I Wasn't Born in the Jungle

This is one of my two big brothers, Bill.

Bill was seven years old when I displaced him as the youngest member of our family.  Despite our age difference, and the fact that he teased me mercilessly, I loved spending time with Bill.  Still do.

Some of my earliest memories of my brother Bill took place on a family vacation, when I was just a little squirt of 2 or 3 years.  My grandparents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and took all their posterity on a cross-country road trip.  While I remember very little of any of the sightseeing we did along the way, I do remember sleeping in a pop-up trailer, near my brother, Bill.

This seemingly insignificant detail was made memorable by Bill's whispered revelations of our family's past, before we fell asleep each night in that pop-up trailer.  After all, he told me marvelous bits of family history previously unknown to me.  Until Bill told me all about it, I had no idea that--prior to my birth--our family had lived in the jungle.

The Sandbox

The final installation of the Bionic Man's work of playscape art was completed earlier this summer.  The long-awaited sandbox is now part of the children's play area.

This is no ordinary sandbox.  For starters, it is part of the Bionic Man's playscape design.  Remember the playscape?

April Recap

This is by no means an exhaustive recap of the month of April.  Just a look at some of the fun we've had.  And, um, that doesn't mean the things that weren't photographed weren't fun, right?  Right.

My sister came to visit for Easter weekend.  Looking for someplace fun to take her that wasn't too far away, we took a chance and went to an Earth Day festival downtown.  A good time was had by all.  Probably because just about every booth at the festival was handing out freebies.  What's more green then FREE?

Bionic Man and Justone were fascinated by the hybrid vehicles.  Unfortunately, those weren't free.

Face painting, on the other hand, was free.

Recycling

This was a fun project from last spring.  Thanks to a women's sewing organization in Turkey who has posted a link to this project on their website, this little project has garnered international fame.  (Well, at least I like to think so.)  If you missed it last year or you aren't Turkish, here's a little

Fashion Friendly Recycling!

I created this outfit using materials I had on hand.  Here's the before:

Lego my Lego

On New Year's Eve, the Bionic Man and I usually go out to celebrate at the home of some friends who know how to throw really great [non-alcoholic] parties.  This year, we were all set to go out, but at the last moment both the Bionic Man and I realized that neither of us felt very well and we were both too tired to party in public.  We cancelled the babysitter, put on our jammies, and let our kids decide how they wanted to spend the night.

The children, of course, were thrilled.  It was determined that we would spend the night playing games and watching movies and lighting fireworks.  We did just what they wanted, even though the fireworks were lit in the pouring rain.