No Way! Not Again!!

When we got home from our short trip to Albion
we parked in the garage and after unloading the car I went
to our front door, opened it, and noticed all this
trash on our front mat.

Remembering an incident from last spring, I immediately looked up at our front door to discover the source of the mess.

Some clever bird had again made a nest in our wreath. Last year we discovered
the nest after the bird had laid her eggs and so felt that we couldn't disturb her
nursery. You wouldn't believe the mess we had to deal with for over a month!
Our front door was constantly covered with mudd, bird poop, etc. until the
little darlings were hatched and old enough to leave the nest. As you can see,
if you look closely at the pictures, the mess had already begun.

Fortunately for us, we got home in time to avert disaster.
I know a lot of hard work went into the building of this
prime property, but she should have asked first!

Since the nest was empty, we felt free to take over our
front door and remove the unwanted nest. We have now posted
a no trespassing sign on our front porch (in the form of a very
scary looking plastic owl) and hope that will save these squatters from
wasting a lot of precious time, especially when they are in a
"motherly condition" and time is of the essence!

Banana Bikes...Yikes!

As all of you who attended the great Family Thingy of 2009 know, there was plenty to entertain us at Campus Grove.
One day, a few families contributed to the rental fee of several banana bikes and the fun began.
Almost everyone gave it a try. They came in two sizes, one size fit this guy, Cool Gus Esplin...

...and the other size worked well for this slick chick, Sara Strasser

From the look on Amy's face, I'm thinking she was hoping for one a little longer...

....and Homer was hoping for a motorized version

These aren't the only troupers.....I got a few more shots of some of the others willing to give these vehicles a try. Check out part II

Banana Bikes continued

David proved he was man enough (or was it boy enough) to give the contraption a try!

Megan could zip around with the best of them

Eden looks more like she's sunning herself on a deck chair than roaring around on a bike

Cord had to squeeze himself on the kiddie bike as he wasn't quite long enough for the big guy bike

That ends another fun activity at the Family Thingy series. I think we'll check out the City of Rocks next.

Hot Tubbin' It

There were lots of things to entertain us at the Family Thingy, but hanging out in the hot tub
seemed to be one of the favorites for the younger set.
You can't tell it from these pictures, but it was breezy and in the 50's outside
as these brave youngsters donned their suits and headed into the warm waters of
the HOT TUB.
Sara and Amanda were the life guards on duty at this session.
Amanda is keeping warm thru pregnancy, but Sara is appropriately bundled up in her ski coat,
indicating her arrival at adulthood.
Only kiddies, like Tucker, shown here, can brave those temperatures
soaking wet.

Howie is obviously having a fabulous time, despite the cool temperature. Keep looking, as this is just the first of 3 in the series on Hot Tubbin' It

Hot Tubbin' It continued

Tucker looking cute and rosy faced

Becca, sporting a bit of suds

Ella, floating dangerously near Tuckers posterior

Wini, with her fancy hairdo

One last series of photos, so keep looking

Hot Tubbin' It continued

Violet looks a bit disgusted with something about Wini

Teddy, who must be relieved to have his hair out of his eyes for a change!

Violet, looking a little happier

Hazel, trying to get a little sun on her face

This concludes the series on Hot Tubbin'. Tune in again, cause there was
lots of fun to be had on the amazing Family Thingy 2009!

A Few of the Attendees continued

Darling picture of Tucker and Wini bonding over a game on the DS

Hyrum trying to figure out how to put his model ship back together

This was the only picture I could find of Michele; just wanted
everyone to know she was there

Love this picture of Howie enjoying his last meal at Campus Grove

I know that some of the attendees where not pictured in this series, but hopefully
I have some shots of you in other activities that I will feature in future posts
I'm loving reliving the good times!!!

A Few of the Attendees continued

My fabulous son-in-law, Anthony (that's Eden in the background)

I had to be quick to get this shot of Violet on the run

Ella, proudly showing off her craft project of the day

The fabulous 7 of generation 3 enjoying kicking the 'bums' of generation 1 & 2 in a
lively game of ...........you guessed it....CHARADES

One last installment of "A Few of the Attendees" to come

A Few Attendees continued

The always lovely Frances, who never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Bailey, Maddie, Cord, and Calvin; the awesome foursome!

Gus enjoying his bowl of potato cheese soup, just like his brother, Homer

Tom with his little clone, Atticus. That's Violet sandwiched in between

A Few of the Attendees continued

Laurie, whose always a big help in the kitchen.

Gus, showing off his muscles that allowed him to carry in that HUGE watermellon all by himself!

Sam, Dan, and Mom taking time from visiting to pose for a picture for posterity's sake.

Emily, looking pretty in pink!

More to come. Must do it in shifts of FOUR

A Few of the Attendees

Just a few of the people who attended our Great Family Thingy
Mark, showing off his new physique

Homer, chowing down on some great potato cheese soup.

Mom getting her picture taken with her great granddaughter, Sara, who she met for the first time!

Katie and Atticus, taking the time to pose. Doesn't he look great with his new haircut?

You may have noticed that I have posted 4 pictures at once.
That's because my extremely sharp mind figured out how to do more than 1 picture at a time.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to post more than 4. I'll have to keep working on that one.