When we moved into our house in 1979 our yard abutted against ninety acres of farmland. At the far edge was an area of savanna with mostly one-hundred year old oak trees.

We had a wonderful vista to the West. Ballooning was a popular endeavor and it was not uncommon to see five, seven or nine balloons. Either in the early morning or evening when winds were light we would hear the roar of the burner and search the sky for the balloon.

In the thirty years we have lived here, a subdivision of 300 homes has been built on the 90 acres. The balloon port launches few balloons. Some years we see none. We can no longer look far to the West and search for the sunset, the approaching weather, the Sunday evening traffic on US 12 returning from the Chain O'Lakes or Wisconsin.

I was cooking dinner on the grill when my heart sprang again to joy at the long lost, familiar sound; the "WHOOSH! whoosh!"



I heard that sound! The neighbors behind us, sitting on their porch, exclaimed, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!


As they skimmed the tree tops I could clearly see the pilot and the man and woman riding with him.



Since the school expansion the practice field is a target of one half the size. The basket drug through the tree top and he sat it down in the middle.

Chase team and people from the neighborhood gravitated toward the field. I could hear the clamour and excitement in the voices.

Adults and children alike were drawn to the balloon and the activity of deflating the balloon, folding and packing it. I brought back memories of my children rushing to the school to see the balloons.

Logan "Reads" A Story

Logan is a very talented talker. Her mind multi threads at two and one half years old. These four videos were split for the convenience of upload to the blog.

She has Grandma read to her and she has a book for herself; but, the story Logan tells is repeating what Grandma is saying. So she listens to the speaker and repeats it just moments later while still listening to the speaker. I have seen her do this 'echo' effect before.

Life Begins At 40

Drew's Birthday is today, August 3. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Sitting in the fathers' room at Memorial Hospital in Marion, Illinois. Early American furniture, print wall paper, one lamp. The halls were empty and the Field & Stream magazine was old. Every time the nurse would see me looking in the hall she would threaten me with ejection from the hospital.

Finally! She came to tell me I had a son. That I couldn't see either yet. I would have to wait for the doctor to finish up and the baby would be in the nursery.

Flash forward to the present ...

Drew was a big baby at 10 pounds 2 ounces. I thought he was little. But look at him now! He makes quite an entrance to his birthday dinner.

His mom is happy to see him.

His wife, Tricia.

His daughter, Ashley.

His son, Alex.

They all reciprocate his love. He is an easy going fella. Skilled and creative. Loving and kind.

Julieanna's Birth Date

Sunday morning we all got up, went for breakfast and head to the Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Parks

Julieanna, Geoff, Cora and Hazel and Kyle, Sarah and Logan went on while Grandma and I lagged behind. Our GPS was losing satellite lock at the worst times. We had to navigate by guessing where an address would be.

We arrived at the parks and had to look for our family at "the largest water park in the Dells". We were to call them and they would tell us where they were. That would have been a good plan. Apparently they were ditching us. We called both of their cell phones and went straight to automated voice mail.

So I took a few pictures as we walked through the park looking for them.



As we reached the middle of the park there is a ship's deck. That's it on the right with the mast and yard arm.



From the deck, we surveyed the park, establishing our plan.



There, at the furthest reaches of the park in the furthest wave pool we found our families.

They had set up under a pavilion on a picnic table.

Kyle and Sarah took Logan and Cora to the toddler pool.


Cora enjoyed talking to uncle Kyle.


These are Cora's friend Daddy, her friend Hazel and her friend Grandma. And Cora introduced us all repeatedly.


Cora almost always starts a conversation with "Mom (or Dad), can I talk to (any of us)." Here she just started to talk to a girl at the next table who was about 13 years old.

When her dad said, "Cora." She came back to ask if she could, "talk to that girl?"

Another Cora and Logan moment of joy. Cora was so happy to see everyone. She would say, "I miss Logan." Or whomever was her next contact.

The parents went on the big blue slide in this picture.

Grandma got a lot of happy-time with Hazel. Hazel (Cora's friend and little sister) is a very happy, smiley baby. Most of the time. If her mom comes into sight or ear-shot, she puts up a fuss until her mom takes her. Then she looks back with a smile as if to say, "See, Mommy has me." In this one Mom is walking away from Hazel.

Here's that fussy face.

It's the end of the day for all. Grandma and I wait with Hazel while her folks and Cora change out of their swimsuits. Hazel looks like I felt. This indoor water park was hot, humid and noisy. Just like all of the ones I've been too. Hazel didn't last long.

She's outta here! Quite content to sleep in Grandma's safe lap.
Babies are so angelic when they are sleeping. Almost irresistible.


When Cora came out she totally agreed with me. She had to hug and kiss her little sister.


And she was fun to play with.


When she pried Hazel's eye open to see what was in there it was too much for Geoff. Of course we were used to this behavior because Julieanna used to do this to Kyle when he was a baby.
Guess apples really don't fall far from the tree.


Video of our time in the shade.


It was a lot of fun even if it was hot.

It was great to see the kids and the grand kids.

Sally bought a couple of Hawaiian Shave Ice. Sally ate hers and Cora ate mine. Logan wanted nothing to do with it. She looked hot but wouldn't eat the ice or drink the juice.

Logan played on the ground for a while. I thought she was playing with an ant. I would talk to her and she would ignore me pretty much. Eventually she lay down and when I went over to pick her up she was playing with ABC gum on the concrete. It was stringy and sticky.

Since I wouldn't let Logan play with the ABC gum, Cora went over and picked up a ball of it and brought it to Logan. Really! Have you ever seen this before? It was a first for me. But here we are three days later and they are both well. So I guess it was okay.

When Sarah came back she bought Dip n Dots for Logan and Cora. Logan had a fruit flavored mix and Cora, of course, had chocolate.

Preparation For Celebration

July 31 is the day before Julieanna's birthday. Since Drew's family has a softball tournament in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin and Julieanna and Geoff just moved to Minneapolis last month Sally engineered a meeting to celebrate birthdays in The Dells.

We picked up Logan and Sarah about 8 AM. Logan was the conversationalist. She didn't sleep a wink the entire drive. Not only did she not sleep, she made sure no one else slept.

Logan talked. Logan sang. Logan told stories. Logan practiced her opera voice? She thought it was funny to scream at about 22,000 Hz. Right at the threshold of human hearing. I was surprised the car did not get attacked by dogs.

But we made it to the Dells Island Resort about 11 am. We checked in for the rooms and got our water park bands . Then we waited for Julie and Geoff to arrive with Cora and Hazel.

They arrived about noon. And the girls were a amazing. Cora was excited and wanted to give Logan hugs. Logan wasn't too sure about that although she did seem excited to see Cora. The Turners checked in and got their bands for the water parks.

We all went to the Chula Vista Indoor water park for some fun. I didn't take my camera (thankfully). It was steamy hot inside. There was constant dripping from the overhead slides. Not a good place for my camera. It isn't a problem for bathers though.

We played until about 4:30 when Drew's got to the water park with the softball team. We went to dinner and


Grandma and Cora played with horses on the bed. Logan wanted more mobility in her play.


Hazel would smile so big until I got the camera out. Then she was so serious. But, she is always cute. She seems so big now that she can sit by herself.

Joined by Logan. Logan played with some horses with Hazel. Logan is going to be quite the "Big Sister".

Grandma, Cora and Logan talked for the horses.

We ate dinner at Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty. When we left we got a meal to go for Kyle. Kyle drove up after work on Saturday. When he finished eating Cora engaged him in some animal talk.

Lake County Fair Wednesday!

After Lunch and a nap, for Logan not us, we three headed to the Lake County Fair 2010. It was a hot day and no rain in sight.



Logan saw kids, or more popularly called baby goats.



Chickens were there in their cages. In a case in the corner were newly hatched chicks.


There were sheep. Already sheared and the bags were full.

There were domestic turkeys too.

Ham and Bacon on the hoof. Well actually on the bacon.

There were fruits with their ribbons.

And vegetables too.

An antique fire truck from Fox Lake was interesting. Logan really wanted to sit in there.

She settled for a cut-out picture opportunity and a Junior Firefighter sticker.

And a little helmet too.

Logan was reading so quietly that we can't hear the story. But it amused her for many minutes before she took her nap.

The "badge" sticker fell from grace very quickly. But she like the helmet. It was tried frontward and backward. Logan insisted on backward finally.

She had a corn dog (with ketchup of course) . She had a lemonade shake-up too. It wouldn't be the fair without that.

So in the end; it was a smaller experience that last year, when the all the families met at the fair. There weren't as many animals as there used to be. The domestic exhibits were sparse as well. But it is clean and fun