FlyingFam

In John's words: Cedar Key exists!

2012-01-29T20:57:00.000-05:00

From: "John Williams"
Date: Jan 29, 2012 8:51 PM
Subject: Cedar Key exists!

The government didn't shut down the runway, the island still exists; we are here, safe and sound.

Departed Rock Hill, SC, around 9:30. I flew the first leg, about 40 miles, we landed to switch seats. krista is a Certified Pilot, but has never flown in the front seat of a weight shift control trike. Thankfully, I've given enough rides to people who want the experience of sitting in the front seat and momentarily taking the controls. Krista was a NATURAL!

Krista took us around the Columbia, SC, airspace, and in-between Columbia airport and Shaw AFB. There was a narrow slot, about 2 miles wide that we could pass through without having to get a clearance. Krista stayed on the controls for about 2 hours. We finally came down to take a break, top off the gas tank, and warm up. Plus, we sent a few messages to let our spouses know we were still at it.

I took over the front seat duties. We climbed to 4,500 to try to avoid the mid air turbulence that was starting to kick in. Mid day thermals can make flying an ultralight quite a handful. However, going high meant that the temperatures were going to be a lot colder than down around 2,000 AGL. It wasn't long before Krista said that it would be nice to do something about the cold. Her feet were freezing. I selected an alternate airport, about another 30 miles down the 'road' in the direction of our ultimate destination. We had to descend through a turbulent layer of air for a Cross-Wind landing at Baxter County airport, Baxter, GA. I think that the guys had never seen such a craft before. We had about 10 people gathered around the plane. I sent Krista inside to get warm as I topped off the fuel for the final push to Cedar Key. We landed around 2:30 with another 158 miles to go. At the speed we were making, it would take us all of 2.5 hours to get to our final destination. I suggested to Krista that it would be wise to get going so that we didn't push arriving at sunset. Cedar Key airport does NOT have runway lights. No way to land in the dark unless you have a bright full moon and no clouds.

The problem was Krista's mesh tennis shoes. The mesh allowed the cold temps to make her feet freeze. The guys at Baxter airport came up with a solution. We placed each foot into a plastic bag and taped the bags with a healthy dose of duct tape. The perfect "John Williams" solution. (Ask me about a motorcycle tyre and duct tape.)

Problem solved! In fact, Krista's feet got hot & sweaty in the plastic bags.

We quickly got back in the air; I continued on as pilot after giving Krista the choice to fly front or back seat. Krista made a second decision: I gave her the choice of flying high in the cold, or staying low in the turbulence. She made the decision to stay low, so we didn't go much over 1,000' above ground level. I put the hammer down, flew the trike for speed, and took the bumps in stride. Krista never complained about the bumps, I guess she had blind faith that the pilot knew what he was doing. I got the speed up to 80 knots and made quick work of the final 158 miles. Our route took us directly over a huge fire that produced thick smoke over I-75. Smoke so thick that we heard that a big pile up of cars & trucks on the interstate made the national news. We skirted the fires on the windward side so that we would not have to breath the fumes.

We arrived @ Cedar Key, well before sunset. We had enough time to twice fly around the town so that Krista could get a good idea of what she was getting into. There are no stoplights in town, and many of the stop signs have been removed so as not to impede the lack of traffic.

We couldn't believe the size of the float plane that was parked on the ramp. The float plane must seat 10 or 12 passengers + pilot and co-pilot. Turned out to be a Florida fish & wild life service plane. As we shut down our engine, two people were sitting in a nice looking Bonanza next to where I planed to tie up. Looked like they were getting ready to fire up and depart just prior to sunset. However, when I looked at them a second time, I think that their mouths were hanging open as they looked at us. Did we look strange??

We both called our respective spouse(s) to let them know we safely arrived. I called Dale and Nancy, our friends who permanently live on Cedar Key, to come pick us up to take us to the condo. By the time we reached Nature's Landing town homes, our diggs for the week, Dale kindly suggested that we keep the car so that we would have wheels for the next few days. When we took Dale home, we paid a short visit to Melinda who is now 94 years old. You'd never know it unless you met her in person.

When we departed Melinda and Dale's house to return to the condo, we first stopped at the Island Hotel bar to sample the "Best hamburger in Florida". They weren't kidding, it hit the spot and then some! We topped off the dinner by sharing a piece of Key Lime Pie, the real stuff, not the green store bought imitation. I think I had to fight Krista for a 15% portion, somehow, she seemed to enjoy the dessert after telling me that she wasn't all that partial to KLP.

We are back at the condo, ready to take showers and hit the bed. I am tired.

Tomorrow morning, Jason, Krista's husband, will fly his Cirrus airplane down to Cedar Key Airport (in about 2 hours) to take Krista home. Jason flew to Cedar Key with me a few years back, had his first ever soft shell crab sandwich at 'Annie's', and vowed to eat another soft shell before returning home with Krista. Thankfully, we bumped into and started talking with the owner of Annie's while at dinner. We mentioned that even though it was not soft shell season, Jason expected a soft shell crab, or he wouldn't fly down. Hmmmm? Does that mean that Jason would choose a soft crab over time with his wife? I wonder about their relationship!

I called Maxine to give her the update, that Melinda was doing well, that dinner was great, and that I am beat & ready to hit the hay.

Warm regards,

JDW

KBHC with improved wind protection over the sneakers

2012-01-29T20:45:00.001-05:00

And a chem-heat hand warmer!

KBHC FBO reading material

2012-01-29T20:34:00.003-05:00

Woo hoo! KCDK!

2012-01-29T20:34:00.001-05:00

Let the adventure begin!

2012-01-29T08:54:00.001-05:00

KHOU->KCLT

2012-01-28T20:35:00.001-05:00

KHOU, burning energy before the flight home

2012-01-28T20:33:00.001-05:00

Invention Convention at the Children's Museum of Houston

2012-01-28T20:32:00.006-05:00

Dinner at Casa Weihs

2012-01-28T20:32:00.005-05:00

Of course...

2012-01-28T20:32:00.004-05:00

We built an excavator and a dump truck and started moving extra pieces around the table. And came back later to do it again.

CLT-> HOU

2012-01-28T20:32:00.003-05:00

Atlas

2012-01-28T20:32:00.001-05:00

Holding up the ceiling, tall boy.

Saturday morning art

2012-01-28T08:30:00.003-05:00

Painting margarine on the cinnamon roll dough...

Saturday morning work

2012-01-28T08:30:00.001-05:00

Love the letters, LOVE the date

2012-01-27T10:21:00.001-05:00

Love the letters, LOVE the date

2012-01-27T10:19:00.000-05:00

Houston visit: zoo, train, NASA, park

2012-01-26T11:04:00.003-05:00

We tagged along with Daddy for a trip to Houston to see the ForeFlight guys, and were lucky to get to spend lots of time with folks we like doing fun things! We left on Saturday and took Ev's third and Gr's first ride on a commercial flight. We got in in the evening, and Tyson, Misty and Wyatt had us over for a casual dinner and some playtime. The boys (and I!) liked meeting Wyatt and Addie (the soft pup).

On Sunday morning, we started off at the insect and butterfly exhibit at the science museum. Then Adam, Stephanie and Cate arrived and we went to the zoo to check out some animals. The giraffes were Ev and Gr's favorites.

Gr, inexplicably, liked the monstrous hissing cockroaches. Yuck!

Wyatt's an old pro at the butterfly enclosure.

Ev was excited about, oh, everything.

There was a staircase down to a little pool under a waterfall. Ev made probably twenty trips up and down, making sure everyone got to see it.

The little scientist at work.

The giraffe was chasing an ostrich. Two awkward animals!

Drumming on a drum!

Cate and Stephanie got in on the action!

And Tyson, Misty and Wyatt, too!

No, no rivalry here...

Naturally the carousel was a magnet...

Grady wasn't so sure about it, and only lasted maybe one revolution before asking me to hold him. Wyatt had a good time (and Tyson, too, by the looks of it).

Cate had fun, but that's not saying much about the carousel... Cate seems to have fun no matter what!

After a sojourn for lunch, we returned to Hermann Park to ride the train. It makes a loop around the greenspace, with several playgrounds and stations along the way.

Daddies and babies...

Yep, that's Ev's cheese-face, and just pre-cheese for Gr...

No, Cate, don't eat the wipes!

We attempted a group photo of the kids... Tyson and Stephanie are laying behind the littlest ones, holding them in place :)

After the busy day, we headed back to the hotel to reset for a bit and restock Ev's lunchbag before rejoining the Weihs family at their home for dinner again.

Monday had a very cool trip to Space Center Houston, the NASA site. We toured the grounds, saw the training mockups of the space station and the shuttle (being dismantled), saw the mission control center for the shuttle missions, explored the enormous Saturn V rocket, touched a moon rock, and of course played on the space playset.

As much as I'd like to launch you into space on a rocket sometimes, boys, please stay on this side of the rail :)

This rocket is indescribably impressive in real life. It was actually in space, too! Not just a model. Crazy.

See little big man down there? That tiny little white-shirted guy.

Thrusters? Huge.

He could totally fly that shuttle.

After we heard there was a moon rock we could touch, Grady was a broken record -- "Touch moon? Touch moon?" He couldn't wait! (Must admit, it was a bit of a let-down, but he didn't ask again after we touched it...)

The ones behind the glass were what we had in mind for touching! But alas...

My three guys fit in the Apollo command module.

And they landed the space shuttle. No biggie.

Okay, playtime!

Wyatt and Grady played near each other, sometimes appearing to cooperate. Wyatt would stuff the balls in the chute, and Grady would smack the button to suck them into the tubes that carried them to the upper levels.

Not all balls were easily relinquished.

Hmmm, wonder what this intense discussion was about...

The tubes spit the balls out at these launchers where Ev and Jas would fire them back down.

Grady got a shirtful! And it was hilarious for him and for us.

Monday evening, Adam and Matt (from ForeFlight) joined us at the Weihs home for burgers and chatting. While the menfolk were getting dinner ready, we took the children to the park for some energy expenditure.

(Second installment tomorrow...)

MRL2: Rice and pork meal

2012-01-18T19:33:00.002-05:00

No picture tonight -- the natives were restless and dinner was taking a bit longer than I expected, so it literally went from oven to mouths. :)

This was one of the easiest meals imaginable. Uncooked rice + pork chops + french onion soup ==> bake @ 325 degress for 1.25 hours. (The rice took a bit longer for us, thus the hunger-crazed pack of men and man-boys.)

We served it with fresh sliced strawberries (4 minutes) and wilted spinach with bacon (2 minutes thanks to pre-washed spinach and bacon bits). (Not that we were pressed for time, but that was what was on hand.) (I love annotating in parentheses.)

(Also, MRL is Marguerite Reed Larsen, Jason's Grandmommie, and these are the recipes from the cookbook of her recipes that her granddaughter, Jason's cousin, Shondra Neumeister put together in scrapbook form. Got it? :) )

MRL 1: Chinese chicken chestnut casserole

2012-01-16T18:41:00.001-05:00

Cheese!

2012-01-16T09:21:00.001-05:00

Starting their day off (MLK Jr) together with Thomas, or as Grady says, thomah twain.

After a long day...

2012-01-15T17:52:00.001-05:00

He slept for a few minutes in the car on the way home, but was way overdue for a nap, so while Daddy and Evy watched football, Gr caught a few Zs.

Hibachi, train, museum: boy heaven

2012-01-15T16:51:00.001-05:00

Ev has asked a number of times to go back to the restaurant where they cook in front of you, so today we decided to do that for lunch, then take the Lynx commuter train into Charlotte to Discovery Place for a few hours of exploration and fun. They had a good time, and so did we :-)

Someone liked his cinnamon roll

2012-01-14T14:18:00.001-05:00

The sky this afternoon

2012-01-13T17:22:00.001-05:00

Kite kite kite!

2012-01-12T19:09:00.001-05:00

Grades and Evish had their first kite-flying time this afternoon. It was breezy, but not windy, but it was enough to give Ev some good time watching and holding the kite. Gr didn't have his best time ever since the field was uneven with thick clumps of grass and briars, but at least there were big machines working on the other side of the field for him to keep an eye on!

Sunday in the woods

2012-01-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

We wanted to give Lynk a dog's day in the woods, so we took him, the boys, and Grandmommie and Granddad down to the pond to walk around, cook hot dogs over a fire, make s'mores, and explore. Lynk had a good day wandering, going for a very brief swim (cold!), getting spoiled with treats and a hot dog of his own, and occasionally summoning the youthfulness to run and bounce with the boys. Here is the day in pictures:

Ev had some trouble with briars, and here is is trying to untangle himself as Gr asks for another "cone!" to throw into the pond.

C'mon, give your brother a hug!

Cheese!

Okay, now goofy faces!

Cheese!

Um, Gr? Do you think that's the easiest way to eat that chip?

Ev doing what Ev loves to do :)

Cheese!

The menfolk.

Three generations of menfolk:

From above...

From below...

The cow pasture through which we travel to get to the family property:

Love, simply.

Finally, the old guy settled in for a good nap. :)

Lynkie's status

2012-01-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

Lynk has two stage 3 tumors (upper right jaw, right groin). We saw the oncologist, radiation oncologist and surgeon last week for assessment, options and prognosis. I talked with Taryn for a while. Jas and I talked and cried and talked and struggled with what to do and cried.

We've decided to let nature run its course.

Must... align....

2012-01-08T20:00:00.001-05:00

They won't let me "fix" it so we can square it on the board! Gah! They have to go to bed sometime, though....

1/6/12 - on the picnic blanket at last!

2012-01-06T16:35:00.001-05:00

Grady fed him half a bag of animal crackers. 67° on January 6, really?

Contrails this afternoon

2012-01-04T15:51:00.001-05:00

New Year's Goals

2012-01-03T00:48:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year, right? Time to make some ~~resolu~~ goals. Lofty yet attainable. Worthwhile yet attractive enough to hold interest. Hmmmm....

One idea came to me as I lay awake, again, failing to find my way to Dreamland. (Yeah, okay, mapping the path to Dreamland would be nice, too, but we're talking attainable here.)

2012 Goal #1:
Work my way through Grandmommie Larsen's cookbook, as assembled by her granddaughter Shondra Neumeister. I wish I had dated the card that Shondra included with the book, but I think it must have been three years ago or so.

The big decision will be whether to try to Evanize the recipes, but I'll tackle that on a per-case basis.
I already learned something from just browsing the first two pages: Benne seeds = sesame seeds.

Also useful will be the translation from the "retro" measures to contemporary, such as which item on the store shelf is a No. 2 can?

Ev's gingerbread man

2012-01-02T18:03:00.003-05:00

Yay, bath crayons!

2012-01-02T18:03:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T15:50:00.001-05:00

New Year's Day, really? Wow. 2011 zoomed right on past. What a big year! That part will have to wait for another post....

While Gradish napped, Ev and I made a train city, took down most of the Christmas decorations, then went out to the sandbox to make a sand city, using the big machines, of course, including a mountain pass, a lake with berry-decorated shore, a castle and a sandbox for the children. Then the clouds rolled in and we got cold, so now the boys are drawing in the bathtub!

Tomorrow Gr stays home while Ev has his first day back at school. I'm hoping for lots of fun one-on-one with him like I've had with Ev for the past two weeks.

I hope you all have a spectacular 2012!

12/31/11 - The moment

2011-12-31T20:45:00.001-05:00

This was the exact moment that Grady became a pyromaniac. Mark my words.

He didn't startle. He clapped. He swung sparklers. He had a blast.

Ev has a cautious streak, so fireworks are not really his thing. He also seeks to be getting more sensitive to loud sounds, like his daddy was when he was young. He was a trooper, though, and sat through it all!

These boys

2011-12-30T20:01:00.001-05:00

Moments like this are why I wanted more than one child. I left the room for a minute, and upon reentering overheard, "Grady, how many hats do you see? One, two, three, ..."

I love it! It almost makes up for the seventy-three time-outs today.

And this boy

2011-12-29T13:25:00.000-05:00

Barely awake, but still ready to chow down on some bacon...

This boy

2011-12-29T13:24:00.001-05:00

Sipping raspberry tea with honey while playing trains. No pants, naturally.

Love the endless configurability; it's new everyday

2011-12-27T09:38:00.001-05:00

Swing!

2011-12-27T07:48:00.001-05:00

Uncle Zack took this one during our Christmas visit to Hartwell. Grady and Declan (and Ev and Addi, too) are addicted to the swing.

[Grunt]

2011-12-27T07:37:00.000-05:00

One of Ev's Christmas gifts from us was a DIY catapult. Only time will tell if we should have chosen the bird house.

My heart just overflows when I step into the garage and see this kind of teamwork going on....

Geez.

2011-12-26T17:35:00.003-05:00

It's been a challenging day. The boys have been great, having fun and only having a few skirmishes over new toys. The challenge has been that I lost my voice last night, so being heard over the boisterousness has been difficult. I have seen, however, that even at a whisper, Ev can hear me from across the room... if he chooses to. ;)

But the geez part just happened. I was at the computer, pulling pictures off the camera while Ev worked with his Imaginets and Grady played with cars. Ev wanted to show me what he had designed, so he brought the wooden case over. Grady naturally wanted to see, too, but just as Grady was getting to us, Ev finished showing me and turned to go work on it some more. WHACK! Wooden case (not a corner) to the temple. Ev froze as Grady rubbed his head, then two seconds later Gr looked at me to see what his reaction should be. I was looking at Ev, whose bottom lip was starting to tremble, and said it was an accident and not to worry about it. Gr took that as a signal to ham it up, so the tears started flowing and the end of the world had certainly come. Trying to suppress a giggle, I told Gr to dust it off. He turned the tears off and dusted his head. Then Ev let loose with the tears. Why? Because Grady dusted off on his magnet board.

Geez.

The real bottom line to it is that Ev has a hard time handling being in trouble or having us displeased (surprising since he tries regularly to thwart the rules or aggravate his brother). He's pretty sensitive.

Next!

2011-12-26T09:48:00.001-05:00

We cleaned up the train so they could try out the next toy, the Little People Wheelies tower ramp city garage thingie. So far, so good!

Spoon

2011-12-26T07:49:00.001-05:00

Or as Grady would say, fork! He's getting much better at using it. The main problem now is when he loads up a scoop but gets distracted before eating it, allowing it to plummet to his lap or the floor.

Building a monster truck

2011-12-25T17:24:00.001-05:00

Cousins in Kylee's new ball pit

2011-12-25T12:02:00.001-05:00

Cousins in Kylee's new ball pit

2011-12-25T11:10:00.001-05:00

12/24/11 - polite

2011-12-24T18:58:00.001-05:00

Could YOU say no to this?

2011 gift tag

2011-12-23T14:31:00.001-05:00

12/22/12 - winter vacation playtime

2011-12-22T09:35:00.001-05:00

I'm really enjoying our one-on-one time :-)

Evan the super-softie

2011-12-21T21:12:00.001-05:00

We watched The Polar Express with the boys tonight, after having read the book many times and even ridden the train in the Smoky Mountains just a month ago.

Grady watched the whole thing without losing interest.

Ev, that dear sweet sensitive boy, made it through the whole movie, but there were a number of times when he almost didn't. Anytime someone was in danger or there was a hint of conflict, he'd say he didn't want to watch and could we turn it off. We repeatedly talked him into sticking with it, and through most of it Daddy has his arm around him and I was holding his hand. Whenever his hands were free he would bite or pick his nails. He has allow tolerance for stress, it would seem. After it was over, he said it was good. It'll be interesting to hear tomorrow his answer when asked if he'd like to see it again.

I don't know that we've made it past the first few minutes of a Disney movie (aside from Pixar's Cars, Bee Movie and Toy Story 1 and 2 (but not 3)).

A few more pictures from Hartwell

2011-12-21T14:56:00.000-05:00

Hmmmm...

2011-12-21T13:13:00.001-05:00

Maybe he spends a little too much time with Mommy...

Chenoweth Family Christmas in Hartwell

2011-12-20T20:56:00.000-05:00

We had our gathering last weekend in Hartwell and were pleased that almost everyone could make it. The previous few posts had some of the pictures off of my phone, and here are a few more from the cameras...

Aunt Taryn made this very neat reversible Cinderella doll for Addi, just right for the seat on the back of her new bike that Zack gave her.

Taryn, Nate and Declan gave Ev this pop-up front-loader tent and all of the kids enjoyed playing in it. I have a feeling it will not be put away for a while, and not just because four intelligent grown-ups couldn't figure out how to fold it.

The uncles had as much fun as the children with Declan's new band-in-a-box.

Look at that adorable face! My nephew is just the bee's knees!

Mom had a set of old photos from Grandma and Grandpa's house, so we got a kick out of them. They were mostly of the Chenoweth family through the years of visits to PA, and they were mostly hilarious. What, no.... we'll never think the clothes and hairstyles in *these* pictures were ridiculous!

Ev and Addi love to use the cat's toys to "fish" for people from the upstairs landing.

The Addi-bridge sure is a cute one!

Ev is so very handsome, but I'm really looking forward to the end of the squint-face smile phase.

Granny has 6.1 million little seasonal decorations that sing and dance, and can you guess what the four grandchildren like to do? Play them simultaneously and continuously until adults find the off switches!

Naturally we spent a respectable amount of time on the swing, even if it was only 45 degrees. Who can possibly resist?

Ev loves the fire truck Granny and Poppa gave him. A big truck? Fuhgeddaboutit!

Daddy takes so much torture, and Grady is really coming into his own with the "cheese!" smile.

We had several trips down to the water to feed the catfish and throw rocks into the lake. Poppa, Zack, Ev and Addi took a walk out to the former-island-now-peninsula to throw some other rocks, too.

Once we got home, the brothers played with the nanobugs while having a sucker (Grady's first!).

The train begins

2011-12-20T19:00:00.001-05:00

Granny and Poppa gave Grady a starter train set (which will be added to on Christmas Day!) and he enjoyed breaking it in. He has used it a bit since coming home, but we came home with one less track piece so can't make a closed track and that detracts a tad from the playability....

Teamwork

2011-12-20T18:57:00.001-05:00

Granny and Poppa gave Ev a diy train, and he and Daddy assembled and painted it. Later I helped with some stickers and he drove it on Grady's wooden track.

Today we visited Hobby Lobby to get a magnet and glued that on the back so it can be used as an engine with the other train cars.

Swinging

2011-12-20T18:53:00.001-05:00

At Granny and Poppa's house last weekend. I think Uncle Zack might have gotten a Grady shoe to the chest just after this....

12/19/11 - brain slugs and new toys

2011-12-19T17:55:00.001-05:00

We had the Chenoweth family Christmas this past weekendand it was good to see everybody. The kids all has fun together and with their new toys. Addi got her first bike, Declan got a band-in-a-box, and our boys got things that go (trucks, train, fire truck, mechanical bugs, and a front-loader play tent) :-)

Aunt Taryn also used her talents to make the boys matching brain-slug hats (Futurama reference) and a Bob the Builder doll for Grades.

For those not on Facebook, Grady has started counting. He counted for Daddy in this adorable fashion: one, two, tree, fork, five!

12/15/11 - the old boy, sleeping on his bed

2011-12-15T20:44:00.000-05:00

Brave Evan

2011-12-15T19:22:00.001-05:00

This afternoon was 65 degrees. Wow. Beautiful, and something was in the air.

Ev asked to ride his bike. *Without* the training wheels.

We talked about it (encouraging!) and he seemed to accept the risks and the "what to do" when he felt unstable. We did a few driveway laps and I let him go. He pedaled several times and was doing great until I distracted him with cheering :-)

There were several falls, and several retries. The last fall, though, hurt his ankle when the bike landed on him and scraped back an inch-long stripe of skin and then he had had enough.

We put the training wheels back on and he ride for a bit more before heading off to the sandbox. I'd say that overall it was a positive first time, and if not for the ouch he would probably have gone a few more times. It may be awhile before his balance is up to the task, but I think it's brilliant that he initiated it! We've mentioned it before once or twice, but never asked him to do it.

Way to go, big boy!

12/15/11 - now that's some sleepin'

2011-12-15T08:51:00.001-05:00

Oh, Evan, you softie...

2011-12-14T13:37:00.003-05:00

Last night we were behind schedule getting into bed so I offered to brush Ev's teeth for him. He accepted, I lifted him onto the counter, and here's how our conversation went:

Ev: You should brush my teeth every night!
Me: No, you'll need to be able to do it yourself.
Ev: Why?
Me: Because sometime you won't live with me anym--
Ev: [freaks out and lunges for me and grabs as tightly as he can, bawling]

It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. :) and :(

I reassured him that it would be many many years, and after he calmed down I explained about going to college and eventually starting his own family. I pointed out that Mommy and Daddy don't live with their Mommies and Daddies anymore because we have our family, but that we visit our Mommies and Daddies as much as we can and we talk to them on the phone and so forth. I asked him if he'd like to have a family of his own someday and he nodded, but I think it was out of eagerness to please and not get kicked out rather than weighing the paths his life might take.

I love that little bugger. And in a few years when he threatens to run away I'll wish I had it on video.

12/12/11 - great laugher!

2011-12-12T16:19:00.001-05:00

12/11/11 - a day in the life of young, pantsless Americans

2011-12-11T17:42:00.001-05:00

The diagnosis

2011-12-09T09:41:00.001-05:00

Lynk, our 13-year-old black lab, is handsome, kind, well-behaved, old, arthritic, and deaf. And he has cancer.

Last week Jason took him to the vet to see about the return of a growth in his mouth. Back in June, Lynk had a growth on the top right side of his mouth and at the time they said it was an abcessed tooth so they extracted the tooth and the gum mass. The mass had been regrowing for a bit, so Jas took him in. During the exam, they found a lump in his abdomen, just inside of his right back leg. We're actually shocked that we hadn't noticed it before, because now it seems so huge as to be impossible to miss.

Long story short, they kept him for the day, anesthetized him, took tissue samples from both, and sent it off to pathology. Last night they called with the results: malignant melanoma.The vet is supposed to speak with an oncologist today and get back to us. The prognosis for dogs with just the mouth tumor is not so great, so we're trying to prepare for the worst but still hoping for more time with him. He has already beaten the median life expectancy of a dog with the mouth tumor, so for that we are lucky. He is not showing signs of ailments other than the expected old-age symptoms, so for that we are lucky.

One thing is for sure: He is going to get spoiled.

12/8/11 - what I found this morning

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Doesn't he look so cozy!?!

12/5/11 - after-dinner calm.... Weird.

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Earlier, Ev showed Grady the big truck book and was getting Gr to repeat the names. It was unbelievably heart-warming :-)

12/5/11 - making clean-up crew

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Daddy helped with measuring and mixing, then sent in the little ones!

12/4/11 - working on Christmas cards for his teachers

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12/4/11 - working on Christmas cards for his teachers

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He's thinking...

2011-12-04T07:58:00.001-05:00

This morning Ev asked why Santa comes in our house without asking permission. Then he asked how he gets in without a key.

Our little talks are going to start getting harder, methinks.

12/3/11 - Ev spells and writes

2011-12-03T19:38:00.001-05:00

He has a journal at home to write in. Tonight while I was doing dishes, he laid on the floor asking for words and help sounding them out. I'm positively impressed by this little big-brained boy!

Who likes seafood?

2011-11-27T11:55:00.001-05:00

See food!

Gotta clean those chompers!

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Take two, now with Grady!

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Thanksgiving morning milk and cartoons

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The Polar Express

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Recently Grandmommie took her grandchildren on an adventure -- the Polar Express! They had a great time riding the train and, of course, getting to see Santa!
Here they all are together...

Here are all of the grandkids together. Three cameras v. five kids... guess who won...

The Millers! Here we are!

Ev LOOOOOVED the train museum, far more than any of us could have predicted. I think Daddy might have liked it, too.

These are my babies :)

The helpers on our car told us to sing extra loud so Santa would hear and come to see us. We sang and sang, and passengers took turns selecting which songs to sing. Ev picked Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and guess what!?!?!! We were halfway through when Santa showed up! Ev picked the right song!

Ah, this moment. He was ecstatic about the possibility of meeting Santa. "Santa is my friend. I'm going to love him forever." Maybe he's trying to short-circuit the whole be-good-for-a-year thing by buttering him up.

MILESTONE ALERT

2011-11-21T22:05:00.001-05:00

Ev officially read his first word today: crab, from "Way down deep in the deep blue sea." Woot!

He has been spelling for a while. Give him a simple word like dog, cat, mom, and he'll sound it out and spell it.

Yeah, he's awesome.

Stomach virus casualty

2011-11-18T12:46:00.001-05:00

He has been surprisingly good- spirited, but what a tired little body!

Poor Evycakes

2011-11-16T16:15:00.001-05:00

It's rainy this afternoon, so for something fun to do we decided to have a picnic snack under the table. It was a little crowded, but we were enjoying it, until Ev absent-mindedly picked up Grady's cup and took a swig. He did the bad-taste shiver and said his milk tasted bad. Uh-oh.

Yep, five minutes later he vomited. Then got some Benadryl. Then vomited again. Then had a little ginger ale. Then vomited again. So far, dose #2 of Benadryl has stayed down. :(

Veterans Day

2011-11-15T20:00:00.001-05:00

I could get used to this :-)

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Ev's family portrait

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BEST EVER!

11/13/11 - Grady's first bike ride!

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Ev rode his bike and I toted Grady on the back of mine and we went for a dusk ride up and down the street. It was great!

Ev to the allergist

2011-11-10T20:37:00.001-05:00

We saw the allergist today for a regular checkup. All the same stuff.... continue avoiding food allergens, keep up with meds, etc.As noted earlier, he gave us an Advair sample that's a stronger version of FloVent in the hopes that it will help his body cope better with this cold and reduce the cough.The big discussion, however, was about allergy shots. He's at an age now where we can consider it. While he's an excellent candidate for it, we're leaning toward postponing it for a while on account of him being so young. For him, he'd get one shot in each arm every visit. They start with a low dose of allergen twice a week for a month, and start working up the concentration. After three months he should be at the maintenance concentration, so then the schedule starts getting adjusted to a maintenance schedule: from twice a week to once a week to every other week to every third week to once a month.For every visit, we'd need to hang out for 30 minutes to make sure there's no reaction. Until he's at maintenance dosage we'd expect to continue using the inhaler(s), nasal spray and oral antihistamine daily. (The inhaler may still be needed later if it's more than just allergies that irritates his asthma.)The promise of immunotherapy and desensitizing his body so he won't need all these medications just to keep the symptoms under control is alluring. He's still so young, though, to go through all that trauma and time at the doctor's office, and to not always be able to clearly identify and communicate when something isn't right.One instance of this last point is that on the way to school this morning, I asked him why he was coughing so much. He said he needed to cough. Ok, duh. Then I explained that sometimes we cough because there's a ticklish feeling inside our chests, or because it feels like we need to clear something from our throats, and asked him what his cough was trying to do for his body. He said it was trying to get an icky piece of dirt out. Where, I asked, was the piece of dirt? He pointed to just above his right hip. Hmmmm.And there's that whole learn-from-experience thing, too -- we started him in school too early, thinking it would be good for him since he was so smart when in actuality he wasn't ready (20/20 hindsight). This ought to be good for him, too, but I think we'll go with our gut here and wait.

Sick-a-ness

2011-11-10T20:29:00.001-05:00

Grady's icks started Sunday, Oct 20. Between feeling yucky for whatever reason and getting shots Monday morning, he was a mess for most of the week. It wasn't until Saturday that he really started to come back around to himself. Luckily now he's bouncy and happy and 100%!On Sunday the side of my throat was sore and I saw a little white patch that I figured was just a canker sore. I didn't look at it again until Monday night when it had gotten pretty painful -- there were then many white patches and lots of inflammation and swelling on my left tonsil. Swallowing was torture, and I slept very little Monday night. Thankfully the doctor had a sick visit open for Tuesday morning.... tonsillitis for the first time in my life, and negative for strep. Penicillin and prednisone. I've had three full days of antibiotics and steroids now and am only marginally improved. A constant intake of ibuprofen and heavily-honeyed warm tea is helping some.And then there's Ev. He started coughing Tuesday evening and it increased yesterday as the congestion set in. Today it changed from wet to dry, and has been persistent. It just so happened that we had a visit with the allergist scheduled for today, so he gave Ev a sample of Advair (stronger and longer-acting inhaled steroid than his usual FloVent) to try for two weeks and carry him through this cold.Jas was in Texas last weekend with the ForeFlight folks and got a touch of the stomach virus that darling Cate brought home from daycare to Mommy and Daddy (Stephanie and Adam). Fortunately for him, it was just one incident and now he's feeling better.Blergh-a-lergh.

Grady's 18mo checkup

2011-11-10T20:22:00.001-05:00

Shame on me for not posting sooner.He had his 18mo checkup the morning of Halloween (Monday). Height: 33" (70th)Weight: 24lb5oz (30th)Head circumference: 19" (55th)Looks like another lanky Miller boy! Everything was good. Health, development milestones, all that jazz. They were actually impressed with his vocabulary; he understands a crazy amount and can say many, many words. Knowing they'd ask, I started counting on Sunday night and quit once I got to 50; they wanted him to have 10-20. I expected that they would defer his shots, because despite having clear ears/nose/chest, he wasn't in tip-top shape. The day before, he had been cranky, clingy, threw up once, and in the evening ran a low-grade fever (100.3, I think). By all signs he was feeling mostly better, but was still a little cranky (easily angered). They decided he was okay to get three leg jabs, though. DTaP, HiB and a flu shot. Grady was not okay with that, the poor dear. :( He got his shots, his band-aids, his pac and lots of hugs.And he fell asleep on the way home. After his upset evening followed by an upset morning, he got to spend the day home with Mommy.

Our first pea pods!

2011-11-07T12:30:00.001-05:00

I want to eat them now! I predict very few will actually make it inside.... :)

Mom, flashbacks to my childhood?

11/2/11 - always fun at the Children's Museum!

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Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:55:00.002-04:00

The children (and parents!) had a fun evening together for dinner and trick-or-treating!Emma was Ladybug Girl. Evan was a construction worker. Kylee was a bumblebee. Grady was the Poky Little Puppy. I'm not sure what Riley was since Ev isn't to an age yet where I have to keep up with the young boys' trends!

10/30/11 - project #3: helicopter w working rotors

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10/30/11 - Grady's first "wall post!"

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10/29/11 - my guys!

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Airp and howlco

2011-10-29T17:18:00.001-04:00

Ev started with "airp" and "hocter." Grady uses "airp" and "howlco." Pretty good!

10/29/11 - project #2: steam locomotive

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10/29/11 - Ev's first k'nex project (a truck, of course)

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Recent letter work

2011-10-28T19:34:00.001-04:00

Goof-a-lantern!

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Shortly after this picture (above), Ev abandoned the carving fest, so Daddy got do do most of it on his own.

It turned out great!

10/27/11 - ghosts and full moons

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10/25/11 - Los haircutos

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