Like A West Bound Train

Charlie had her Bus Orientation the other day. Basically a hysterically acted out, by her new principle, an assembly called How To Get On A Bus, Oh, Yeah and Raise Your Hand Without Saying "ME ME ME ME." Followed by a ride around the block on a school bus.

Charlie tried to explain where the bus went on the tour . . . Well, she's certainly going to carry on the Elliott Tour's tradition because I'm pretty sure the directions she gave me would put that bus somewhere west of Pittsburgh . . .

Anyway, I thought this picture was pretty damn phenomenal.

Gringer

My dad got Charlie and Asher swim lessons this summer. Which is nice since we're a pretty pro-non-drowning family (as I assume your family is as well, but I'd hate to press my political views upon you). Well, Charlie is now in the second level class, i.e. sink or swim (literally) and she's doing well.  Asher . . . well, when we go to Community Pool both kids do really well. They're comfortable in the water. They put their heads under, swim around. 

Ah, but Asher.

After 4 swim lesson's he's been in the Y's pool once. And on DAY 3.

We had such high hopes for Day 4.

But here he is. Photographic proof. Even if he never goes back into the Y's pool (which is a pretty good chance) we'll still have this one single solitary picture to capture the experience.

We went to Stepping Stones Museum a little while ago.

Asher got stuck and Charlie played the Blue Men pvc pipe organ. They had the openings color coded so you could play songs. Pretty cool.

They have a solar powered train that goes around the parking lot. Not much for scenery (it's a parking lot) but still a lot of fun for the kids. The kids had plenty of room. Dianna, on the other hand, . . . not so much.

Charlie got a hair cut. 

Suddenly THE WIENERMOBILE! I'm not sure the kids got the kick out of it that I did but . . . it's a wiener shaped car. THAT THING DRIVES ON THE ROAD. AND IT'S A WIENER! Glorious.

Charlie, Asher and Dianna went to Boston to visit our nephew who was in Boston, I believe, to mule cash for Whitey Bulger. Since he was there (and still had his thumbs) his family went to see him (maybe to buy his freedom . . . the details are cloudy). Since there were was a large gathering of people we know, near to us, some of us decided to go.

My children were spoiled with a great many things.

Speaking of spoils, here's Asher's haul for potty training. Charlie gets the same bribe due, only, to proximity. Ice cream, candy and donuts. It's the good life. It's like when Dianna was preggers and I got to buy junk food, pretend it was for Dianna and eat it when she went to bed early.

I love both facial expressions on the second one.

Air Con/Con Air

Letting butterflies go. We let another one go this morning and yet another just hatched. When they come out their wings are rumpled but you can see them straighten and enlarge. Then they fly away. We have 7 chrysalis' left to go.

Cute pictures of Asher: 

Eating pancakes with his hands. Wearing a life preserver . . . which I have no idea where it's from or where it is now. The only proof I have that it even existed is this pic.

Riding the carousel at the Beardsley Zoo. 

Sitting. He's probably eating an untoasted marshmallow in the first one. He's not one to wait (no clue where that comes from). The other one is from Charlie's swim practice. Asher just started his own. The day before his first swim practice, we went swimming in one of Charlie's friends pool and he put his head in the water (a big move). At practice, after 45 minutes, I was able to get one big toe in the water. 

They thought it was great fun to put on the Hulk masks. Because they like to pretend to be someone who smashes, hits, screams and breaks stuff. Pretend . . .

Here we are measuring some stuff at the Peabody Museum. Turns out Charlie is longer than a tarpon but Asher is not as long as an early finned alligator cousin. The things you can learn at a museum, eh?

At the beach.

Ryan looks like a shipwreck who spotted a boat on the horizon.

The kids finally gave in and stopped being scared of thunderstorms. Which is good because we've been getting short but super powerful (and loud) storms just about once a day. For a few weeks the storms were our only break from the super heat. FYI, I am not made for the super heat.

 A high view of the big room of the cottage. I was on the bar to take this one.

 He got stuck at the park.

Hello.

Here are the actual pages of the comic I posted last time. There's so much ink on the last page that it's curling.

To get some of the panels right I took pics of myself. I think I'm a pretty decent ogre model. Can you pic out which panels these are for?

We made hand puppets out of bulk candy bags. I asked Asher what kind he wanted. He said, Chewbacca. I'm super disappointed Blogger spell check does not recognize Chewbacca.

 My nephew Wyatt on his first birthday. Nana says that was a piece of cake but it really looks like a load of dirt. The Tough Guy shirt really sells it!

Today's musical selection!