The boys are playing hide-and-seek and have just been caught.
It's rare to see them standing right next to each other
and not kicking, scratching, or hitting each other.
This page has the most recent pictures
For previously posted pictures, see the links at the bottom of this page
July-August 2000
The boys are playing hide-and-seek and have just been caught.
It's rare to see them standing right next to each other
and not kicking, scratching, or hitting each other.
This is the "camel", an endless game where I walk around
the family room carpet with the boys on my back. With a
combined weight of about 80 lbs, this game is getting
harder and harder.
Jackson took swim lessons for six weeks this summer. He went
from shrimp to duck to otter. Here he is in the shrimp class
practicing his stomach float. His favorite part of swim class
was going down the water slide on the last day of class.
This is patriotic country down here in Arizona. Zachary is
wearing his flag hat that he made in his daycare class.
Apparently, the boys got caught up with Survivor mania
because they decided they were going to live in a
palm frond on the patio. Jackson voted Zachary off the
island and that was the end of the game.
Zachary and Lisa are eating breakfast on the Fourth of July.
This is also a gratuitous picture of Lisa in her night shirt.
Going to School
Jackson started kindergarten on the first of August. Lisa
made sure he was well prepared with backpack, water bottle,
new outfit, and sun glasses. The school is really close to
our house so I walk Jackson there every morning.
Zachary thought he was going to school too. He was also well
prepared with backpack, floppy hat, and diaper. He walks to
the school with Jackson and I every morning but then goes to
daycare.
Here is Jackson sitting in his seat the first day of Mrs. Oney's
Kindergarten class. The girl sitting next to him is Devin
who Jackson knows from his daycare. I am the parent volunteer
in Jackson's class the second tuesday of each month which is
a lot of fun.
Trip to California
We took a trip to Northern California in August for three days.
The first day we took the kids to the beach. Here Jackson
is striding confidently out of the surf. Later, the surf
strode confidently over Jackson, knocking him down and getting
sand in his eyes.
Zachary was typical Zachary. First, he wouldn't go into the
water. Then, you couldn't get him out of the water. He only
got his feet wet because as he put it the water was "cooooold"
After we washed the sand off of Jackson, we all sat down for
lunch. Jackson ordered an enormous hot dog and ate the whole
thing. Zachary poured ketchup all over his hot dog, and then
ate his french fries.
We stayed at the Hacker-Chancellor house. When they got back
Friday night it was quite a full house. Here the kids are all
brushing their teeth.
Reading is as big in the H-C household as it is in ours. Mike
is reading Zachary, Allison, and Jackson a story. The boys
slept on the living room floor which they thought was really
cool.
Okay, yes the girls dressed up Jackson, yes he's wearing makeup,
and yes the girls were giggling the whole time. But Jackson is
dressed up as a superhero, all right? Superman wore a leotard and
had a cape. Jackson is a superhero. And Zachary? Well Zachary's
outfit is a little harder to explain.
On Sunday we went to a barbecue at the Jensen's. They live in
the country, and their house is a kid's paradise. They have a
really big backyard with a go cart, a full-sized swing set, and
a trampoline.
June 2000
The boys are quite competitive these days. Whatever one of them
does, the other wants to do too. Luckily they each have their own
laundry basket, so when one wants to sit in a laundry basket the
other can too.
Zachary got an Elmo sprinkler for his birthday. Here Jackson and
I are running through which we did over and over until I thought
I was going to die.
What's this? A picture of Lisa and I together? We had a party
in June where we rented a marguarita machine. In this picture,
Lisa and I are participating in the pre-party, quality-control
check of the marguaritas the machine made.
Granddad Ken has this dream of how he and Jackson will go on
long fishing trips to eastern Washington where they will sit
around a campfire and discuss philosophy. He took the first
step last Christmas when he bought Jackson a fishing pole.
He took the second step in June when he, Jackson, Zachary,
and myself went fishing in the treated wastewater lake by
our house. Jackson and Ken didn't catch any fish. Just
as well because the fish in the lake are probably
mutants with three eyes and claws on their fins.
Okay, I like to visit my book in local bookstores, all right?
Whenever I get an excuse ("Honey, do we need a new chainsaw
blade?"), I slip off to Borders or Barnes and Noble to check
out the book. I usually
re-arrange the shelves a bit, placing my book at eye-level. I always
hope I will see someone actually pick up a copy of the book and
buy it. So far, no luck.