Happy Halloween

Had a fun night tonight out trick-or-treating with Curious George, our curious little monkey, a Star Princess and a Fairy. It was all about the candy as they rushed from house to house. As they got all hyped up on the inevitable sugar rush it was pretty tough convincing them later that it was time for bed.

Happy Halloween everybody.

Pumpkin Time

We did our annual pumpkin carving this afternoon. There was the usual excitement prior to the carving, which quickly waned as it took a little longer than expected. The only difference from last year was that Connor had to have one carved this year and Anja “designed” her own carving and then really helped to carve it, albeit quite slowly. They’re all set now for Wednesday night. As we emptied the pumpkins the kids were talking about the time on the Bernstain Bear book when papa bear teased the cubs with the goop….our kids were tickled when I was playing with it a little.

Kaavia's 1st Birthday

We reconvened again yesterday at Randy and Lorraine’s for Kaavia’s 1^st birthday and round two of Kavin’s birthday. We had the same crowd as two weeks earlier but Jane and Kay were also with us. The day was as eventful and enjoyable as the last, but this time we had an Indian buffet which was absolutely excellent. I think everybody ate enough for both lunch and dinner. We really had a great time and it was great to see Lorraine really happy to have a house full of friends and family. Shown below are a few photos from the afternoon.

Fellow of AAPS

I mentioned that Lynne was recognized as a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Below is a photo of her receiving her certificate at the annual meeting in Chicago two weeks ago. Well done again Love.

New Kitchen Floor

A little (or not so little project) that we undertook last month was a kitchen floor replacement. When we completely overhauled the kitchen 8 years ago we choose a relatively new and untested floor. Bad decision. It did not hold up well at all, it cracked in several places, faded and was badly worn down in many other places. 

We made a switch to a porcelain tile, which looks fantastic. It was a very hectic week and Randy was very gracious in cooking for us on a couple of occasions. It was Lynne however that deserves all the credit; she did virtually all the organizing, choosing and painting touch-ups. Its looks great love, thank you.

Fall Colors

I’ll add more updates later tonight but thought I’d share this photo. Lynne and myself went for a nice relaxing walk together yesterday in Happy Hollow Park. The fall colors were simply amazing and Lynne took this great photo.

Happy Birthday Randy, Dinorah and Kavin

The kids are now in bed so we now essentially have Monday behind us. Lynne is at the annual AAPS show this week, which is in Chicago this year. She received two awards last night at their ceremony, one of which bestows upon her the title of Fellow of that august association. She is actually staying with Kay this week, which will be so much nicer than a soulless hotel room. We’re all doing well thus far here, but it is only Monday.

We had a great afternoon on Sunday at Randy and Lorraine’s house. We celebrated the recent birthday of Randy, Dinorah and Kavin. As always a very relaxing afternoon, thanks to you all again. I absolutely love the pictures below of little Kaavia, almost one year old. She is Kavin’s little sister. 

Don't Blog us Daddy

It was only a matter of time, time that is before one of our kids takes issue with their pictures being on the blog. A few years have past since one of those early pictures of Anja on this blog; we all look a little different today. On Sunday as I was trying to snap a few photos, Anja was desperately trying to avoid the camera, as she has done a lot lately. So, I asked her what was up….

She said, “You’re only going to Blog us Daddy”….

I replied with, “Wow, ok, what’s so bad about that?”

“I don’t think the entire world wants to see pictures of us anymore”

         “Oh, I don’t think the entire world is looking at our blog, just our friends”

“No, if it’s on the Internet the entire world can see it, even the President probably looks at our blog”…

Anyhow, you get the drift. We discussed it along those lines for another few minutes until she got distracted with something else. I do know she is very curious about this blog, virtually every time I come to sit at the computer these days I see somebody has been reading blog posts from years ago. I guess this is what happens when your kids start to read very competently, and get opinions.....

Exploration Acres

It’s hard sometimes to muster the motivation to update the blog. I go through cycles and it’s been a bit like that these past few weeks, so apologies. Life since we all went back to school has been routine, a busy routine. The kids are all settled into their school, Lynne teaches at Purdue twice a week this semester and of course I’m back to Chicago every two weeks, but back to assignments and reading virtually every night. We're all doing great, just busy.

Pat arrived back on Saturday for another three weeks, our last visitor for the year. It’s been quite busy around here this year. She will be a big help next week since Lynne is off to Chicago for a conference.

We loaded up on pumpkins at the weekend. On Sunday we visited a new fall event location. Just a couple of miles south of us is Exploration Acres which hosts several massive corn mazes, hayrides, pony rides, pumpkin patches plus an array of child friendly outdoor activities. It was a little cold but generally all had a great time.