The White Whale

So today, the Nelsons added this land yacht to their fleet. It just made sense for a lot of reasons:

• We needed a new car
• It gets 27 highway miles to the gallon
  
• Seats 17 adults comfortably, including our whole family
• It feels like I am sailing a powerful couch
  
• Eight cylinders of punishing Detroit muscle
• Dangerously high safety ratings
  
• Consumers Report "Best Bet" for reliability
• The Burt in me gained controlled my mind
  
• Decadent luxury (it shaves me and feeds me cereal as it drives itself)
• Excellent per-pound cost
  

Six years ago, this car was pushing $50k. We got it for under $7k.

Here is the average mileage I got on the way home. It was still creeping up when I stopped.

At the Ol' Office

Hanging in the Yard

Tee-Ball Begins

As mentioned in a previous entry, Danielle (pictured above; pregnant) has signed Bear up for all sorts of summer activities.
Here is Bear chucking something during his first Tee-Ball practice. He dreaded it because he wanted 'real throwing' baseball without the humiliating tee, but he really seemed to like it once he got there.

Willow ranged from very supportive to oblivious.

Here is that picture of Danielle again.

Father's Day

It was a good father's day. We spent the day at the Pasquali's lake, which is called Lake Pasquali. There was swimming, fishing, lounging, and eating. It ruled. Also, mom Susie sent a Highland House Greek Salad home with me, which is what I would order as my last meal on death row.

We cruised the lake in the pontoon boat. Willow co-piloted.

Dean taught Bear how to swim...

...and Bear taught Dean how to sink.

Instant Gratification

It's hard these days to get a decent picture of Willow because whenever she sees the phone come out she is right away craning her neck to see the picture -before I can take a picture. So many of the pictures end up looking like this. It's so weird to see little babies flip cameras around to the back to see the results. They will never know the acute financial pang of each click or the agony of waiting to see how they all turned out. And that's good. Things are better now.

On a halfway related note, a while back we were watching old videos of Bear and whenever he noticed he was on camera he would freeze and start saying "cheech!" Then we remembered how we had trained him to say cheese for pictures and had the hardest time getting him to not do it for videos.

Now he has a habit of flaring his nostrils and bearing his upper teeth -similar to Cheryl's fishface habit. So there's that.

Caleb and Mary's special day

Happy Birthday, Caleb and Mary!
Caleb is turning 30 and Mary is turning 41.

Gizzard Fest '08

As it turns out, of all the great pictures I could have taken at an event called "Gizzard Fest" in a very rural town nearby, is this lame one that you have probably already seen. I don't even get it. What is so funny about confections?
We went with the Shavers and the Prestons. Good times had by all. Then we all met back at the house for pineapple grilled chicken. It was pretty awesome.

Can you see how freaked out Willow is? Its because Bear is in the closet there. Then after he opened the door the floodgates closed and she was fine. It's amazing how quickly worlds can be turned upside down with such tremendous mourning, and a couple seconds later...no big deal.

Yes, Willow totally wears bikinis. She's keeping it real and she do what she want. You don't know her, you can't judge her. She do what she want.

Dan and Skip broke their collective back getting this into the house. Thank you, guys. We bought it from Dan's dad, Greg Shaver. He restores old furniture for a hobby and we got this one. He does good work and he stands behind his work.

Chunky Cheese's

So Bear's last day of the first grade was Thursday and we all met at Ceasarland to party down.

Danielle has plotted a summer for Bear with the goal of brewing some recklessnesses into him. At least, we want him to not think the outside is "boring" or refuse to touch bugs of any kind. So, in a plot to secretly train him as a super agent, without his knowing it, he is now signed up for bugs and dirt nature camps, baseball, tennis, football, and art. I want to see if there is a sword fighting (but I'll settle for fencing) class around for kids. And Latin. How awesome would that be? Psychologists, are your vicarious flags going up?

Willow also enjoyed the outing, as she does most things. Oh, she also gagged on a piece of pizza and barfed like a gallon of barf, filling two paper plates that Danielle got under her just in time.

The Fantastic Four

Carol texted me this picture the other day of four masters of disaster. Even then, you can detect a palpable sense of sheer awesomeness.
See that serious stoic look on the eldests there in the back row? The two in the front know better.