Boise

So over Memorial Day weekend we went to Boise, well kinda.  We planted watermelons on Monday,  and by we I included myself this time.  I helped Peter do the planting--in the greenhouse.  But onto fun, we did this a little anniversery present to ourselves and made a family weekend of it.  I only took pictures of one day because as I mentioned our camera is broken and were using Micah's.  He hadn't recharged his battery and there were a ton thrown away to boot.  

But we had a lot of fun!  On Saturday we went to Cracker Barrel and then headed to the Discovery Center.  The interactive items were mostly about kinetic energy.  The boys enjoyed manipulating all the displays.

This is not your typical arcade grab the toy game.  It was an actual robotic arm with shoulder and elbow joints included.  Micah did much better than I did.  Who's surprised?  No raised hands, hmm.
This was, umm--I can't remember, but I did have to pull him away from it.
Esther's favorite item.  She was learning about being even cuter, oh wait-- no, it was reflections.
Abraham learning about centrifugal force.
Esther spending more time being cute.  When I shot this I thought, "What if there really were four of her?"  Mommy would be in big trouble!
If you look closely you can see the bubble that Samuel is blowing.  The kids really liked this one.
Then we stopped by some friends' house.  They moved to Boise in December.  They are all really happy there.  It was nice to see how settled and happy they are, as well as getting a chance to visit.

Then we checked into our hotel and went to Red Robin for dinner.  It was a hit with everyone!  

I didn't get any pictures from Sunday(the battery problem), but it was mostly shopping and swimming.  We got some Krispy Kremes before we left Boise.  It was nice to get some real donuts, but they aren't as good as Dunkin'.

What a guy!

Yesterday was water day at Samuel's school.  I didn't get any pictures for two reasons.  One is that Esther was asleep when I dropped Samuel off.  The other is that our camera's main lens is broken.  It's been breaking for awhile, about 2 years, and now won't work at all.  So there are no pictures from the water day to show.  

During water day the kids are encouraged to bring squirt guns to play with.  I saw this a couple of years ago.  It doesn't turn out well because the older kids get self-important, take the younger kids guns, and just decide that they deserve them.  This happened to Samuel's friend, Alex.  So yesterday when I went to pick Samuel up his teacher stopped me to tell me she was very proud of Samuel.  When this happened to Alex he was too afraid to go up the 4th grader to get his gun back.  So Samuel went with him.  But that's not all!  Samuel went up to the 4th grader looked him in the eye and said "That's his gun."  Then he just stood there looking at him until the 4th grader gave Alex his gun back.  

What a kid!  He was so brave and stood up for what was right without getting violent or yelling or crying!  We must have done something right!  It just goes to show that the truth is a powerful thing, and saying the truth can affect change.  I am such a coward about saying the truth so often, I suppose I could learn a thing or two from Samuel!

Sick

We've all been sick for awhile now.  I have some wonderful pictures to put up, but somehow sleeping has been the priority for last bit.  I am happy to say that Esther now has long enough hair to put into pig tails.  VERY CUTE! 

I just heard this

Micah--Your eyes are the last part that are built.

Samuel--Oh

Micah--Yes, the inside parts are there, but not until you are born you can see them.

Samuel--Oh

Micah--Then you want cheddar bunnies

Samuel--okay

I can't decide if they are playing pretend or just really confused.  I didn't want to bother them.

Playing with black and white

I wanted to try something new with Elements.  Peter's picture looked a ton better when I had it surrounded by black.  I definitely like the lower picture better.  Better contrast.  The top one has too much sky and not enough contrast.  I used two different methods of conversion to black and white.  The lower method wins hands down for me.  What do you think? 

Raised veggie beds

We recently made some raised beds for veggies in our backyard.  Okay, it was really Peter.  I think the idea of me with a power tool terrifies him, but he was nice and said that it was my job to make sure Esther didn't get in the way.  If you want a how to and wonderful, helpful pictures go the Pioneer Woman's page on building your own raised beds.  If you want to laugh and not really be informed stay here.

Okay step one in our version is be Dutch.  Go ask business landlord for some really old wood from a building that he is tearing down.  You didn't have to buy any wood, what a good Dutch person you are!  Next completely forget to take pictures of the pile of really old wood.  Isn't that easy.  Okay, now that we are this far let's jump to laying out the wood for where you might want it to go.  

As you can see we decided to put ours in the corner.  And I made sure to get a toy and some trash in the picture to make sure you know this is our yard and I didn't sneak into someone else's yard and pretend that we are industrious.  Peter put the drill in to show he was going to be part of the project.

You can see here the pitfalls of being Dutch.  You get wood with jagged edges and have to make your bed smaller than you may have wished.  But the wood won't warp, it's been prewarped for you.  Now comes the tricky part, you have to leave it there for and get carried away with real life.  I know it's hard, but in order for this to work you have to coach soccer and make money to eat.  There have to be Easter egg hunts.
Now that your week of doing other things has gone by you can get back to work.  Make one bed without your wife even noticing, aren't you awesome now!  Next call her outside to show her the ripping apart of a door from the torn down building.  

Doing work stealthy can make for disjointed pictures, but we aren't professionals so it doesn't matter.  Next your wife has to forget that she is supposed to keep taking pictures and goes inside to make dinner.  Next thing you know have built two beds and there aren't any more pictures of work being done.  It can make you seem like magic.  You sure are awesome now! 

Now add soil that you get from the same landlord for free again.  

Now the raised beds are ready for veggie seeds.  And you have a very appreciative wife.

I have learned alot from this little adventure.  I really appreciate what Peter does around the house.  And I also learned that I have to take more pictures and they have to be closer to the work being done.  Oh, and I need to keep the yard picked up better.  Peter was a full cooperater in this and no Dutchmen were harmed in the making.

Link-Am I my neighbors keeper?

An old friend and smart guy (but what else would one expect from an Aggie?), John Ferguson has likened our political life to the Good Samaritan in his blog post "Am I my neighbors keeper?". He really has put a new spin on it.  I would encourage you to read it.