin Valley in June.  They stayed outside, on BLM land, and had this great campsite with a hoodoo in it. Rob got up in the middle of the night to move his tent because he had convinced himself that it was going to fall on him in the middle of the night.  These guys go roughing it for real, with no water and no facilities at all. In my camping life, I'm heading the other direction. I want to find excellent showers next to lakes and streams. That's what I'm talking about!  After breakfast, the boys went on a hike. Since it was a slot canyon, I can't show you very many pictures before I start hyperventilating. That's Kirt.  And there are the boys, running ahead, determined to wedge themselves permanently into the landscape.  The whole crew this time around: Ki

Marshmallow Toasting Selfies

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Maddie Lou and David O, cousins who share a brain. And a sense of humor. These two were quoting movies, singing songs, and making puns all night long around the fire pit. It makes me wonder if this is the way Rob and Heather used to be.