Car Wash

The kids washed my car last week and did a pretty good job. Here's John making sure the last of the road salt is washed off from under the car while Sarah cleans the tires. Up in the far left you can see Janine rinsing the front of the car.

This was entirely their idea. It was a nice sunny day as you can see. They were inspired, got out the bucket, sponges, car wash soap and went to town.

It was sunny for the next few days, quite a change from the cold and cloudy weather we have today.

Next time, we introduce the concept of wax!

Long Shadows

John took this picture just a hour or so ago. It's that time of year when the shadows are long late in the day. We haven't been able to see any shadows this past few weeks with cold and cloudy weather. But that all changed in the past two days.

Tonight, all five of us took a walk together. It was great to get out in the fresh air with the sun shining.

John said that he had wanted to take a picture of his shadow for a while and tonight he got his chance.

Sports Works

Now it's motion photos from last Friday's trip to the Sports section of the Science museum. Mommy was completing our taxes so I took the kids out for the afternoon. The weather had been terrible for over a week so we all needed to work off some energy. For all of these reasons, the Sports Works was a much better choice than the science museum. It was almost empty to boot.

Here's Janine in the top photo on the trampoline trapeze. All three of them got on it at one time or another. It's quite a contraption, a large trampoline with a harness structure on each side. This structure holds the bungee cords that the attendants choose carefully to match the child's weight, or at least they want the watching parents to think so. As you can see that harness means business.

In the second photo Sarah and Janine are running a race against a video of Jackie Joyner- Kersee. Gosh, Jackie seems to win every time! Actually she give a lesson on how to get out of the starting blocks properly and which leg to use to push off to get a fast start. The girls ran this one about twice and got tired of it. John watched Jackie a couple of times then ran several times throughout the afternoon.

It was great to work off the extra energy and thankfully Mommy was done with taxes when we got home.

It's All About the Food

While we were eating today a baseball game took place in front of us.

Yesterday a friend gave me four tickets to today's afternoon game. So, we went to the ball game, while Mommy stayed at home to do taxes. But as every parent knows, it's not about baseball, it's all about food. From the hot dogs we had for lunch when we arrived to the cotton candy, nachos, peanuts, and ice cream there wasn't much that Sarah, John and Janine missed.

I made the mistake of buying an Italian sausage for myself. The portions were so large that the kids didn't finish their hot dogs, nachos, etc. so Dad got to eat the rest. Yummy.

Here's Janine and the mascot. She got a hug from him after he danced on the roof of the dugout. Our seats were incredible. We sat straight up from third base 15 rows off the field. We also got the see a triple and two double plays, both of which I had to explain to the kids. I saved the five bucks for a scorecard because I knew that it would be hard to concentrate on the game. Next time I might try however.

Finally, there was the weather. It was overcast and 45 at game time. Everyone was working to stay warm, including the security people. We left when it started to rain in the top of the eighth. We listened to the rest of the game on the radio in the car. The Pirates lost in the top of the ninth, but the other 9900 souls who braved the weather had fun, especially the four of us.

Vintage Audio

Here's a photo of my latest project, shelves for my office stereo system. I used the leftovers from our old massive IKEA home entertainment center. I "downsized" it with a circular saw last year eliminating the stereo shelves. (Now we use it just for the TV and DVD player.) The left upright is a new piece of laminated pine from Lowe's that I finished to resemble the other shelves.

Yes that is a turntable on top. The newest piece in this stack is the black CD player which we bought in 1992. The oldest is the turntable which dates from 1978. It has been in storage for almost 18 years! Unfortuneately the damping mechanism on the tone arm is stuck so it needs to go into the shop. Naturally it was the item I was most looking forward to using.

The CD player and tape deck still work, but both have suffered from kids' use. But they are made to be used and appreciated, not encased and forgotten.

Right now I am listening to the local classical music station. Reception has been spotty, but better once I adjusted the powered antenna you see to the left of the turntable.

Overall it's great to be able to listen to music in my office and have these items working again.

Spring is Here

Spring is here and Janine got on her bike this past week. As you can see she's about to outgrow it. I think it's time to get working on learning to ride without the training wheels. The nice thing is that Sarah's old bike is a Trek, so it's well built and in great shape.

Now if we can get the rain to stop for an hour or so...

Piano Recital

Sarah, John and Janine had a piano recital this morning. It was for all 30 students of Mrs. Scott, their piano teacher. Each student played a piece that he had chosen and practiced, none more than three minutes long. The pieces varied from beginner's exercises to Bach partitas.

Here's John at the baby grand. Click here for video of his piece. It's from a recent Harry Potter movie. Because John likes everything Star Wars, he really likes John Williams, and by extension Harry Potter.

Please note that each child introduced himself by stating his name, number of years taking piano and the title and composer of the piece he will play. Due to the limitations of the microphone on the digital camera, you can't really hear the introductions. The recital was held at a nearby church.

Here's Sarah with Nana. Sarah choose "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg. While she was sometimes reluctant to practice, she practiced anyway and I think she did very well. But of course I'm her Dad. Click here for video of Sarah's piece.


Of all three Janine went first. In fact she was the second overall. Click here for a video of Janine's performance. Janine played an exercise piece called, "Dancing." She was very brave going so early and was very good sitting quietly next to her friend Kaitlyn for the rest of the performances.

Here they are after the recital. Sarah and Janine both changed their clothes almost immediately after their performances. In typical fashion, John kept his blazer on until we went out for lunch.

Overall, Sarah, John and Janine all worked very hard, practicing their music until they could perform it dressed up, in front of an audience. Mrs. Scott was very pleased. Mommy and Daddy were very proud. I have to leave the final complement for my wife. She rode herd for them to practice at home. She even arranged for them to practice their introductions and play the piano at our church earlier this past week. Kudos Mommy!

Nature Path

This past Sunday Janine and I walked to church. Not only was it a fantastic morning, sunny and about 55 degrees, but we got to use the new nature path running behind our house. Here's Janine on it. Note that she is holding not only her purse, but her two favorite Care Bears.

The big story is that the township is building a nature park on the empty land behind our house. Originally the school district owned the property. All sorts of rumors went around that they would build everything from a new school (good) to a bus barn (bad). About 10 years ago the township bought the property. Then the rumors shifted to lighted ball fields and all night softball leagues.

Finally the township parks director drew up a plan for a nature park and presented it to all of us skeptics who lived next to the land. (About 300 feet of our lot fronts it.) We gave it our grudging approval. The parcel is too small to be developed for houses profitably while meeting township requirements. We all also knew that it would be developed someday, so why not now? Besides, a nature park would pose the fewest potential problems.

It's still under construction from last fall, but they have put in about a mile of walking path, the base for the small parking lot and leveled the land for the all-purpose field. The plan also calls for a tennis court, playground, rest rooms and a sand volleyball court. The parks director tells me that they are building it as the funds become available, so I'm not holding my breath for sand volleyball. We'll keep you posted.

(It's been a hectic week so it took a few days to get this posted.)

Sisters

Sarah and Janine have been having a lot of fun lately playing piggyback. John captured this moment of silliness this past Sunday. Thankfully nobody was hurt and nothing was broken. Shortly thereafter Sarah was off to youth group at church and Janine had Nana to herself. But moments like this are like gold.

I love it when they enjoy each other like this. It reminds me of how much fun I had with my brother and sisters growing up.

Erin Go Braugh

Happy St. Patrick's day! We celebrated yesterday with the tried and true corned beef and cabbage. Yes, it's another food picture, but don't you think it is nicely presented and appetizing?

OK, OK so I did cook the meal, that is if you can call two Crock Pots and two pots of boiling water cooking.

Now comes the best part, leftovers! corned beef hash and reubens that is. Don't worry there will be no chance for photos. It will all get eaten very fast.

Chalk Lines

Yesterday while Bobbie was doing the Latin lesson with Sarah and John, Janine was busy. She quietly got to work on the chalk board and finished with this multi-media "installation."

You see, Janine is counting the days to the first day of spring next week. It's part of her Math lesson to each day write the date and day of the week and draw a picture if it is sunny, cloudy, raining, snowing, etc. (I don't think she has a picture for an occluded front.)

With spring on her mind after a beautiful sunny day Monday, she had the inspiration to draw. Here it is; a spring day with trees, flowers and a bird. That's Twee-twee, the squeaky bird toy, taped to the scene.

Fierce Birthday

Sunday was Sarah's birthday so she got to choose the dinner. We all enjoyed lamb chops, risotto, spinach salad. All three of our kids prefer pie to cake so we had apple pie for dessert.

Here's the pie held up by a rather fierce Sarah. She is at the age during which she doesn't like to have her picture taken so she either mugs or runs away. In this one I think she wants to mug me!

Note the properly browned crust on that pie. It was flakey throughout and the filling was not overpowered by any one spice. But the final proof was in the very small amount of leftover pie which Sarah claimed Monday morning for breakfast. Great job Bobbie!

Skating Show

This past Monday night was the skating show. It's hard to believe that this is the sixth year that the kids have participated in this event. Starting with the Tiny Tots six years ago, now Sarah is the anchor of the Alpha group and is ready to move up next year.

Here she is with her friend Karissa (aka Hermine Hilton) who is on the skating team. I think Sarah would like to participate, but she is concerned about the time commitment. Skate Team members skate three to four times per week, year 'round at odd times when ice is available. I think Sarah likes to have some spare time from three days a week at the ballet studio.


John grinned it up for his photo. Janine and John are both in the pre-Alpha group and it's a big one. There must have been about 30 kids on the ice for their number. So there were two large loops of about 12 kids each with John and the tallest kids (including one adult) in the center. Thankfully as the kids have grown, the costumes no longer obscure their faces so it's a lot easier to spot them on the ice. The kids are almost lost in the videos of the early performances. I just set the lens on wide angle and let them skate. Now I can track them much more easily.

Finally, there's Janine mugging on the ice. She is the one who rules the roost among the little girls. When I took them over for practice Janine had them all running around and giggling. But that just seems to be her nature. The greatest contrast was watching her run around with her friends then reach into her backpack for her favorite teddy bear for a quick break, then return to her buddies. She seems to switch between the two and back so effortlessly. I don't know what to think about it other than simply remind myself that I am watching one of the wonders of childhood.

Haircut

John and I needed a haircut the other day so we went to the barbershop up the street from the ballet studio. As a baby boomer who grew up on 1960s TV the likeness of Floyd the Barber on the sign attracted me.

For the non Baby Boomers, Floyd was the barber in the town of Mayberry, NC where the Andy Griffith show was set. He was played by an longtime character actor named Howard McNear. Click here for more.

As you can see John liked his haircut, and wants to go back there the next time. John gave Eron the barber his greatest endorsement, "he really knows how to cut my hair."

John has not had great haircutting experiences in the past. Other barbers just chopped and combed it away. Because Eron paid attention to John's thick hair and dual crown, he will get our repeat business.

Kid's Book Club

Last Wednesday was Kid's book club at our house. That's Kathy leading the boys group in the top photo, and Dawn taking care of the little girls below. The young ladies were sequestered in Sarah's room and did NOT allow photos to be taken.

The boys all read A Grain of Rice, a story about an intrepid Chinese boy who charms the Emperor and wins his daughter's hand. But we got One Grain of Rice, a story set in India about a young girl who asks the local pasha for one grain of rice during a famine, and then twice as much the next day for 30 days. John liked the story a lot because it was about numbers. Kathy was great because she lead the discussion for both books.

Dawn did a nice job of reading several books to the little girls who later retired to Janine's room for dress-up. I volunteered to help out and found myself playing trains with the little guy in the green shirt in the top photo. Yes I'm 50 and I love Brio train sets.

The best part was that all of the kids got along so well and really looked out for one another, for which we are all thankful.