favorite song

London's new favorite song on her Disney CD

Can you tell what song it is?

Strangers Like Me

by Phil Collins

from the movie "Trazan"

Keyton asked if she had ever seen the movie - Nope

Third Birthday this week goes to . . . .

Russ' mother, Sherrie

Happy Birthday

We hope you have a great birthday!

Wish we could be there

Try to stay out of trouble today

Love,

Russ, Jenn & Kids

In Memoriale Fra' Filippo Lippi

The cat that narrowly escaped death from the wheels of an orange truck (with no brakes)

The cat that ate an entire ball of rubber bands & later passed it with great pain

The cat that fell 4 stories off a balcony ledge & laughed in the face of death

Finally met her end Monday night

She was known by many names, cat, kitty, pumpkin, football, and her Christian name

Fra' Filippo Lippi

Despite all her heroics on the battlefield of life, she could no longer escape time

She lived a long and full life to the age of 16-17 (not sure which)

She died from CRF (Chronic Renal Insufficiency) or in other words, kidney failure

She will be missed on earth, for now she's in the great halls of Valhalla feasting on fish

and gravy to her heart's delight as one of the chosen of Odin.

-jer

Sorry for your loss Jerry - we will all miss seeing her at the next family gathering

Love - Russ and Jenn

47 years . . . .

Today is my parents 47th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary mom & dad

thanks for being such great parents and all you have done

thank you for showing the power of commitment

importance of family

and love of a parent

Male Bonding

Friday night  Russ and Keyton went to Tuttle Creek (up by Manhattan, KS)

They camped and were going to check out the jeep trails Saturday morning

getting things ready to go out on the trails

evidently you have to let out some of the air in your tires so they don't pop

this is one area with four trails and then they go off to other areas

they came home exhausted

with stories

and ready to head back for another weekend

Next . . .

Birthday on the list for this week

My father-in-law, Chuck

I know this year can't be quite as FUN as last year

but we hope you have a great day!

We LOVE you

Russ, Jenn and Kids

party party time . . . .

Happy Birthday to Aunt Shanna

Tonight we went to Shanna's for a birthday dinner

I am really sorry I didn't get a picture of ALL the FOOD

We had Crab Legs, Shrimp, baked potatoes, pasta salad, a fancy fresh tomato dish and more. We were all stuffed.  It was all Good Good Eatin'.  Part way through dinner - when my daughter kept saying "more crab mommy" I had a thought - what kind of expensive taste are we developing in our 2 yr old?  Crab at 2 yrs!  She was pretty grabby and trying to take our "big" pieces.

London and I made a present for Aunt Shanna - being the sweet Aunt - London got to help open the gift.

We also made a tea towel with foot prints on it

London did serenade Shanna through out the entire dinner and afterwards with

Happy Birthday to You

I think London enjoy the frosting more than the cake

Hmmmm - she seems to be taking after her brother Konley & his love for sweets

Hope you had a great birthday - we had a great time

She's lost

I lost London again

I always check on London when we go to bed

I never know how I will find her

It is usually dark with only her night light on

The other night when I walked in - I couldn't find her

I realized then she was at the foot of the bed

It looks like she brought extra friends to bed with her after we initially put her to bed

There are several extra lumps in the bed 

I realized that they were some of her babies that she had put to bed

WARNING . . . . . . .

cover your child's eyes

this picture contains graphic images

this is the censored version

just LOVE having cats that like to show off their skills

nice to find at 10:00 PM on the front porch

uhhh . . "Honey, can you came take care of this?

I don't want London to see it in the morning"

his response:  "just leave it - I bet by morning it will be gone"

did I hear him right?

it was 80 degrees out - what do YOU think it would look like by morning?

I know the critters in our neighborhood and don't want them on our porch

you guessed it - when I came down this morning it was still there

glad it was gone when I got home

I know I could of taken care of it - but hey - I have a husband

let him take care of it

Magic Bubble Wand

Do you have this problem at your house?

My two children fighting over the bubble wand

I guess I need to buy another - $5.00 at WalMart plus you get a jar of bubbles

She enjoys this bubble wand more than any of her other bubble toys

It's Magic - because it makes such large bubbles

Daddy was getting really good at making bubbles

London finally got her turn - it is funny watching her chase after her own bubbles

Our Kansas Waterfall

This morning Russ gave me 3 options

Water Park in Hutchinson

Water Park in McPherson

Waterfall

I chose the waterfall.  This was something on my list to do this summer

It takes about an hour to get there and then hike about a half-mile

I was really hoping that this year there would be lots of water - like the first time we went

This is the dam you have to cross and then you venture to the left through some tall weeds on a tiny little path . Russ reminded me to be on the look out for snakes - fortunately we did not see one.  As we are hiking over the dam we try to listen for water - always a good sign the river is full and running.

The top fall  - looking down

The next falls

This is the entire upper falls - this is a good area to play

Then you have one more and it goes into a big pool

I have never seen the pool so full

So I am walking to get the camera - I see this huge turtle

Scared me to death - when I came back with the camera he was hiding under this rock

He was about 10 inches in diameter

We saw lots and lots of things to catch - fish and craw fish

London was scared when we first got there

Then after some coaxing - she was ready to play but she would never actually go into the falls and sit with Russ.  She did finally go up to the upper level with us and stand close the falls.

It was hot! Really hot - look at the sweat on our faces!

Wear good shoes to walk around - it is pretty slick

This is Russ' impression of Hugh Jackman in Australia

 when he dumps that bucket of water over his shirtless body

I love my husband but it isn't quite the same

As you can see behind us - great area to catch things - just hanging out by the lower falls

Such a long hot walk back to the jeep

Temp  101

It was great to get back there again

I was very pleased to see roaring water again flowing over the falls