Sunrise

What a beautiful way to begin a day.

A Watchful Eye

Trying to decide if the croc is friend or foe.

Ahhh Tucker...

First lets start with -The bed was made that morning. Quite often I come home to an unmade bed and wonder why. One morning I found out, Tucker scoots the covers  out of his way, he prefers to sleep on the sheets!
When I first looked in on the sleeping critters Tucker was laying with his feet in the other direction. When he rolled over this is what it looked like. He really has know idea how big he is or where his feet are.

Dickens wasn't quite sure what to make of the sleeping arrangements.

Especially when the big paw ended up wrapped around him!

IELA Project

 The first big project of the school year was in IELA. The students had to pick a topic that involed an American military conflict. CJ chose to write about how Russian tanks helped the Allies win WWII. The report was to be hand written on an 11x17(approx) sheet of paper folded in thirds like a brochure. Pictures were also required. When he was done with the rough draft he had 5 notebook pages filled with his story. Knowing that it would never fit, he called his friend Carol to help condense his masterpiece. It was fascinating listening to Carol ask questions that would get CJ thinking and therefore condensing. It was also fun to listen to CJ and Carol interact. It gave me a glimpse of the CJ that everyone tells me about. CJ turned in the condensed version and I will keep the novella version in his 8th grade memory box.

Halloween

 The Halloween goblins were on our side this year as the rain ended just in time for trick-or-treat to begin.
We had to buy firewood this year since ours was/is so waterlogged. We found that sitting in front of a paid for fire was just as good as a free fire. The neighbors once again joined us around the fire while we waited to hand out candy. This year most of the area celebrated on Halloween so it was a slow evening which was just fine for us. CJ opted to stay home this year so having leftover candy was not a problem!

Steve

CJ

Mary

What do boys do when they no longer go out for Halloween?
Target practice, of course!

DC Souvenirs

NCIS attire, plane, bomb shelter, astronaut ice cream.
The older he gets the more he remains the same.

The 8th Grade Goes to DC

The 8th grade trip to DC is something of a right of passage for middleschoolers in Central Ohio. The buses left at 6am Monday morning and returned just before 10pm Friday night. In between the kids learned much more than the probably realize. Not only did they learn of the history of our great country but they learned a lot about themselves during the week without parents.

 These are just a few of CJ's pictures from the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And So Begins 8th Grade

The beginning of school this year was the beginning of CJ's year of Big Man on Campus. He and his fellow 8th graders began their day by grabbing those most coveted seats in the back of the bus.

This year they will be ending their day with advisory and academic assist rather than beginning it that way. I think this will be a good change for CJ.  

Another sign of a good year to come is that according to CJ he has 'the best teachers' for his 8th grade team.

For the first time since he began school we do not have a first day of school picture. It was yet another rainy day (yep, just like the last day of 7th grade). The good news is that the school pictures this year came with a cd and a release to be able to use the picture any way I want! So here it is.

A Lovely Day to Sit Outside...

Cello lessons at Otterbein have been a great time for me to sit and enjoy the sun and do some reading.

When CJ's lesson was over he joined me on my blanket. We enjoyed a picnic dinner and watched the clouds go by.

We watched this cloud move across the sky and wondered if it would end our picnic. It did, but we did have enough time to finish dinner first.

We drove home in the rain with full bellies and pictures of cloud animals in our heads.

Yike - Skunks

 This summer has been a very smelly summer. Just about every dog in the neighborhood has been sprayed, a few more than once.
Tucker was no exception.
One beautiful summer evening we were at our neighbors enjoying a lovely bonfire and roasting marshmallows. There was the sound of animals in the nearby pine trees that we wrongly assumed was raccoons. Tucker took off and ran head first into a momma skunk. I have never seen a group of people scatter so quickly. Tucker and Steve headed for our backyard, I headed for the odor removal ingredients and CJ ran inside away from the smell. Tucker got bathed twice with the hydrogen peroxide solution and was fairly stink free by bedtime. His leather collar didn't fare quite as well. Here it is soaking in the solution, after a while we gave up and bought a new collar.

Jersey Tomatoes

On the way home from vacation we stopped at a roadside farmers market for some Jersey tomatoes. It didn't matter that we were in Delaware, they were still Jersey tomatoes.
A Jersey tomato is unlike any other tomato I have tasted and makes my mouth water just thinking about them. I thought about how to make the most of my 3 lovely tomatoes and decided on a tomato sandwich to get the full effect of the luscious flavor. So off to the store I went for some squishy white bread (although I did buy the one with a bit of whole grain). That afternoon's lunch was simply yummy. Something that will keep me in happy thoughts this winter.

Vacation in Ocean City, MD

Summer Vacation 2011 found us back at one of our favorite spots - Ocean City, Maryland.
Do I look happy?  Do I look ready to relax?
Yur' darn tooting I do!

This year logged a ton of beach time under the shade of our new umbrella. It was a great year for sun worshipping and doing nothing.  Newspapers and books got read cover to cover, naps, Frisbee and football catches rounded out most of our days. 

It wasn't more than an hour or two of arrival that the first hole to China was constructed. The boys got pretty far until the tide got the better of them.  China is a little damper now. 

CJ's picture reflects the epitome of vacation this year - plenty of relaxation.  The chilly and rough water had something to do with it - it was funny to see a majority of the people standing on the edge of the water, about ankle deep, but not going in.  There were a few brave (or stubborn) people like Steve who got in - I heard it was refreshing - Hah!

This picture shows how rough the surf was for a majority of the week.  The shallow parts were very rough - lots brush burns from people getting thrown down.  The waves were tall and powerful - tough to get over.  And did I already mention that it was COLD!

The (not so) little boy mentioned that he wanted to be a mechanical designer for La-Z-Boy...he just might have a future after all.

Ah.... the Dogfish Head Brewery in Rehobeth Beach!  Great beer (the 90 minute IPA is highly, highly recommended), great food and awesome Ginger Ale according to CJ.  It was about an hour from Ocean City, but definitely worth the trip.  We'll probably make it a stop on our next trip.

It wouldn't be a complete summer without a few battle field re-creations:  Gettysburg, Normandy and others.  It was nice to know that CJ didn't forget all of what he learned this past year.

It was a great year for hanging out with each other.  In this spot we were waiting to get into a very cool, (literally and figuratively) family owned Italian Restaurant on the boardwalk.  The closeness was short lived however, CJ ate the linguine with a garlic clam sauce.  Thank goodness it was a breezy week. 

"I am bronze!"...can't you tell?