The World's Dumbest Animal

This woodpecker has been pecking at my windows all morning. I shoo him away and he comes back one minute later and starts again. He is driving me insane. I love nature but if he doesn't realize the futility of his efforts he may be getting to know Raif's BB gun soon......(j/k).

Austin...

What can we say about Austin....we got to spend the weekend with people who are more family than friends. We laughed til we cried and stayed up til the wee hours of the morning just talking and drinking. Had some incredible food and a lot of fun in the water. Oh and the kids were around somewhere too....

The bonus of the trip was a chance to see our friends Steve, Elissa and Reagan again and get to meet their adorable new daughter Abbie.

Hudson on the dig for dinosaur fossils

Here you can see the different parenting styles....Hudson nicely sitting on the rock...my children smack dab in the middle of the water fully clothed

I intend to bring this picture out again roughly the time they both hit high school....

Just chillin'

Reagan hamming for the camera

Raif giving Elissa a break, getting to know Abbie and reminiscing of days gone by....


Page and I and our redneck airbags...

Is This How VanGogh Started??

For the second year in a row I took Quinn to art camp at Cheekwood. Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed - we had the same teacher as last year and so we did a couple of the same projects. Quinn however, was not disappointed in the least. She had fun coloring, painting, gluing and even getting to do a clay project.

What I enjoyed most was a whole week of one-on-one time with my daughter.


(Quinn's interpretation of Van Gogh's starry night)

Recital Video

Here is what you have all been waiting for....the debut of Quinn (and Raif)!! And yes, the voice at the beginning and the end is Greyson.

Fairy Princess

My cousin Lisa has a daughter a couple of years older than Quinn and every once in awhile she sends a little hand me down Quinn's way. This past Friday, my parents arrived with a dress that Lisa had sent Quinn via my Aunt Frances (thanks Lisa). It took 5 minutes after my parents got here for Quinn to discover it and 5 seconds after that to determine that it indeed was a fairy princess dress and that it NEEDED to be worn - along with coordinating tiara and fairy wand.


And about 5 minutes after she put it on Greyson realized that the fairy princess needed to be friended by the valiant Sir Greyson and off he went to put on his knight costume....


(By the way doesn't this sort of look like a Charlie's Angels pose picture??)

We have a wedding to go to in September and I am hoping that the dress will last until then! Thanks again Lisa (and Aunt Frances)!!

The Recital

If you ever want a good afternoon, you need to take in a little girl's recital sometime. Quinn's recital yesterday had it all...heartwarming moments like Quinn's class dancing with their Daddies, hysterical moments like this one three year old who spent half her dance blowing a feather that had fallen off her head across the stage and one bad moment when this pre-teen's pants ripped off during a tap number - she was a trooper though who kept dancing and smiling throughout. All in all it was a really cute performance and thankfully short...Ms. Cherie had it done in 3 acts with parents clearing out after each act so you really only had to watch your child and a couple of other dances.

Admittedly, these aren't the best photos. I was trying to photograph and watch at the same time and didn't do a test photo before Quinn started. The video is much better. I am hoping to get it up shortly. We took the video on our old recorder that still uses tape not my fancy camera (since I was taking pics with that) so I need to figure out how to upload it but I will try diligently (aka bother Raif constantly until he does it) to get it out soon. Until then please enjoy the stills from Quinn's big day....

Quinn's Professional Ballet Pictures

Nini, let me know if you want me to bring a copy of one or both of these pictures to the Bahamas in July....