Grandpa Heazlit's house

Several weeks ago, we visited Grandpa Heazlit's house. We took several walks around his yard, usually followed by a couple of large biting flies. It was nice to be outside and see the trees, fields, pond, etc. Here are Brian and his grandpa by the grape vines.

There is a great birdfeeder that many birds gathered around. I took this picture in the morning--I was testing the zoom on our new camera to see how clear the pictures would turn out. We saw many nice birds at this feeder.

In the evening, we sat on the front porch together, watching the fireflies and waiting for the stars to come out. It is a really beautiful part of the world--very peaceful. A doe wandered into the front yard as we were sitting on the porch at dusk. (Above-Grandpa and me; below-Virginia and Brian.)

Happy Birthday Anne!

In honor of Anne's birthday (technically tomorrow, but it is almost tomorrow right now anyway), I thought I would post a couple pictures of her. Above, you can see Anne and her husband. Below, Anne and her youngest nephew. Happy Birthday Anne!

more from the Holland visit

It has been almost a month since these pictures were taken, but they are still nice to see. Here is Oma and Eli, hanging out on a Sunday afternoon.

Dad and I went to the kite festival up in Grand Haven when we were visiting. It was very windy (good for kites), but also very chilly. The kites were being flown right on the beach, so there was some cold wind coming off the lake. Here I am showing Dad how you can take a picture of yourself.

Josiah is a helpful boy, but it is hard to help your dad read when you don't quite have it down yourself. Still, he is pretty happy about trying. Happy (belated) Father's Day, to all the dads out there.

Disney 1

Okay, so I know we visited Disney a long time ago, but we have had a lot of computer movement and installation stuff that has delayed the posting of these pictures. But they are still cool, so I will share them now (better late than never).

The top two pictures (above) are of the whole family on a ride at Disney. The seats are for groups of 2 or 3, so we had to split up.

Disney isn't all just fun and games--there are some learning activities too. Here we are in a building that was kind of like a hands-on science museum. Above, Brian is hanging out by some large molecular rods that I think are supposed to be carbon. Below, I am constructing a basic molecule. Can you guess which one? (Hint: carbon is black and hydrogen is red.)

deSoto field school

The past couple days, I have been volunteering at the deSoto excavation, which is an FSU field school here in town. Most of the field school occured in May when we were away, so I was not able to participate as a member of the staff. I have enjoyed my time there though. Today and yesterday I was water screening, which is passing all the excavated soil through screens of certain sizes using water from a hose to wash the dirt through. Artifacts that are larger than the screen holes remain on top of the screen, and become visible as the dirt is washed away. We have been using 1/4 inch and 1/16 inch screens for this process.

This week is the last week of excavation, so it was enjoyable to go see what was going on and visit the people I know there. Even though I was not getting paid, it was nice to get my hands dirty doing some archaeology for a few days.

For more info on the excavation, here is the blog they are updating: http://msbar.blogspot.com/

Tallahassee visit

When Brian's family was in town, we went to see some of the local landmarks. One huge building is the FSU football stadium, which you can see only part of in this picture. This giant statue shoots flames out of his spear when FSU scores a touchdown (I am told). It is quite impressive, even without the flames.

The back side of the state capital (shown here) is what Brian can see from the Supreme Court. I like the dolphin statue--it really shines when it is sunny, and it is a fountain as well as a statue.

This close-up of some of the dolphins in the statue/fountain includes (brother) Dave, with his camera.

Looking out from the dolphins, this is what you can see. Yes, this is the Supreme Court. Brian spends lots of time here, working hard.

visit to a Holland park

While we were in Holland last month, we went to a local park with D,R, and J. David and Brian played tennis, while Rachel, Josiah, and I just played. Here are the tennis partners.

I post this picture because Rachel liked it a lot. Josiah really enjoyed the tube slide. Here he is at the bottom, looking back up it at me. What a nice big grin.

After a while, Josiah went looking for David. When he found him, they worked on Josiah's tennis skills a little.

This picture is my favorite from the park. Josiah is in that same slide, but I am on the ground in front of the slide. He went up and down this slide many times that day.