Yes I know everyone thinks that their children are the cutest, and I do fall into that category. I also noticed Isaac has been getting all the attention lately, we do love Meagan & Alex very much, so here are some shots of them.

Another sunny day, another outing

Shari, Isaac and I went to Flower World, a nursery in Maltby, that has a walking path, goats, chickens, geese, and rocks to throw into a pond.

While Isaac and I threw rocks into the pond these geese came flying in from across the park, they're big. They flew right up to us, not more than 10 ft, Shari was ready to run, I grabbed Isaac and started kicking, then noticed they were not hissing, they thought our rocks were food. Oops! 

After we settled down, saw some caged animals, played Pooh-sticks, we ended up having a wonderful day together. We have had some great weather lately, and intend to take full advantage of it.

Here is a classic example of how my family treats me,

a) if I make the kids laugh for a photo, Shari gives me no respect, and laughs at my stupidity.

think "snort"

b) if I try not to look stupid in front of Shari, the kids want nothing to do with me.

breaks a dads heart

I'm going to need therapy. 

Issac in the "Zone."  He loves blueberry, banana protein shakes.

We have had a busy fall.  After our trip to Prosser, we went to Hood canal to visit with Grandpa Gary. We had another lovely weekend where we went out on the boat, went fishing off the dock, played frisbee, took walks on the beach.  It is fun to see the kids playing where I played when I was there age. 

Alex pulling in the "big one."

There are two places we have taken all the kids when they are young:  The tulips in the spring and the Japanese Garden in the fall.  It has been rainy lately and so on the first sunny day this week we took off to be outside.  Meagan and Alex were at school so Isaac got a personal photo shoot.  He was very sweet.  He got very excited seeing the large koi (about 3 1/2 feet long with big fish lips), an average rock and a green shrub. We had a great, peaceful time.

Isaac set up the shot on this one and we went along with it.

Isaac and I taking in the view.

We went to Walla Walla to bury Grandmas ashes. It was a nice little service, some great things were shared and we enjoyed being with family that we don't see enough. And like usual the kids had fun.

Its amazing what kind of pictures you'll get when the kids have the camera. We visited my sister for the weekend and the kids had a blast, playing and goofing off.

I think Alex is hiding his face from all the grown ups.

kids and danger

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I recently saw a web article by Gever Tulley on 6 dangerous things your child should do. Although the speaker seemed to repeat himself a lot, and had to look at his notes constantly for such a brief topic, the meat of the article was great. Gever is the co-founder of the Tinkering School, a camp where kids get to play with their very own power tools. He wants to help kids learn how to build, solve problems, use new materials and hack old ones for new purposes. He talks about how today’s society has tried to create such a safe environment that kids are not allowed to explore and learn basic skills and logic patterns. There are more stringent safety rules for kids all the time, from warning labels on marshmallows stating that the mallows need to be cut into bite sized pieces and children should be sitting and supervised while eating, to anything sharper than a golf ball being to dangerous for kids under the age of ten. Where does it stop? Kids need to experience things while they are young and still have the curiosity and a desire to explore the world around them, (and can heal fast). He focused on a few things that kids don’t get to do, but should.

1. Play with fire. Teaches how to control your environment. A basic element that has been used for generations.

2. Get a pocketknife. A great “empowerment” tool. (Not to be confused with empowerment weapon)

3. Throw a spear. Our brains are wired for throwing things, if you don’t believe me hand something to your baby/child. If not used, those “wires” will atrophy, creating a weakened system. Throwing stimulates the frontal and parietal parts of the brain.

4.Take apart appliances. What a great way to find out how things work.

5.Break the digital millennium copyright act. They need to learn that there are laws beyond safety regulations that attempt to limit how we can interact with our own property. Download a song off ITunes, burn it to a disk, then download it to your MP3 player and you’ve broken this law. Some laws get broken by accident, and they need to be interpreted. Which leads to #6.

6. Drive a car. Find a safe, empty lot and let them drive, this shows your confidence in them and who doesn’t want to drive a car at a young age.

Okay so he went into more detail and reasons why we should allow these activities, and even encourage them. I just thought it was an interesting concept.

Our young creator

Isaac found Mr. Potato Head the other day, he really enjoys playing with it and he's a blast to watch as he creates. Here is just a little vid of him in action.