Charissa is 15 years old!!!

Her birthday is on the 12th--I'm behind on posting, and I'm afraid I didn't get much in the way of pictures....





We went to Panda Express for her birthday dinner (her choice)--and I thought I had pics there, but they seem to have gone missing. Then went to Borders Books where our friends Tom and MaryKay play folk music once a month:





... and drank sodas ...





... and Patrick read us a poem in his lovely Irish accent--which I believe he wrote for Mother's Day last year ...





... then we came home for late night cupcakes and presents--but I didn't get any pics of the presents, just blowing candles--and yes, Robin is already nearly as tall as Charissa ...





And that was it.

Lookout Post

The haystack is a great place to watch for the arrival of friends....

More Unexpected Babies

This time it's rabbits... about 10 days old in these shots, and just opening their eyes....

Boy Warrior

Josh has been big into sword play lately. Here he is with his sword and cardboard shield.



I took this shot as I was jumping backwards out of the way of this unexpected attack:



He's actually getting quite dangerous. He used to be happy just wacking swords, but now he's realized that the point is to hit the other person. This makes playing swords with him a lot more challenging and fun.

But I do need to teach him some chivalrous ideas--such as not stabbing people in the back without warning! LOL

The 'New' Toy

We bought a travel trailer last weekend!




It's an old 1971, and needs a little bit of work, but for $500 it was a good buy.




The girls have been hanging out in it, doing projects and puzzles and math worksheets...




And Charissa is begging to have it for her own 'house'. She's tired of sharing a room with a sister, LOL.

Morning Drive

Charissa and I took a nice morning drive to the lake on Monday morning. Lake Tahoe, that is--around here, that's usually what people mean when they say "The Lake." Of course there's lots of other lakes around, but, anyway...

Charissa was on her way to a 5 day backpacking camp, which was unfortunately cancelled at the last minute, but since I didn't bring my cell phone, we didn't know until we arrived at the meeting place.

It was a beautiful morning--the lake was gorgeous, as always, and I'm glad we were able to take the drive.

Here's a couple of lake pictures:





I drove past the best picture taking spots before I thought of stopping, but oh well!

Here's the disappointed backpacker:



That was supposed to be a shot of "Contemplative Charissa" but she saw me coming and it turned into "Charissa Trying Not to Smile."

And then she lost it altogether:



Isn't she a cutie!

This series was really messed up, with too much background light. But I played with the editing tools, and came up with this:









She wasn't too upset about missing her camp--she was thankful to be able to go home and go back to bed!

Chick Surprise

Well, I didn't expect to find this today!





The little black hen was getting so beat up by the others that I stuck her in a little 'safe house' to recover. She insists on laying her eggs in the far back corner--where they're nearly impossible to get out--so I haven't been collecting them.

And this morning there she was with her little brood: