Fall is here

Justin has been really busy.  He joined a fall soccer team.  He plays every Sunday afternoon for six weeks.  He's had two games so far.  He's having a blast.

And he just got his green stripe belt in taekwon-do.  He's been practicing really hard and he passed his test.

Excellent form. . . and a great haircut.  Haha.

Digging up worms in the back yard.  Don't worry Jichan.  We put all of the bricks back.

Wednesday was Yom Kippur so the boys were out of school.  We took the opportunity to go to The Holden Arboritum.  They just opened a canopy walk and emergent tower.

It is 120 feet high.  Justin and I made it to the top.  Colin made it halfway.

The canopy walk was fun.  It's 65' high and very shaky.  Bachan would not like it.

We saw this critter on the way.

Afterwards, Grandma came over and watched the boys til Jamie got home.  She brought cookies, lots of food and jigsaw puzzles for the boys.  Thanks Grandma.

Thursday dinner with Leela.

It's football season and once again I am playing fantasy football in the Northern Holiday's league.  The Billygoats are 1-1 so far this season.  Go Goats.

The boys and I have been reading Harry Potter every morning for the past month or so.  We just finished the first of seven books.  Afterwards we watched the movie.  We are all hooked and can't wait to start the second book. 

Colin is still losing teeth faster than he can grow them.

Justin still likes showing off his.

This is the valley view bridge.  It is 212 feet high and almost a mile long.  There have been two cars that have crashed and fallen off of it and a few others that almost went.  I drive over it everyday on my way to and from work.

This is the newest billboard on the bridge.  I was a bit shocked by this and assumed other people would be too.  So I went on the internet to investigate.  It turns out enough people have complained so it is going to be removed.  They said the complaints were about it being too racy and in poor taste.  I thought it was more of a safety issue.  Not that I was distracted by it or anything.

Congrats to Lori on the new house.  Can't wait to visit.  Have a great week everyone.  See ya soon.

Labor Day Weekend

It was Labor Day at our house.  Natalie came in Friday evening.  Matt and the kids came in Sunday and stayed til Monday morning.  And Pete, Sandy, Sammy, Sarah and Grandma came over Sunday for dinner.

We followed Natalie's advice and put the swing on the playground set.

Saturday we went fishing at Punderson State Park.

Colin still won't put a worm on the hook or take the fish off the hook but he will kiss the fish.

Justin caught the first fish.  Colin caught the biggest fish.

Nate even did some fishing.  I don't think Greenpeace will be happy about this.

After a relaxing Sunday morning everyone started coming over.  The kids got right to work climbing trees...

Playing on the playset...

And of course some quality ipad time.

For dinner we grilled steak, tuna and vegetables and Jamie made sweet potato fries.  But the big hit was grandma's jello cake.

After dinner was wine for the adults and flashlight tag for the kids.

Go get 'em Danny.

Thanks for coming over everyone.

Uncle Nick, Brook and Reagan stopped by Monday afternoon to hang out.

In other news...

We saw this band at Legacy Village a couple weeks ago.  The boys just wanted tickle time.

Colin bought this engine at Costco.  The boys and I put it together last week.  We learned that Nicholas Otto holds the patent on the engine.  Our neighbor - Howard Otto - is the great grandson (or nephew) of Nicholas.  We even went over and talked to him about it.  

Have a great week.  See you soon.

Kelley's Island

We went camping at Kelley's Island again this year.  The last summer trip before school starts.

The kids had a blast cooking.

Playing cornhole.

And making spears in preparation for the big battle.

Danny did a great job keeping up with the big kids.

The Higgs (John, Stacy and Colton) joined us for the weekend.  Thanks to them we had everything we needed for cooking and cleaning (and coffee).  Thanks guys.

We had a monsoon the first night and the sun was really hot on Saturday afternoon so we used a tarp to make some shade.

Lunchtime.

They're up to something.

After a relaxing evening of eating drinking and various island activities everyone retired to their tents for a good nights sleep - except Tami who is allergic to camping.  So she drove back to her boat and spent the night there.  It was a great trip.  Can't wait to do it again next year.

This redtail hawk flew into our back window.  The boys and Jamie saw it happen.  They said it was chasing a smaller bird.  It spent a few minutes recovering on the playset before flying off.

Here's the swing I've been working on.  We haven't decided where to put it yet.  Any ideas?

Have a good week.  See you soon.