Miss Ruth, Losing It

I pretended to be an adult yesterday and chaperoned a field trip Maddie's school took to an apple orchard. It was the usual crazy mix of ear-splitting noise and bewildering chaos that we all know and love. Her poor teacher, Miss Ruth. I saw the look of quiet desperation in her eyes at several points in the day, the look of fleeting sanity that usually precedes the onset of a debilitating panic attack. One of the boys took off and wandered through the orchards as Miss Ruth counted the children again and again, hoping to get the right number this time (26). She didn't seem to like my reminder that "25: close enough" was probably not acceptable for a count like this. The boy was eventually found wandering in the playground area a quarter of a mile away. Apparently he didn't realize he was lost, he though the rest of us were lost.

The other kids, oblivious to Miss Ruth's pain, had a blast.

Stashing, Dashing

Mads: "Mommy, Brookie is done with her bottle & has a milk-stache!!!"

Bothering It

Maddie, rubbing her eye: "Something is bothering it"

Mommy: "Like a hair?"

Mads: "No like an eyeball"

A Flurry Of Curry

A Reading Moment

Nan came over last week and read a book to Madison as part of a school assignment. Maddie loved it...here's a "moment".

Folding

Madison decided to fold the socks!

It's Falling!

Mask

Trying It On

It was quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen, and I've seen cute.

Brooke was trying to put this shoe on her foot. She kept trying to position her leg so that she could make this work, but she didn't quite have the concept down yet.

Nonetheless, she was having fun, as you can see.

Lava Cake

I don't think I ever showed you the custom Transformers birthday cake I made for Zach. So, in the interest of correcting that miscalculation, here it is!

Apple

Inner Dancer

Maddie embraced her inner dancer this week and participated in her ballet class! We were so proud of her for marching into the studio and not being shy as she learned the first of her ballet positions. Her favorite position was doing whatever it was she felt like doing at a given moment, but she'll come around :)

Her Very Own

Maddie has been eyeing Zach's LEGOs with envious eyes lately, so when it came time to get her something to take her mind off her ear tubes procedure, we just couldn't resist giving her this set of very girly bricks to start her own collection. And she loves them!

Hell, Frozen Over

The planets have all lined up. Hell hath frozen over. The moon is blue.

Heather had time to scrapbook this weekend!

Green Dinosaur

Zaxophone!

Our little guy has taken up a new instrument! Last year's recorder was a bit limited for the scale of his musical ambition, so this time around he's got himself a shiny new Yamaha Alto Sax!

Look out Charlie, Cannonball, and John. Here comes Zach.

Meet My Davatar!

A Nice Grungy Reverend Amp

Fraidy

1 Infinite Loop

One of the things us Apple devotees love about our favorite consumer electronics company is the attention to detail they design into everything they make. The level of software-hardware integration, the gorgeous and snappy user interfaces, and all the other little touches that remind us just how fanatical Steve and his crazy band of engineers are about every aspect, every pixel of their designs.

So I suppose I shouldn't have been very surprised at what I just learned about the map icon that I stare at every day on my iPhone screen. It looks like one of those things that must be a generic drawing of a map, something that was created just to look good in icon form. But it's not. It's actually a real map. And not just any map. It depicts the site of Apple's World Headquarters:

1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

CompuServe

It was 30 years ago today that the first consumer dial-up computer online service opened for business. Just think of how much our lives have changed since then. And how much they will change in the next 30 years.

Rhinoswordus

Mommy: "I have a sore in my nose & it hurts".

Mads: "I have a sword in my nose too!".

Flying Peanuts

Zach cannot bring peanuts of any form into his school because some kid in his class has an "Airborne Peanut Allergy". That confuses me, because if the kid is only allergic to flying peanuts, how come Zach can't bring in their terrestrial-bound cousins?

Shamoooooo

Did you ever notice that cows and killer whales have basically the same paint job?

Just wondering.

Potions

Ok, call me a geek if you want, but I think it's way cool that Jones Soda is making a line of Dungeons & Dragons sodas! Where were these 25 years ago?

MeetMe @ Wilson's Cheese Shoppe

I have this really cool iPhone app that take two addresses and comes up with a place to meet halfway in between them. It really works great.

Just for fun, I wondered where I could meet my sister Mary for lunch halfway between Harbor Springs and Troy.

And here's the answer: Wilson's Cheese Shoppe, in Pinconning. It's very close to half way. This app will even mail the appropriate Google directions to both parties! How cool is that?


P.S. Zach, Maddie, Or Brooke: if you happen to be reading these words many years from now, go ahead and laugh. I know you'll have way cooler gadgets and software. But for us, stuck here in 2009, this is pretty sweet stuff!

Kernals

Grampapa left some fresh farm corn on our porch this weekend. As you can see, we did not let it go to waste.

"Don't Get Wet!"

Heather took this wonderful shot, one of the best of the wedding.

Brookaroni & Cheese!

Drums

Rolling Black Hills

As we approached Copper Harbor, we drove over a stretch of perfect new blacktop covering a rolling landscape that seemed custom-designed for fun. The kids (ok, and me & Heather too) all loved the roller coaster feeling of riding up and down the smooth black hills at speed. It was magical.

Zoo Mammals

Heather had to work this Sunday so I took the mammals to the zoo! We had a great time, it was a beautiful day and we even rode the train!

Oh, and I put in an order for a couple of the hard-to-get Coraline snow globes!

Undefeated, So Far

Zach's team, the Vikings, had their first game Saturday, and they are a pretty good team. Coach Jay led them to a nice victory. Zach made some great contributions on defense, including three acrobatic flag-grabs! Better still, he's having a blast this year!

Log Cabin 7A

This was our home in Copper Harbor.

A Touch Of Grownup

Heathersmiles

The Mohawkinator

Zach has a very vivid imagination, and he expresses it in various ways. Here is a cyborg creation he calls "The Mohawkinator".

Another Chance For Dance

Cute as a button she was, but she had no intention of stepping into the dance studio without a fight. She clung to Heather like a baby Koala. So she missed her first ballet lesson last week.

But all hope is not lost. We're going to try again this Wednesday. She said "Next week you and mommy will be very happy".

At Work, And Play