Milo and Otis or Predator/Prey??

I've seen this twice now, so either it was a new chipmunk or the same chipmunk as last time. Which would mean it survived the first encounter. I'm not sure what to think here. Charlie didn't like us getting too close though because he warned us with a low growling sound. A toy or victim?? Hmmmmmmmm.....

First Day at Kindergarten

" I got lost at a different school" - Eli

Thats the bus that dropped Eli off at the wrong school on the first day Kindergarten and the first day ever of riding a schoolbus. It also dropped him off at the wrong location after school. It dropped him off at our house when it was supposed to drop him down the street. Imagine coming home after your first full day, after being dropped off at the wrong school, to an empty house void of Mom and Dad. We got back there quickly but , ......, still, it didn't help matters much. But in the meantime things have gotten better and thankfully there is no school bus phobia.

The Zucchini Experience

I decided to plant a vegetable garden this year. I thought it would be an interesting experience for the kids and even for myself. This has turned out to be the case. We have harvested zucchini and jalapenos so far, but have ripening tomatoes, red peppers, and onions in the near future. I have even got the kids to try the zucchini and surpisingly they are tolerant towards it and actually ingest this mortal enemy of children. It has been really cool and we check the garden for changes, bugs, fruit, and whatever else we see.

Now, .... The zucchini, well most of the plants have shriveled up and died. I have learned that there is a condition called bacterial wilt. This bacteria is apparently carried among several bugs including this one, the cucmuber beetle. Hopefully you can see it. There are the striped variety and the spotted variety. We had both.

When the plant becomes infected it wilts in a matter of about a day. You can almost watch it wilt and die.

Sadly, we have lost most of our plants and is only a matter of time before we lose them all. But it was an interesting learning experience. Next year we'll be more prepared for such things.

And now on to more creepy parts of the garden.

On the same zucchini plants were eggs. Hmmmmm, eggs. We've seen these other bugs in the plant as well, but they seemed to have no ill effect on the plants, so no big deal. I think they are stink bugs, but still haven't looked into it extensively. Either way, the eggs would surely hatch someday. And soon enough, that day had come.

A grab of a leaf and a look at the underside of it revealed, DUN DUn Dun, these creepy crawlies. This is only one picture of the chilling kalaidescope of criss-crossed insect legs and newly formed shiny blue abdomens. It was certainly enough to send a shiver down my spine. At the same time, it was striking enough to prompt lifting more leaves in anticipation of more huddled groups.

The kids thought it was neat as the oohs and ahhs kept coming. But EGADS, who would have thought a simple vegetable garden could reveal so much??

Picture of the Day : Rainbow

4th of July 2008 Lake Webster

They weren't the best fireworks I've ever seen. It really didn't matter though. Maybe it was the armada of pontoons anchored to the weedy lake bottom. All in wait like an outdoor drive-in theatre in the lake. Watching the day slowly layer with deeper shades of night. A fingernail crescent moon hanging. Eli and Sam persistently questioning "When, when are they going to go??" Then the first sizzling fuse climbs the dark sky to a long awaited boom. Don't get me wrong, it was a good show, but the best thing for me was the experience. The kids, the boat, the lake, the misquitos, a moment in time. Wish Amy had been there.

Of course after it was over, they were ready to go home as you'll hear in the second video. And Sam had to pee. We'll just say that she didn't make it to shore before that happened. Good thing she was still wearing a pull-up.

The Penny

He swallowed the penny to catch the fly. I don't know why he swallowed the fly.

Actually he didn't swallow the penny to catch the fly. He swallowed it up as a re-enactment of Mr Crabbs. Mr Crabbs, you know SpongeBob works for him. And Mr Crabbs is money OBSESSED. He LOVES money.

So Eli was doing just that. Going crazy with money. Coins that is. In his mouth. A bunch of them apparently. And as he was going crazy lie Mr Crabbs as he describes, he swallows a penny. Well, we didn't know it at the time, but when it came hurtling up like a change machine spitting out coins, I saw that it was a penny. The exact coin you see above.

Kids just make a lot of mistakes. As if adults don't. But these are type of mistakes that cause emergency room visits. The kind that cause stitches. The sort of innocent, yet quickly learned, mistakes that you don't often repeat. I don't think Eli wil be swallowing any more spare change.

Amy stopped off at MedCheck. This was after we called to see what to do. They said go to the ER. But not ringing the alarm bells, MedCheck was a safe bet. They basically said wait it out, which is what we did. He said the middle of his chest was sore. Probably from the coin turning and perhaps scraping the esophogus. As it turns out, I'm fairly certain that after three days it DIDN'T make it to the stomach. But it did, as I said, get ejected on the family room rug.

I believe it was in his esophagus. Everything, thankfully, worked out or worked itself out. If Eli had made it to the ER, he would have likely faced surgery. Instead it's just a small, but important, episode in his life. He even made it through a birthday party not being able to gobble down cake. Too hard. Hard stuff hurt going down and didn't stay down. Guess that should have been a clue to us that it wasn't in his stomach. Like I said worked out. Wshew.

Picture of the Day: Monument Circle

In the middle of Moument circle downtown Indy sets the War Memorial. We climbed every step up and down. I'm not sure how many steps there are, but the stairwell was clear. The elevator line was loooong. Pretty good view but kinda stuffy.

Here's a picture of the

memorial