Pool Pictures

Happy in the water

Jumping off the diving board

Daddy & Simon playing in the water

Some pictures from the first swim of the year at the pool.

Daddy & Simon Sleeping

Jeb and Simon went out to play a little golf. Afterward, tired by the heat, they just collapsed and fell asleep.

Holly's Graduation

Simon and I went to Nebraska in May to attend my cousin Holly's high school graduation, and spend some quality time with the family.

I took this picture of Simon and my cousin Daniel (Holly's brother) before the ceremony. After I got back to my seat, Simon commandeered the camera and became the photographer for the entire ceremony. Here are a few of his pictures.

Daniel and me waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Happy Holly leaving the ceremony... leaving high school for the last time.

The Petersen family: Paula, Holly, Gary, and Daniel.

Holly and a classmate. I think she said that he was her co-lead in one of their musical productions.

Try to photograph Simon and Daniel - impossible

Decent shot, but not great. If I keep trying, I am sure I will get a good one.

Nope

Nope

Nope

This is the best picture I managed to get of these two together over the course of our visit.

Around the house at Petersens'

I will simplify this and state that there is much more fun to be had at Petersens' house than at ours!!

Petting a baby chick! How great is that??! And their hair/fur is the same color!! Paula had just received her spring order of baby chicks. She had an unusual assortment of chickens that I've never heard of, but I am sure they looked really cool strutting around the yard a few months later.

On this visit, Simon learned that chicken does not always come breaded and fried. It can also be small and cute!

A big strange bird came to roost on top of the chicken house. It looks a lot like my cousin Daniel.

Simon and Holly having a tea party. Someone wisely put a bath towel down as a "tablecloth." Simon enjoyed pouring for his beautiful guest.

Dude, I will come to your tea party, but I will not wear a funny hat. That is for girls.

Lincoln Children's Zoo with Blake and Lisa

We had a fun day in Lincoln with cousins Lisa and Blake. We went to the Children's Zoo where we saw all kinds of animals and ate lunch (well... Lisa and I ate lunch. Blake and Simon alternated between playing under the table and running around the courtyard) and played on some cool structures. We also had ice cream at the UNL dairy store - what a treat!

Simon and Blake feeding baby goats.

Simon posing in front of one of the camels. It was so sunny and bright that day!

Simon and Blake hatching out of a dinosaur egg.

Riding the train was so much fun! The engineer tooted the horn inside the tunnel. Simon loved it, but poor Blake (who had a bad ear infection) did not. Blake was such a sport to hang out with us all day!

Waiting for the train to come past again. We rode it twice, but Simon and Blake just couldn't get enough.

Fishing on Petersens' Pond

One of the highlights of our trip was fishing out on Gary and Paula's pond on our last night. Simon enjoyed his time with Daniel, Gary, and Grandpa. It was magical... a beautiful night and the fish were practically jumping out onto the lines. Daniel was a little bit ticked when Simon caught the first fish of the evening, but Daniel went on to score about 12 fish when I think Simon topped out at 3.

Riding down to the pond in a cool 4-wheeler!! It's not that far to walk, but the deer ticks were everywhere so we rode down to the pond to limit everyone's exposure to ticks.

All the guys down on the dock, getting ready to catch some fish!

With Uncle Gary's help, Simon caught the first fish of the evening.

But he refused to kiss it.

Fishing with Grandpa, he caught his second fish!

Third fish!

The end of a great visit... thanks Gary, Paula, Holly, and Daniel!

Reece family's visit to Atlanta

Simon and Emma watching a Baby Einstein video together.

The Reece family, about to be gobbled up by a big grouper at the Georgia Aquarium.

Kissin cousins.

Of course we had to eat at the Varsity. I think Emma got to taste an FO, but skipped the chili dog. Smart girl.

Simon likes to collect snails when he sees them. While Chris was feeding Emma, he collected about seven, including a couple of really big ones! He can also spot the babies, some of which are about the size of a piece of cracked pepper. I don't know how he does it - he's very focused on his target!

2008 Masters Tournament Practice Round

Ray and Laurie kindly invited us to be their guests at the final day of practice at the 2008 Masters Tournament in Augusta. We had such a great time!! Here we are at the leader board. The last day of practice is a great day to go, because the players are all very relaxed and it's sort of just a big party. It was pretty amazing to see some golf legends walk right on past (see Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Arnold Palmer below). It is also amazing how focused they are when playing such a technical, detailed game with thousands of people watching their every move.

The practice rounds end with a Par 3 tournament where the golfers have family members, usually children, caddy for them. Here is Gary Player being caddied by, I believe, his granddaughter.

The azaleas and dogwoods at Augusta National really are amazing. Every color you can imagine, all impeccably groomed. And if you look closely you can see the secret of their perfection - a massive HVAC system underground that pipes air, either warm or cool, to speed or slow their blooming (depending on the weather that year), so they are perfect for the Masters. And they certainly are perfect!

Hasn't it been said that sometimes men choose wives that remind them of their mothers? Check this out. We even give Jeb the same look when we want him to put the camera away!!

Easter Weekend

Well, we had all these plastic eggs laying around...

Easter Sunday.

Simon's favorite part of baseball games is all the sweets. M&M's, cotton candy, lemonade, and ice cream!! One of the games we went to this spring was Georgia Tech vs. Duke. Simon knows that Georgia Tech's team is called the Yellowjackets - when we walked up and saw the Duke players (the Blue Devils), wearing blue, warming up, Simon said "Mommy, are those the Bluejackets?" We also got to go down and talk to some of the Tech players at the end of one game. Simon thought that was pretty cool.

Simon crossing a set of wobbling hanging posts on the playground at Piedmont Park... I didn't think he would make it all the way across, but he did!

Climbin' Simon made it to the top without any help.