2007 Annual Picnic at Wickham

It was absolutely perfect weather for the annual picnic even by my standards. (I love the artic bone chilling winds of course.) We had a good turn out:

• Dan, Jude and Aleah
• Raf and Family
• My family and we stopped and grabbed Dylan too

First we parked cars and chit chatted. We discussed the near burning of my new house down due to a defective tea candle that was in an iron wall sconce. We caught up on work news and family matters and then we ate! The kids alternated between the playscape and trying to fly their kites. Ryan found a feather from a bluejay and bunch of 'other' assorted feathers.

After that we went to the nature center and larger playscape and then we fed the birds. On the way back to our Barbecue site we grabbed ice cream for everyone. Here's some pictures:

The Infamous Mr. Gebben.
(Dan)

Bynsters

Ryan

Nathaniel


Dylan

The Boys

Judy

The Girls

At The Playground, Ya know.

Beutiful weather

Raf
His birthday is September 5th, Dan's is the 10th, I'm hoping to have them both over for dinner.

Interesting tale regarding Mr. Wickham
I've been to this park like 50 times and never once new Horace invented the Window Envelope!

A working sundial. (It was accurate to the minute)

An Antique we saw on the way

Another Antique we saw on the way

WASP NEST!!!!

Lepidolite
(Quite Common out at my house. Usually mined as a source for Lithium)

Muscovite
(Also Quite Common out at my house, used as an electrical insulator and as Christmas tree snow)

Pigeon Skeleton: Kinda cool

This bird BIT ME!

Bobcat Skull from the side... Scary.

Bobcat Skull

Beaver Skull
(Crazy Teeth!)

Birds we were feeding

An Emu.
(They make a deep rumbling sound when they speak. Really cool. They have oily feathers)

A 300 LB Black bear, the Biggest found in CT

A Black Bear Skull


Some Feathers (Froggy skeletons too)

Stuffed Bobcat
(You can find these in CT but their quite shy and usually avoid humans like the plague. They prefer to hunt in tall grass and only at night although some people who keep chickens say they can be a nuisance. There are not many left in CT)

Sunday Visitors

Madeline and MeMe

Uncle Alan

Pop Pop, Nathaniel, Madeline and Meme

Abe worrying about losing Mage Knight to Uncle Sean and Ryan

Sean is trying to figure out how to beat Abe and Ryan.

The Fam

The fam just hanging out. Ryan got some new combs from Meme so he's been experimenting with new hair styles and outfits. ;)


Ryan

Ryan again

Ryan, Robyn and Nate

For the whole album Check here: http://whatisthedot.com/100707%20Family/

I used JAlbum which was recommended by Dan. Pretty cool

More kimmy pics from MeMe

Home Fireworks Display

A small home display of legal fireworks.








This is a multi-exposure of the series below.

Robyn and Ryan playing with sparklers.

Auntie Kimmy and Sophia come to visit

Isn't she a cutie

Auntie Kimmy

Kimmy Again

Our Messy Family Room

Ryan

Ryan and Daddy finish the upstairs Bathroom

Ryan did most of the work but we installed all the towel rings and towel bars etc.


Daddy and Ryan hard at work

Ryan

Ryan again

Jack and Jill. (Jack likes to pretend he's snoopy, Jill just likes to pose)

We have Turkeys!!

I haven't been able to get a clear picture of these guys yet but heres two pictures I did get while driving by. There is atleast 3 turkeys running about and probably a lot more.

We also have some very brave deer that stood about 25 feet from me AND my two dogs. My dogs who are normally loud and obnoxious put their tail between their legs and hid behind me. We see deer maybe 2-3 nights a week and they come right into our backyard and almost to our driveway.

Lately though they've been sticking to the border of my yard. I may be frightening them so I'll have to start feeding them! They make a crazy sound when they see you which sounds like a snorting cough.



Things are still going well at the new place. We had a problem with our water softening unit that left a swimming pool downstairs and it is now slowly disappearing. Our washer and dryer now work so we can do laundry again! The guest room is squared away for the most part it just needs to be cleaned and we went to stamford to pick up a sectional couch from Madeline and Alan so we now have a place to sit in our family room!

The house is still in shambles and we are working on it constantly while attending to Nathaniel, Ryan, the dogs and the cats. The fish doesn't seem to be eating much these days but we are still trying to feed him. We have had him for a few years though and betta's only usually live 2-3 years in a fish bowl. One thing I never knew about bettas is that they can breathe both air and water and surface to breathe air occasionally. How strange.

Nathaniel is doing great, I built his crib and he sleeps quite well in his own room. He likes to watch mobiles and fans and the spinning effect lulls him to sleep. Ryan is loving the new house but spends a lot of time on the computer and not much time outdoors these days but he did help me build the kennel for the doggies. (He also helped with the crib and he built a shelf for a television in the family room, he even painted it and drilled the holes!) The dogs love their new space and we let Jill run free quite a bit. Jack is a bit of a problem and is always trying to run away but he eventually comes back. I think once we have an invisible fence he will be a lot better off.

Anyways more updates soon.