Shawnee Falls

Shawnee Falls
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

The past three days, Jen has been feeling better, well enough, in fact, to allow us to finally stroll through the new Shawnee Falls park. I had walked it in the spring, but Jen, Michael and Alex had never seen it before. It has quite impressive views especially considering it runs right through old Dublin. We entered at the post office and excited at the library. Actually Jen and the kids excited at the library, I hiked back to the car to pick them up at the library. Jen is better, but I thought it best not to push our luck.
R.A.Patton (10.18.2006)

Dawn's Early Light

Dawn's Early Light
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Last week the annual Dad's and Donuts morning was held at Eli Pinney. It may look early in this picture, but usually, I would have been at work for an hour and half by this time. This biggest surprise of the day is four seperate little girls came up to us and said "Hi, Al-eexxx!" No boys came up to us for either boy (although we sat with Michael's best friend), but these four little girls did seek Alex out. :)
RAP (10.17.2006)

Hay Ride

Hay Ride
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Alex has had some good days, and been in good spirits in recent days. He has been hamming it up for the camera, making him shine in our reduced photo opportunities. I think the ratio of Alex to Michael good pictures is running 3 to 1 lately; this type of lopsided-ness in the quality of pictures used to happen with more frequency when they were little, but this is the first time it has been like this in years. I hope you like smile; you might be seeing a lot of it.
RAP (10.12.2006)

Photographer

Photographer
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Our days have been busy, but we were able to steal a few hours Sunday morning to make our annual pilgrimage to Lynd's Fruit Farm. The kids really wanted to go through the corn maze, but the operators said it would take an hour and I could not take that extra time. Perhaps we will find a maze closer to home near the end of the month. Once more, Michael took his camera with him and snapped up pictures of this and that. He is starting to get excited for his birthday!
RAP (10.11.2006)

It Means I Went to Work Late that Day

Off To School
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Whenever you see pictures like this, it means I went to work late that day. I like to take pictures of the kids leaving for and coming home from school, but Jen, not so much. At this point I would say that Alex's transition to all day school has gone well. Michael seems to be doing ok, even asked kids that he did not know to play tag on the playground the other day; something unusual for him.
RAP (10.6.2006)

Bumper Boy

Bumper Boy
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Michael's books du jour have been his "Bumper Boy" books. They are about a kid who plays marbles (and sometimes loses his!) and his friends. Alex also enjoys these books and has been reading quite a bit lately; I have been getting him these collection of Garfield strips, "Fat Cat Packs", from the library and he has been adoring them. One day he read they for an hour and half.
RAP (10.4.2006)

Not So Sick

Not So Sick
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

It has been a rough week for Alex, but things turned around today (Sunday). On Tuesday, his teacher sent a note home saying she suspected that Alex was sick; low and behold we had to keep him out of school for the rest of the week because he was sick.

The climax to our odyssey came Friday night when his pediatrician sent him down to Children's Hospital in the early afternoon. Despite having the doctor call ahead, and arrange care for us, we waited a long time, and did not get home until past 11. The good news is that Alex is better, the bad news is Michael is sick, but he seems to be weathering it better.
RAP (10.3.2006)