Champaign, Introduction to Drum Corps

A few weeks ago we drove to visit some good friends in Champaign. We really liked living in Champaign and were excited to go back.

One of our first stops was to our old house (which is actually newer than our new house). We had to check out the hybrid poplar that I planted in 2006. I bought it from the St. Joseph County Soil and Water Conservation District in IN for I think $1 or $2, and it was a 3-foot-long stick with no leaves. Look at it now! :)

Our friends have a 3-year-old and an almost-1-year-old, so Sean enjoyed playing with all of their toys. Of course I wish I had taken more pictures, here are just a couple.

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The Cavaliers were in Centerville one day for rehearsal, so Dada took Sean on a little excursion to check it out. Sean took along an old film panoramic camera. We still need to go pick up the developed film from the store to see how they turned out. I have low expectations considering he kept opening the back of the camera as he was taking pictures!

Finding a bit of shade. It was hot and humid that day.

misc

Sean is pretty good about entertaining himself without getting into trouble while I am making dinner. This day, he chose to get out all of our plastic bags and spread them out all over the kitchen floor. Then he started putting things in them. I thought he was just putting his toys in them, until later Dada was looking for his wallet. Oops! Well Sean impressed us all by remembering which bag he had put it in!

There was a little fair at a local park recently, so we went to check it out. Sean got to sit on a police horse.

He loved this super-high slide!

He was a little tentative about the bouncy house, since the last time he was in one he landed wrong on his back and hurt it a little bit. But once he was in, he was fine.

We finished it all off with a cupcake.

Here are a couple of shots from playing outside on the sidewalk at our house.

Happy birthday!

Sean turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. We had a family party to celebrate. Sean's playhouse finally got put together. Thanks to our detour to California, the Christmas present from 1.5 years ago turned into a birthday present.

I made a train cake for Sean, and he helped me decorate it with sprinkles.

He just likes to eat the "extra" ones.

The finished product. (Nobody should expect anything close to this next year! This took WAY too long to make!)

Sean got a new sandbox,

scissors,

and more trains, among a bunch of other great toys. Thanks everyone!

Ready for cake!

Happy birthday, Sean!

various photos

Just a few pics from this past month.

Sean likes to sleep with lots of "critters."

We went to the Butler County Safety Fair. Sean got a pinwheel, which was very exciting. He now has a large collection of them in the backyard.

There was also some sort of horse rescue demonstration, but we missed it except for this part. It seemed funny because it took them a LONG time to get to this point.

Sean is somewhat helpful around the house. Lately he has been putting the clean silverware away for me. It's all about how the job is presented. He likes puzzles, so I called this the "silverware puzzle," and he was very excited to do it. That has worn off after a couple of weeks, but it did work for a while.

In our eat-in kitchen, there was a built-in buffet type of cabinet that the previous owner had taken down and put in one of the bedrooms. We worked on getting it back to its rightful place, and in the process Sean busied himself with some scrap wood with holes, screws, and a screwdriver. Great toy! This occupied him for quite a while so we could get the cabinet up.

We also planted a couple of cherry trees in our front yard. This one is currently about the height of Sean. Hopefully it will grow quickly so we can have some fruit within a couple of years!

Easter and busyness

Sean enjoyed many egg hunts over Easter. He gots lots of nice presents, money, and candy. Here, he is amazed to find some paper money in an egg! Also any time he opened one that contained a mini candy bar (such as Snickers) he would yell, "NOUGAT!"

In the woods on the side of our house.

The spaceship. Oops, I mean the doctor's office. Oh wait, that's our house! I really should update this picture - it looks much better now that everything is green.

Still loving the bike. (Notice he has taken apart the bell. Too bad he is not good at keeping track of things - it is now missing some gears and doesn't work anymore. He does not seem to mind though.)

Starting the garden inside....

... and out. We decided to put up a fence to keep the deer out. That put the garden in the far corner of the yard, so we wouldn't have to look at an ugly fence from the family room and kitchen. The only problem is it's the part of the yard with lots of trees. We did some pruning, which hopefully will help it get enough sun.

There was a fundraiser carnival at a local park. It was not very crowded, as you can tell by the pictures. That meant Sean got some rides all to himself!

In the middle of the train ride, as he went by us he kept saying he wanted to go in the middle and see how it worked. So the operator was kind enough to explain the motor to Sean.

Then came the observation of the wheels when the next boy got on.

Sean got his first ferris wheel ride. He was excited, then nervous as the ride started moving....

and then came over the top with a giant smile. That was a relief!

On our way out we got a funnel cake and lemonade. We stopped to eat it in the park shelter. Jeff just had to take this picture. Yes, we live in Ohio!