Harvest Days at "School"

Today was Aaron's first day of school. Sort of. Maumee Valley offers a 2-year-old class on each Saturday this month. Kind of a pre-pre-school. Becky went in with him and spent 90 minutes exploring the room, participating in group activities, and making lots of yellow salt dough balls. He was a bit apprehensive, but seemed to like it over all. She has a hedgehog and big lop-eared black bunny that enjoyed seeing - from a distance.

Home Depot Firetruck Bank

Today Alex and I went to Home Depot for their monthly craft day. We've been doing this for year with him and he continues to improve. He and Aaron are watching a new show on the Disney Channel called "Handy Manny" which is about a repairman with tools that talk. It's got them more interested in tools than "Bob the Builder".

He used those tools to build a firetruck similar to one he made before, but this one has a bank built in to the top. They even gave him his first coin - a penny! - to start it off right. They also had a deputy sherrif there to talk about safety and fingerprint Alex for our records. Notice the pins on Alex's apron - one for every craft.

Mrs. Potato Head Pumpkin Witch

Book Fair 2006

Today was the Maumee Valley Book Fair sponsored by Scholastic, inc. Becky volunteered by helping kids find books and figure out how much they could buy with their money. She said this was the best book fair in the last 3 years.


Alex really got sucked into James and the Giant Peach. He bought it and started reading it there. He got through chapter 12 tonight at home and I went into his room about 5 minutes after tucking him in and had to confiscate it so he'd go back to bed. :)


He sat with his friend Will and they read the latest Captain Underpants book.

Jazz Heroes

Today we brought the kids to Perrysburg High School because the local Jazz Choir was holding a fundraiser by having the Hero's Toledo group (from this year's Rib-Off) come out and bring their inflatable playground. Some of Alex and Aaron's friends were there as well. They played hard for 2 hours. Aaron would do almost anything there though one of the inflatables was still too big for him. The Jazz Choir even performed a version of "At The Car Wash". We're looking forward to more Party Heroes events.

Alex Swimming Video

Did I mention the Pentax shoots video too? Check this out. Press the play button in the middle of the picture.

Family Swim

Today we went swimming during Family Swim at our gym's pool. Alex started swim lessons here yesterday and wanted to show us his moves.


We also wanted to test drive our new Pentax Optio W10 digital camera that has a waterproof housing. It worked great! We've used disposable water cameras in the past and have been very diappointed. They don't focus well and they have never had a flash - which makes indoor pictures like this nearly impossible to do well. You can make out Aaron's "Warriors in Pink" tattoo from the Race for the Cure. This is its last known appearance as the pool essentialy dissolved it.


We are just beginning at this point in our lives to experience the joys of the pool noodle. They provide enough lift to cradle them behind your back and under your arms like a lounge chair. Becky and Aaron are cruising above on a pink noodle.


One of the skills Alex learned in swim class this week was a game called 3-2-1-Blastoff that involved him grabbing the sides of the pool and launching facedown and forward. (He learned the same trick on his back.) You can see the water spilling over his head here. Look forward to more water pictures!

2006 Susan G. Komen NW Ohio Race for the Cure

Today we got up bright and early and headed downtown for the 13th annual Susan G. Komen NW Ohio Race for the Cure. A large crowd was expected, so we arrived early to get a parking spot nearby. Becky and the kids walked (Ok, Aaron got to ride in the stroller) a 1 mile course while I ran in the timed 5K (3.1 miles) event. I have been planning for this since early March and have been training on a treadmill in the basement. It was important for me to run the whole race and I was able to do so, just not very fast. I finished in 46:18 (9.27 min/km)which was 75th out of 76 in my age group and 1601st out of 1643 timed runners. This year was about finishing, though I definitely have some room to improve as far as speed goes. The winner of the race finished in about 1/3 my time.

The atmosphere was electric and awe-inspiring. This is the largest participatory event in NW Ohio and I believe it as we had over 17,000 people here today. After the Race we went into the downtown baseball stadium where Alex got to run around the warning track with other kids his age. The picture with a large pink FINISH banner in the middle of the photo has Alex right in the center of it. His finish was also televised live on our local CBS affiliate. After that there were some speeches and stories about some amazing women who had gone through breast cancer's crucible, culminating in a large pink ribbon made on the field by all of the survivors in their pink shirts. It's hard to tell but that's the picture second from the bottom. Over all the local affilliate raised $86,156 for breast cancer education and research. We'll defintiely be back next year.

Alex's Calendar Art

We opened up our 2006-2007 School Calendar and we were delighted to see that one of Alex's pictures from Art class last year was featured for the December entry. It is titled "Snowy Day" and has his name listed on the side of the picture. If you couldn't figure it out, the snow boy is holding a Super Snowflake.

Aaron's Fall 2006 Pictures

These pictures make is look easy, but these don't showcase the tears and cajoling involved in making the magic happen. What a great set - He looks like a little man.

A Moment of Silence

We stopped off at the Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery where Becky's grandmother, Charlene Hess, is buried. She died before Becky was born, but she was beautiful from the pictures we've seen. Some other relatives are buried there as well. Aaron came over and sat next to his great-grandmother without a clue as to why he was there. Life goes on.

More Fun in Cincy

Today we spent the morning relaxing and playing in Cincinnati with our friends. Becky practiced her hair-wrapping skills on Rachel before her soccer game. She loved it and hinted that she'd like her entire head covered in wrapped hair. Aaron and Ben had a blast playing with bubbles in the driveway. I taught Ben how to blow big bubbles by blowing slower, and of course Aaron loves the big bubbles. We posed in our Race for the Cure shirts we made since we think it'll be hard to get a group picture next weekend. Our time was too short, so we'll need to try to come back soon.

A Day Out With Thomas

Last night we drove down to Cincinnati to see friends that we've known since medical school. We got all eight of us together to head to nearby Lebanon, OH to a local train station that was hosting "A Day Out With Thomas". Thomas the Train is a TV show featuring Thomas, a "really useful engine" who works on the island of Sodor. The show looks like it is filmed on a model train set. Here however, he was full-sized. After getting balloon trains made (look at the blue ballon in Alex's hand and use your imagination), watching a magician, running through a hay maze, feeding goats in a petting zoo and enjoying a snowcone, we got to ride for 25 minutes on Thomas. The kids really enjoyed the day out.

How To Discard a Trash Can

If you ever wanted to know how to discard a trash can that has seen better days, this is it. The lid had a hole EATEN into it by some desperate creature this winter and the bottom was almost completely worn out by repeated dragging on pavement. This can followed us here from St. Louis. We'll miss it. OK, not really. Good Riddance.

Becky's Semi-Homemade Brownies

One of Becky's favorite TV chefs is Sandra Lee from the TV Food Network. Her show (and books), titled Semi-Homemade Cooking, focus on using store-bought starters for recipes that you then add your own touches to make something even better. Becky used a Kroger brownie mix, but added chocolate chunks and made her own chocolate ganosh to coat the top - much better than frosting-in-a-can. She used left-over frosting packets to write on them for the Maumee Valley Parents Association dinner we went to tonight. The bad news is that these were so popular, that she's been asked to make them for several future MVPA functions. Ah, the price of fame.

Labor Day - Friends, Tangrams and Smoking Butt

We spent the day at home today since there was no work or school (OK, I ran to the office for a couple of hours to get caught up). Alex had a friend over for a playdate and picnic. Aaron has started putting together object to make shapes (lining up blocks to make a triangle, for example). So today we pulled out Alex's tangram shape pieces and they made several patterns. Some on cards like Alex's robot and some self-created like Aaron's organic-line-of circles-with-nearby-triangles. Not his best work, but he was proud of it.

Since we were home all afternoon, I decided to tackle a smoked pork butt (which is really the shoulder) on the grill. They cook by indirect dry heat, which is technically roasting, but every hour I would add fresh wet mesquite chips to a smoker box or in a foil packet. The addition of smoke turned it from roasting to true barbequeing. Ok, I know I watch too much of Alton Brown on the TV Food Network, but I have to bite my tongue when I'm invited to a barbeque and they serve grilled burgers. Keep in mind that I love grilling and most of what I do on the grill is grilling (go figure). But real barbequeing with a rub and wood smoke takes a lot of time, but as Alton always says, "Your patience will be rewarded." It will be. Tomorrow. Turns out I started the day out with the grill heat set @ 250-300 and I think it would have done better closer to 350. After 10 hours on the grill and all of my wood chips later, we brought it in, stuck it in the fridge, and we'll finish it in the oven tomorrow. I can't wait :).