Turkey calls

As promised, here's the clip of the big turkey during mating season last spring. It was almost like watching animal planet. The call you hear in the background is from the hens(they were at our neighbors house).

Growing Germs

Couldn't resist taking some shots of Jacob and Corrie observing their home grown bacteria. They grew some cultures using local pond water and stuff around the house(egg yolks, dirt, etc). We're loving the new curriculum...lots of hands on sciency stuff. Later this year they get to dissect a fish, a worm, a crayfish and a frog...FUN!!!

Sailing w/ IBM

Had a GREAT afternoon in Portland, ME last week. Met a few local IBMers and enjoyed the perfect weather.

Gabrielle's 1st

I can't believe it's been a year. Here's our angel absorbing the cake through her face:

Backyard Guests

Woke up this morning to these guys passing through. It was great to finally see some life out there after an intense winter. The bird singing in the background made it a perfect morning.

We survived!!

That's right, we made it through our 1st snow storm. It wasn't so bad really. The kids had a snow day and since I work from home we just watched from our cozy little homestead. Of course, the next day I managed to nearly maroon our new 4x4 trying to get out of our driveway. I didn't think even I could do that, but I somehow managed to leave the driveway and enter the yard. Don't laugh...out where we live a driveway and a yard are almost the same thing, especially when both are covered in a foot of snow. The kids and I had fun though sliding around the yard trying out our 4wd for the 1st time. I'm not sure if the neighbors saw the show, but I bet they told all their friends about the offlander and his attempts to leave his own driveway. Apparently, someone felt sorry for us, because I returned home today to find our entire driveway nicely plowed. We don't know who did it, but it sure was nice. I had tried shoveling, but had no idea how much work that is, especially with 75ish foot driveway.

So cute it's sinful!

Fall time in Maine

It's o so pretty, but it means WINTER is on the way. I'm scared. It was 28 degrees yesterday. I don't think I'm going to die, but sometimes I wonder. These pics are from our front and back porch:

Good lookin' kiddies

Gabrielle has gained over 2 lbs since birth and is doing great. Jacob and Corrie are doing great too...take a look at them in their new school uniforms!


This was when she was a few days old...her little head makes me look like a giant!


Look at that hair!!


Just takes my breath away!

Gabrielle Grace

Born Monday, 7/23 at 9:53 AM

6 pounds, 6 ounces

19ish inches long

Gabrielle means "The Lord is my strength"

----Psalm 27 is her mojo.

Grace means "Grace"

Entering Earth's Atmosphere in:

3......

2......

1......

And a few more:

Indoctrination into Maine culture

We finally made it to Maine and are busy fulfulling the requirements to gain acceptance here. So far, we have accomplished the following:
1. At least 1 family member must discover a tick attached to their body and scream like a banshee.
2. The eldest son must shoot a small mammal, or in the absence of mammals, a target on a stick from the back porch of grandpa's house: http://www.alanhougham.com/jacobShoots.mpg

We have yet to accomplish:
3. replace the word "cool" with "wicked", "pop" with "soda" and "sure" with "shuya"

The rest of the list is yet to be disclosed...I'll keep you posted.

Final stop: Niagara Falls

Sorry for the delay...I must admit, Niagara wasn't as great as its reputation, but we didn't make it to the Canadian side...they say it's better over there. It was fun walking around the falls though.

Land of Giants

Thursday was uneventful, just a big travel day, but on Wednesday we saw a 60' Jolly Green Giant in Minnesota and a giant cow named Sissy in Wisconsin. On our way to Niagara falls tomorrow!

Petrified Gardens and a Giant Buffalo

Big driving day, but we made time for the petrified gardens in Kadoka, SD and we just had to see the giant buffalo in Oacoma, SD. Lots of dinosaur stuff at the gardens, like this Titanothere head.

Mt. Rushmore and the local wildlife

Mt. Rushmore was AMAZING! A bit of trivia:

-Abe Lincoln has a 16 inch mole that can't be seen from the ground

-George Washington has a 21 foot nose, everyone else has a 20 foot nose. It seems old George holds the same distiction as yours truly!

Little Big Horn

Made a quick stop at Little Bighorn on Sunday afternoon. A sobering memorial, for sure.

1st Stop: Yellowstone

Howdy All,

Well after a really hectic week and a 24 hour delay in our departure, we drove through and made our reservation at Yellowstone with about 25 minutes to spare.

Testing My Blog

Just checking to see what it looks like when I post via email.