Month: April 2008

Categories
Wife

Her 30th Birthday

We celebrated CDF’s birthday over the weekend. I took the day off Friday so we could spend time together. In the morning we went biking around town after walking MD to preschool. After lunch we went to the Arboretum in Wilmington to walk around the gardens and take pictures. From Wilmington we went to Jacksonville to drop off the girls at my parents house (they were going to spend the night) and to go canoing.

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In the Arboretum’s Garden

CDF had never been out in a canoe before, but she has wanted to try it for a number of years now. So finally this Friday we got in a canoe. She was a little nervous about tipping over, or just meeting wildlife that could be in the river, but we ended up having a really good time. We saw some waterfowl, a few turtles, and water bugs, but otherwise had the creek to ourselves. We didn’t go very far, just past the curve that goes around the apartments on the other side of Henderson Drive. When we got back it was time to go to dinner at Chili’s.

On Saturday we had a party at our house. We invited around 20 friends and had a combination cook-out and pot-luck dinner in the back yard. For dessert I made a Peanut Butter Silk Cake for the birthday cake, and someone else brought banana pudding (one of CDF’s favorites).

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Playing Together


Update for April 26th: we had a party on Saturday afternoon and invited family and a number of CDF’s friends over for a potluck/cook-out in the back yard.

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The Birthday Cook-out

Categories
Daughters

Picking Strawberries

MD went strawberry picking with her preschool class. CDF took a bunch of pictures while they were picking.

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Picking Stawberries
Categories
Family

New Nephew

CDF’s sister had her baby this morning. He weighed 9 lbs. and was 21 inches long. Tonight CDF is going up to stay with them in the hospital.

Categories
Daughters

Sunday Afternoon Bicycle Ride

We like to ride around the neighborhood on our bikes and MD has gotten really good at keeping up with us on her little bike. The first few times we went out on the street, I was a little worried about her making the turns and not ending up in a ditch, but we only had one close call.

Yesterday though, we were coming back to our street and saw a cat come out of a yard to meet us. I turned around to see it and MD followed me, but she didn’t turn sharply enough and ended up in the grass. For some reason her brake wasn’t sticking and she kept on rolling, slowly, toward the ditch. CDF said her face was just puckered in an “oh” expression as she rolled in slow motion into the leaf-filled ditch. It wasn’t deep and she jumped off without getting hurt as it flopped over.

She was slightly miffed as CDF and I started laughing when she was back on the street. But she started laughing too after a minute.

Categories
Wife

Snake!

When we got home from church, I spotted a snake in the driveway. It was sunning itself near the double gate. I pulled up slowly and got out to see what it was. Our dog was so happy we were home, that she didn’t spot it until I started poking at it. Unfortunately that scared it under my car, where additional poking sent it scrambling into a wheel to hide.

At that point, CDF was “trapped” in the car, since she wasn’t about to walk to the house with even a small chance of crossing paths with a snake. So I ended up carrying her from the car to the porch! I’m sure we were a sight. 🙂

After I got them in the house, I checked on the snake again. It has come out of the wheel and was resting on the driveway. So I was able to shoe it out and direct it into the woods. As best I could tell it was a Redbelly Water Snake (more pictures), harmless, but not good pets.

Categories
Daughters

Everything About Science

One night this week I read the Berenstain Bear’s Science Fair book to MD. She really got into it, identifying solids and liquids, thinking about machines, etc. Afterward we went to find her mother for bed-time prayers, and MD told her, “We were reading Science Fair. I know everything about science now!” It must be fun to be four.