Welcome to Summer

The AARPs visited for Memorial Weekend, and let me tell you, it was an action-packed visit. 

They came in on Friday in time for a holiday concert in Suwanee by the Gwinnett Community Band. Of course, Pops loved all the patriotic songs. We met up with Paul, Emily, Kailey Kate and Luca, and Kristi and the kids enjoyed the picnic setup. One highlight was a parachute team from Fort Benning. 

Saturday morning, we went back to Suwanee from Bruce and Carole's house in Buford (about 20 minutes away). Polk and Kristi LOVE farmers markets, and Polk likes to compare them to each other. Kristi and I bought Polk some granola for Mother's Day, and we got burgers, carrots, green beans, honey wheat rolls, eggs and onions. I also got some honey from the guy I wrote a big feature about a couple weeks ago. AJB might like to know that the honey guy grossed $41,000 last year. (He sells at 6 farmers markets, co-ops and a few restaurants.)

That afternoon, we relaxed a bit, and then had a cookout with the other in-laws and grandparents. Pops and Polk loved to see their grandpup, Earl, and of course he loves to see anybody with two legs or four legs. 

Then Paul, Emily, Sam, Brian, KK, Cate, Luca, Kristi and I went swimming at the neighborhood pool. Emily, Sam and Kristi raved about the 2:1 adult to kid ratio. Before everybody left, the younger women got together for a grip-and-grin. 

Another highlight was it was Earl's official birthday, May 26. It just happened that he ripped up two beds in the last week. So it came in handy that Bruce and Carole's new dog, Shay, didn't need the bed that came with her, so guess who got a birthday gift?

In this picture, he was so exhausted on Monday, he was in the middle of a nearly 4-hour nap!

A highlight especially for the older folks was our trip on Sunday to see the Jersey Boys at the Fox Theatre in downtown Atlanta. The Fox is like a bit nicer version of The Palace Theatre in Louisville. They Jersey Boys won several Tony Awards about 5 or 6 years ago, and are touring. It's the story of the Four Seasons rise from a neighborhood in New Jersey, to an international rock 'n roll sensation. They were later described as a blue collar Beatles. Since the older folks in our group were in high school during the Four Seasons' heyday, it brought back a lot of memories. 

After we got back, it was picture time, and Polk enjoyed taking a picture (while she stood on the fireplace).

On Monday, Kristi and I took a quick dip in the pool, and grilled out to make it an official holiday. 

Wrapping Up Spring...

Well, it has been a while since I have written a blog post and blogger has changed a few things! That being said, my pictures are in reverse chronological order, so you'll have to imagine this post upside down. :)

These are a few snapshots to illustrate what we've been up to over the past few months...

I had the privilege of accompanying Clara on Brahms' Waltz in G Major for her violin recital on Mother's Day. Here she is (middle row towards the left) with her teacher, Mr. Bell, and his other students who performed. We tried to upload the video, but Mr. Blogger wouldn't allow it.

 A few days before the recital, Clara was honored at our local garden club meeting because her poem won 1st place in the state poetry contest in the 2nd grade division. And, here it is....

Peaches

Up in the tree, peaches are growing 

so high, so high, so high.

They look like a fly that is up in the sky 

so high, so high, so high.

I pick them in the summer, and as I eat them 

they drip, drip, drip. 

I pull out the pit 

rip, rip, rip.

Benji is our ball player this summer and he is doing a great job! Here he is in his first game, first time at bat and he hit the first pitch! There are 14 kids on his team and he is having a great time with them. 

 Prior to the tee ball season, both Clara and Benji played on an Upwards basketball team and Andy was their coach. There were 8 kids on the team and they played each Friday night for two months. Both of them improved considerably and had a good time with their friends.

And now, we are headed into summer! School is out and the schedule is...no schedule, really. In June, Clara will resume violin lessons, after a couple of weeks off, and she'll also begin taking an art class. We'll all be involved in VBS in a few weeks and a certain special boy will be turning 6 soon!!! We are also looking forward to a bit of traveling around the not-so-humid midwest & upper south this summer, meeting a certain nephew and Mr. Earl, and of course, visiting with all of their caretakers. :)

Animal House

The animal population around here is growing all the time!  Most recently, Roxy joined Champ and Sheba out in the pasture.  She's a very calm four year old pony.  Sadly, Roxy is blind in one eye which makes her unable to compete in the rodeo events her previous owners are active in.  Blindness in one eye really isn't an issue for horses most of the time though.  In her case, the blindness is recent so Roxy is still adjusting some to the vision loss.  It doesn't really seem to bother her though, she just turns her head awkwardly sometimes to get a better look at things with her good eye.  The girls are pretty excited about braiding her mane and putting ribbons in it, since she's such a pretty blonde!

Our chickens are growing fast!  They learned to escape their small enclosure (in the background) and have been roaming freely around the back yard.  The Barred Rocks are especially entertaining and our early assumption that a few roosters were in the bunch still stands.  The birds who are lighter in color all appear to have red combs on their heads and "gobblers" under their chins.  There are five of them and they're likely to be served on a platter once they're fully grown.  We don't really need one rooster, let alone five!  The other 24 Barred Rocks are more docile and very, very interesting to watch.  They roost predictably in the evenings and like to roam around during the day.  Chickens seem to be quite social, which I didn't know before we got these. And boy can they eat!  Bread, greens, crackers, worms, grubs, and on and on.  We haven't found many things they won't eat. 

This weekend the chickens moved into their permanent home, which they can't escape from.  A film crew really should have been here to document the moving of 44 chickens from one coop to another.  I don't know when we've been so exasperated, entertained and exhausted all at once!  I'm sure anyone driving by could have gotten quite a show!  Fortunately, Abigail "babysat" AJ for us and Hannah is a talented chicken catcher, so she actively helped Andy and I.

The Rhode Island Reds are a little flock to themselves.  They're still quite a bit smaller than the Barred Rocks and are definitely intimidated by the bigger birds.  Here they are getting some water.

We're thinking egg production could begin as soon as early July or as late as early September!

What Newborns Do

When the girls were newborns, especially Abigail, every expression and movement was photo worthy.  I couldn't begin to tell you how many pictures we had of her sleeping in different places and positions.  They were all adorable and in fact, I have way more than a reasonable number of pictures of each of our babies sleeping!  Their expressions change and their faces change in just days.  Now that AJ is 5 weeks old, I can see him growing and changing. 

But over the years, my perspective on photos has changed, too.  Let's just say, I have some more active and creative photo subjects these days!

One day last week, when it was really warm, the urge to play in the water must have been irresistable because I found the girls in the back yard doing this!

 I guess changing into swimsuits was just too much trouble, they'd stripped down to panties and were spraying each other and squealing in the cold water.

Meanwhile, AJ was deep in sleep, dreaming about working with Daddy one day.  His day is still entirely consumed by eating, sleeping and having his diaper changed.  With some brief interludes of staring at the ceiling fan.

**For some reason, I'm having a terrible time uploading pictures and can't add more than 3-4 to a post.  So I'll have to start doing more frequent shorter posts.  FYI, for those who want to see more baby pics!

Camping trip

When I gave Kristi a tent for Christmas, it was only a matter of time before we had a camping trip. This weekend was the time, and we found Broad River Campground in Tignall, about an hour east, almost to South Carolina. It was only $20, and we had a large flat area with picnic table and a fire/grill area.

We brought all the fixins': hot dogs, chips, s'mores, soda, beer. 

We didn't plan on a fire pit/grill area, so we brought a propane gas burner. 

Since we've already vetted this place, let us know who will join us on our next visit. 

                             
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If you look closely in the middle of the picture, there's a white toad. Of course, Earl found it first. 

This was a veritable lap of luxury as camping goes. I never imagined sheets would be part of the camping supplies. 

The necessary room(s).

Since we were on the Broad River, here's an area to clean fish you catch. Obviously, when Polk comes on our next trip, this is a requirement. 

Go ahead and stick a fork in him. 

Bark in the Park

On Sunday, we took Earl to the Gwinnett Braves game for Bark in the Park. It's a monthly event for the four-legged friends, and human tickets are only $7. We met Tate and Patrick there, and they brought Maci, their dachshund, who even wore a Braves bandana. 

It was pretty warm for the furry critters, so Earl was quick to find a tent with plenty of shade and a fan nearby. 

    

At times, it looked as if he was keeping track of what happened on the field. 

Of course, he's never met a human or other animal that he didn't want to meet, talk to, etc. So his friends were Cricket, another basset hound, Maci, top right, and Blue, a Great Dane, below. (Kristi has always been a fan of Great Danes and even would like to have one someday. Yes, when a backyard is available.) 

                                      

Most of the dogs chased the shade, as Earl and Maci below found the shade from a light pole. 

It was a big day for the little guy, and he was asleep before we left the parking lot. 

Below, I played around with the Instagram app on my phone, and got some different shades and edges of Little E. 

Looking awfully regal, here. 

He loves the La-Z-Boy, and is pretty good about not getting on the couch.  

But his favorite is the ottoman, which Kristi calls his "summer bed." The only trouble is he's almost too long for it.