Without dogs it can be easy to forget to go outside once Spring comes and the weather is nice. I mean, if we just had kids and no dogs this might be our summer.
But we do have dogs, and as much as they have a natural affinity with Winter, I think they like the warmer weather better. Although they do need to dig a den for themselves to help keep cool.
Following their lead, out we go. Getting the patio furniture broken in, making sure every chair gets sat upon after a long Winter break.
Perhaps the reason the dogs love the warm weather so much is because other animals love the warmer weather. Out come the squirrels.
Calli is indifferent, but Cole doesn't like it when we "figure him out." Perhaps he figured we all thought he was playing 9-dimensional chess with us. Wait, he's a husky, so why would he like warmer weather? He's bred for Winter. And he sits outside for hours in the snow. But is he doing that just to throw us off the reality of how he feels? Has he had a plan all along to put himself up to be something he's not? Does he do that to gain benefits in places like food, or baby-purchases?
But if you look closely in those eyes, you can hear the man turning the wheel on the music box and the little monkey dancing. Do-do-dodo-dodo-do-do-do-do.
Keeping up the outside, Levi feeds pigs. Funny enough, I think he might have fed pigs a number of times before. But I only have pictures with other animals fed during the same trips, and in keeping with the trend of the before/after combos, here's one photo fly through of the years 2009-2018.
One time - big surprise, outside - I was struck by Levi's maturity. He was sitting with an audiobook, playing with his hair and staring off into the distance. For some reason I had a feeling of wanting to let his birth mother know what he was doing, and for her to see the boy I was looking at. Taking the picture doesn't fully capture that moment, but it's a reminder for me and I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling when I took this picture.
Funny enough there was a second picture in recent days where I had the feeling of the picture being one of those iconic ones that capture a boy in his true level of maturity. Or maybe it's just the violin that makes him look mature.
The performance was pretty tight. Levi is too hard on himself. Kidding, the second picture was a still from a video where he rubbed his eye while he was just sitting. Not that he didn't miss at least a few notes, but he's like his dad on a string instrument - more important to have fun than be technically precise.
Drum roll please.............. Eva is making an appearance in this installment. A great visit, counterintuitively, as shown with relatively few photographs. One of those annoying weekends where I was too busy enjoying the moment to sit and record the whole thing. Having nothing but fun doing nothing but being together, we celebrated with her first ever box of Pocky that she owned (she's had them once before, but never her own) and a bottle of swill. That puzzle was finished about 3 hours after this photo was taken. Eva put in the last piece.
Doesn't everyone who rents a house on vacation get invited to a farm to take a horse carriage ride? Gee, it happens to us all the time. Here is Fudge Sunday, a miniature horse. Before you put the harness on you have to clean the horse.
Then, after heading out it is important to wave like royalty.
As good as an impromtu horse-drawn carriage ride is, the highlight of both days was the pool. Big surprise, 95 degree weather both days, and whole lot of nothing to do. Well, that and a bucket of oysters at Bird's. This girl.
The only other thing of note was a bunch of laughing. When a girl with the weight of the world on hear shoulders gets to relax, she does it with gusto, you bet!
And Eva is for sure a great kid to wake up to in the morning. After she comes into the room, if there is no reason to get up, we could easily spend another hour just gabbing about life.
How do you know you have the best kids in the world? One way is when you see them each go out of their way to care for the smallest creatures. On a bike ride around campus last weekend Levi stopped and went back to help a worm that was on the sidewalk and likely wouldn't make it to the grass before it died from the heat. Then, while walking out of the grocery store Eva noticed a grasshopper on the floor after the checkouts. So I grabbed the receipt and we helped it on to the paper, then carried it out of the store. Very uncommon kindness, and it says so much about the character of each of them.
For his part, Levi with Alexis long enough to get a boy haircut at the youth talent show.
But then quickly ditched her once Parker came on to the scene.
I mean, if he didn't, how could he ever be in the position to have what might be his first ever Stand By Me moment? Good times.
But we do have dogs, and as much as they have a natural affinity with Winter, I think they like the warmer weather better. Although they do need to dig a den for themselves to help keep cool.
Following their lead, out we go. Getting the patio furniture broken in, making sure every chair gets sat upon after a long Winter break.
Perhaps the reason the dogs love the warm weather so much is because other animals love the warmer weather. Out come the squirrels.
Calli is indifferent, but Cole doesn't like it when we "figure him out." Perhaps he figured we all thought he was playing 9-dimensional chess with us. Wait, he's a husky, so why would he like warmer weather? He's bred for Winter. And he sits outside for hours in the snow. But is he doing that just to throw us off the reality of how he feels? Has he had a plan all along to put himself up to be something he's not? Does he do that to gain benefits in places like food, or baby-purchases?
But if you look closely in those eyes, you can hear the man turning the wheel on the music box and the little monkey dancing. Do-do-dodo-dodo-do-do-do-do.
Keeping up the outside, Levi feeds pigs. Funny enough, I think he might have fed pigs a number of times before. But I only have pictures with other animals fed during the same trips, and in keeping with the trend of the before/after combos, here's one photo fly through of the years 2009-2018.
One time - big surprise, outside - I was struck by Levi's maturity. He was sitting with an audiobook, playing with his hair and staring off into the distance. For some reason I had a feeling of wanting to let his birth mother know what he was doing, and for her to see the boy I was looking at. Taking the picture doesn't fully capture that moment, but it's a reminder for me and I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling when I took this picture.
Funny enough there was a second picture in recent days where I had the feeling of the picture being one of those iconic ones that capture a boy in his true level of maturity. Or maybe it's just the violin that makes him look mature.
The performance was pretty tight. Levi is too hard on himself. Kidding, the second picture was a still from a video where he rubbed his eye while he was just sitting. Not that he didn't miss at least a few notes, but he's like his dad on a string instrument - more important to have fun than be technically precise.
Drum roll please.............. Eva is making an appearance in this installment. A great visit, counterintuitively, as shown with relatively few photographs. One of those annoying weekends where I was too busy enjoying the moment to sit and record the whole thing. Having nothing but fun doing nothing but being together, we celebrated with her first ever box of Pocky that she owned (she's had them once before, but never her own) and a bottle of swill. That puzzle was finished about 3 hours after this photo was taken. Eva put in the last piece.
Doesn't everyone who rents a house on vacation get invited to a farm to take a horse carriage ride? Gee, it happens to us all the time. Here is Fudge Sunday, a miniature horse. Before you put the harness on you have to clean the horse.
Then, after heading out it is important to wave like royalty.
As good as an impromtu horse-drawn carriage ride is, the highlight of both days was the pool. Big surprise, 95 degree weather both days, and whole lot of nothing to do. Well, that and a bucket of oysters at Bird's. This girl.
The only other thing of note was a bunch of laughing. When a girl with the weight of the world on hear shoulders gets to relax, she does it with gusto, you bet!
And Eva is for sure a great kid to wake up to in the morning. After she comes into the room, if there is no reason to get up, we could easily spend another hour just gabbing about life.
How do you know you have the best kids in the world? One way is when you see them each go out of their way to care for the smallest creatures. On a bike ride around campus last weekend Levi stopped and went back to help a worm that was on the sidewalk and likely wouldn't make it to the grass before it died from the heat. Then, while walking out of the grocery store Eva noticed a grasshopper on the floor after the checkouts. So I grabbed the receipt and we helped it on to the paper, then carried it out of the store. Very uncommon kindness, and it says so much about the character of each of them.
For his part, Levi with Alexis long enough to get a boy haircut at the youth talent show.
But then quickly ditched her once Parker came on to the scene.
I mean, if he didn't, how could he ever be in the position to have what might be his first ever Stand By Me moment? Good times.
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