Georgia Bound

Well, I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Georgia and thought I'd send out a quick note. I'll be in Lagrange, just south of Atlanta, for work all week. I've never been in the Peach State before and am excited to see somewhere new.





While I was packing last night I took a look at the weather forecast for Lagrange for the week. Sunny, warm, lows in the 50's, not bad. Current conditions; fair, 83 degrees, 100% humidity. What? I think that was a glitch. I hope that was a glitch. Anyway, I'll try to keep you posted, I'm sure I can find some strangeness along the way.





(The lady sitting next to me has a phone that quacks!)





Yesterday Andrea and Leanne had a yard sale and sold all of our good stuff. No, really most of it was junk, but they did sell a lot of it! Andrea has a bee in her bonnet and is emptying our bedroom in preparation for a makeover. (The bedroom, not her) She wants new paint, and new lights, and new shelves, and new dressers, and a sitting area with new chairs. She wants the bed in a new place and the computer downstairs. Her husband is on his way to Georgia for the week. I timed that pretty well, huh?

Photos

As you may have guessed from my very creative title, I've got a couple of new photos.



The other evening Kenrick lined up his Matchbox cars very precisely across the dining room floor. Precisely where we wanted to walk, of course.

The corn harvest is well on its way. I stopped yesterday to get a quick pic.

As you can see in the background, the trees are still quite green. We haven't really had cold enough nights to make the leaves turn colors yet. Good for corn picking, but it doesn't quite feel like fall.

The pumpkin harvest is also in full swing. Yes, pumpkins. There are a few packing plants in the area, so the farmers rotate the gourds in with the corn and beans every now and then. The pumpkins are kind of light yellow, fairly small, and handled a little differently than your familiar supermarket jack-o-lantern.

That's a row of stacked 'kins being lifted and hurled into a wagon. From the field they are usually piled into big open-top semi-trailers and hauled to the packing plant where they are unceremoniously dumped into a hopper for processing. I don't know what happens after that, but somehow they come out the other end in nice little cans. The breeze sometime smells like cooked pumpkin.

The boys seem to be showing an aptitude for bicycle maintenance. Notice the expert use of the chain cleaner. Wait, I think it's upside down.

This weekend we've enjoyed having Jean and Terry from Boise come and stay. Terry had some business in Chicago and Jean had some business with Andrea, so they took advantage of the timing and came down for a visit. The boys took to both of them pretty quickly, especially since Jean was willing to read them a few books.

I took Terry and the boys out to the park on Saturday to do a little orienteering. The local club was having an event in honor of National Orienteering Day so we picked the shortest of the three courses and took a leisurely hike through the woods. The boys did very well. Some of the terrain was a little rough for Anthony's short legs, but they both enjoyed finding the way-point flags and punching the score card to prove we'd found them all.

Bedtime

Anthony is the King of Excuses. One of his favorite tricks at bedtime is to quietly appear about ten minutes after I tuck him into bed. "Daddy?" he says in all seriousness, "I can't go to sleep."



"I know Anthony, every night you can't go to sleep, but every night you do, so just go back upstairs and lay quietly in your bed."



I'm not sure what he expects to happen. Breakfast maybe.



Anyway, the other evening I put the boys to bed and came downstairs, followed shortly by a serious looking Anthony.



"Daddy?"


"Yes, Anthony?"


"I've got toothpaste in my belly-button."

September Already?

The lack of pictures hasn't meant a lack of activity over the last couple of weeks. Kenrick started 1st grade and has homework almost every night, we had a very refreshing convention, and Anthony is climbing the walls. Seriously, he's been Mr. Tornado for the last few days and showing no signs of slowing down. He doesn't walk anywhere, he keeps a constant dialog of all activity, real and imagined, at full volume, and he won't stop messing with things! He wrecks nearly everything he touches and he can't resist touching the very thing you just told him to stay away from. I told Andrea that if he's anything like his daddy he'll grow out of it. When he's 20.

Oh, and Kenrick lost another tooth.

We gave it the ol' dental floss loop and yank this evening. Not sure how he's going to eat corn on the cob.

The weather has turned quite pleasant, although it's raining now. Was very nice for convention, for which Andrea was very thankful, and looks to be downright chilly this evening. This is a great time of year in the Midwest, with the leaves just starting to turn, the harvest in full swing, and with evenings cool enough for a bonfire and burnt marshmallows.

I promised some belly pictures, and so far have not delivered, but Andrea continues to grow. Baby is moving more and more. Andrea is moving less and less. I'll see if I can sneak in a tasteful profile sometime soon.