Recent doings...

Not a whole lot new going on, other than Ethan had his tonsils out last Monday. He had a few rough days with it hurting, but is well on the mend now.

Here Ethan is helping Grandpa plant his radishes next to the house. The raccoon that Hannah is holding is plastic.

Holes dug and time to put the seeds in.

Ethan dribbles the seeds in.

Grandpa has such good helpers! It is going to be interesting to see how the radishes look when they come up this year. Somehow I don't think we are going to have straight lines and they may be a bit thick in spots.
Done planting radishes and off to the barn goes Hannah.

Ethan is into pulling the threads on his socks -then his foot sticks out!

He doesn't look too good in this picture.

Carter is trying to figure out how to move. Here he has his belly on the ground and all 4 wheels in the air.

Happy guy!

And of course if you are taking pictures, there is one little girl always willing to smile and pose..

Birthdays

Alex turned 2 on Wednesday. I bought him cupcakes to celebrate and put a couple of candles in.

He really liked watching the candles burn, and didn't want to blow them out.

Guelly finally stepped up and blew the candles out for the birthday boy.

Thursday was Grandpa's birthday. Everybody except for Mark came over for supper and an ice cream cake. Mark has a good excuse for not coming, besides the fact he lives in Columbus, since his car was totaled recently and he wasn't even in it at the time. Grandpa wanted his picture taken with all 5 grandkids. Here is one of the pictures.....

Here is the other. Getting 5 kids to behave and look the same way at the same time requires more patience and time than I have!

Columbus

Alex and Miguel were getting antsy, so I let them play on my laptop.

Miguel with Uncle Mark

Alex with Uncle Mark. No mice were found this year and he had the rat poison out of reach before we got there. Good Job Uncle Mark!

Eating the french toast Mark made - his specialty.

Alex ate a couple of pieces.

The other reason we went to Columbus - the Power Ohio show at the fairgrounds.

Lots of small machinery for little kids to climb and and think they are hot stuff. Thanks for letting us stay with you Uncle Mark! We had fun!

Hats

Here is Grandpa Beans and Alex wearing their 'old man' hats. Lets just say I don't like that style of hat....

Guelly had to try it on too.

Alex with a golf club, ball and the hat. Doesn't he remind you of a tiny Payne Stewart? Now he just needs the knickers....
"Payne" Alex working on his swing...If I take a picture of Alex, I HAVE to take a picture of Miguel....

The end of Florida

This is a live sand dollar burying itself in the sand on Fort Myers Beach the Saturday we left. Even though it was kind of chilly, we went down to the beach one last time.

The group walking the beach, searching for shells.

Carter was once again unimpressed with the beach. He slept the whole time we were walking and woke up as soon as we got back in the car.

Ethan took one last dip in the Gulf of Mexico.

Not sure what this is, but it was laying on the beach.

Great Grandma S. with all 3 great grandkids. Thanks again Great Grandma! We had a blast!

Alex and Miguel with their presents from Florida - play guns!

Day 5

Great Grandma with Carter

This is a car we saw at the flea market. Insead of a real truck lid, it has a piece of plywood hinged onto the car.

Here is Ethan with his macine gun he got at the fleamarket this morning. We went to the FleaMasters this morning - a huge flea market inside buildings. When we left it started to rain, so Mindy and Kevin ran into Shell Factory again while Carter and Hannah slept and Ethan played Leapster. Drove by Grandpa Fritz' old place again to show Mindy and came back to Grandma's. Because of the rain the pool isn't open. Supposed to be in the 60's next week, so cold for Florida, but warm for Ohio. Heading back tomorrow so see you all soon!

Day 4 - go celebrate Ethan's birthday!

Here is the crew at a place called The Bubble Room. Good food and the atmosphere is great. It is located out on Sanibel Island.

Today is Ethan's Birthday. He is officially 5 now.

The restaurant gave Ethan a pile of whipped cream with strawberries and a candle in it for his birthday. They also sang to him.

Mindy and Carter made it down last night. Today we went to the beach out on Sanibel Island.

Happy Hannah on the beach.

Carter spent the whole time on the beach sleeping. Had to cover him up with t-shirts cause somebody forgot the sunscreen.

Hannah looking for shells.

These boys were trying to show Ethan how to build a dam.

Most of you know that I am not fond of water or anything about it. I took this picture to prove that I did at least stand in the Gulf of Mexico.