Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Monday, September 15, 2008

For Jim

Jimmy...
Ryan says "Hi"

From a grand day

RIP: Pink Floyd's Richard Wright

Well, it has come to this. That one of the members of my favorite band growing up is now died. I never met him, but morn the loss of a true (albeit nutty) artist.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Field of Flags

At the Congregational Church in Clinton this weekend, they did a tribute to those lost in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was 4,741 as of September 10th 2008, according to the sign on the memorial. I found the sight of all the flags quite impressive and wondered what it would look like if it had been done for those who lost family during WWII or even the battle for Normandy. I'm not belittling these losses... far be it... I am amazed by what the representation of these lives looks like when displayed publicly, and realize that I would find it difficult to actually imagine the staggering number of those that have gone before me to war.



Click above for the series

I came by in the morning and took a few photos to share with you. It was an impressive sight and I believe an endeavor that was well worth the effort by those that took part in it. It serves as a reminder to those of us who do not live with this daily threat on our family members, going about our busy lives that somewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are people who are struggling every day to get back to a normal life.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Once again I'm remiss

PLEASE NOTE: I linked all the pictures to slideshows, so that's were all the "other" pictures are. :)

Ok.. so a heck of a lot has gone on since my last post... Labor day has come and gone and so has 2 busy weekends. I posted our pictures with my parents on Labor day weekend here... it was just a blast.

Ryan and Connor had their first day at school for and are totally loving it. Ryan took the bus on his first day and was just so happy about it, he was besides himself. He beamed as he got on and gripped the seat. After a white-knuckled ride to Kindergarten, he then enjoyed a great first day of school, complete with getting to know new people and seeing some old friends from Preschool. He looked exhausted after his first day, even though it was only a half day and told us of his bus ride, each way. His first words to me as I walked in the door from work were "DAD! They had no seatbelts on the bus, so I had to hold on with all my might... My hands really hurt when I got to school." He has since lightened up. I guess it all goes to show how new it all was to him. Connor on the other hand, had an easy bus ride to pre-K and was happy to see everyone he laid eveys on. His first words were "DAD, I SAW MRS HARRIS!!!!" :)

The weekend after our first week of school, we were visited by hurricane Hannah. She passed by in the middle of the night and left little damage as she had been downgraded to a tropical depression (or less) by the time she flew by. Since she darkened our Saturday, we decided to go Bowling to pass the time. Even though Connor was exhausted from the week, he still enjoyed every minute bowling. It was the boy's first experience bowling and they were incredibly cute about it. They did a great job throwing the ball, but I'm afraid anywhere else they'd be tossed out for running and basically throwing the ball overhand. :) Lise and I enjoyed it, and aside from Connor losing it around the 8th frame, it was alot of fun for all.

The next day after Hannah had left us, we went to the town beach. It was beautiful. The tide was extremely low and we walked out a good ways to the tidal pools to see all the animals. We saw a hermit crab (I think) and some spider crabs, and enough limpets for an army of gulls. It was truly beautiful and I enjoyed it as much as the boys. After our walk on the beach, we played at the park until we all were so tired, we fell into a heap and went back home. That afternoon, Lise and Ryan enjoyed a nice birthday party and Connor and I mowed the lawn and then went to the carousel to end the day.

Our second week of school went very well and the boy had "back to school night" for the parents. We met Ryan and Connor's teachers and toured the school. On Friday we planned to go to NJ, but all the excitement of the last two week brought us all some colds, and we made the sad decision not to go. I know we missed out on a great time, but I think we needed the down time, and all slept very well on Friday. On Saturday we did Soccer and haircuts. Connor's belly settled by the end of the day and we went out to eat and had sorbet... Connor let me know the "berrys are nice when they are cold"

It's now Sunday and we are taking some downtime. I took the boys out while Lise slept for a bit and now MY nose is running, so I guess it's time for me to get my cold . I still wouldn't trade it for the world.