Spring 2012

Beth's visit Prairie in the Park Roger's DC trip

Campfire in late March.

Lots of peach blossoms on our little tree.

The skunks are venturing off the front steps.

We moved the blueberry bushes from pots on the deck to a new home under the pines in front.

Happy Birthday, Roger!

A surprise hit was Super Monkey from Sarah & Chris.

Jen and Joe came over to help Roger celebrate.

I ordered 30+ trees from Arbor Day Foundation. This one is a Douglas Fir. There are now a variety of saplings scattered around the backyard and down the hill.

A hickory tree came down next door at Julie's house.

We offered to clear it away so we could keep some logs for benches, and wood for smoking meat. The boys helped take smaller branches to the curb for the brush pick-up day, luckily scheduled for this very week!

Alan and Roger took loads of smaller logs over to our yard.

Glen did a nice job cutting it all up. We're all happy the tree missed Julie's house on its way down. And we were amazed at how well her deck survived; just a few railings needed replacement.

The tree was over 100 years old.

We went for an urban hike along the Cascades canal in Akron.

Site of the Cascades Mill, a big part of what put Akron on the map.

Just a tiny bit of snow on April 11th.

Harebells in my garden.

Relaxing Roger.

We roasted dough on a stick, rather like a pretzel. Alan had concocted this experiment.

Local wildlife.

I liked the shadows cast by the water skeeters in the creek.

Interesting fungus that grows profusely in the ravine.

We found a good viewing spot at the Sleepy Hollow golf course to watch the moon rise on May 5th. The moon was closer to the Earth, so appeared larger than usual.

A very large spider had taken up residence in one of the containers we planned to use for growing peppers.

A group effort to create a Rube Goldberg design that would ultimately open a book to a particular page, in 25+ steps. Roger's group succeeded in getting full credit for a working design.

They then immediately dismantled it.

At Jen's bridal shower: Steph, Jen, Joe, and Laurie.

Beth and Megan drove in from Allentown to attend the shower.

Grandma is hard at work on one of the puzzles: How well do you know Jen & Joe?

Roger received two awards at the Middle School's Academic Recognition Night.

This award is for those students maintaining a grade point average of 3.75 or better for the whole year.

This one is from the White House for students who do well on the standardized testing, plus maintain at least a 3.5 grade average.

Shameless deer enjoyed a buffet of our neighbor's hostas.

Our rhubarb is thriving.

As Alan points out, who needs flowers when you can have a bouquet of rhubarb?

Pepper and asparagus plants in containers near the door. Will the deer let us keep them?

Surprise! A snake in the in the rosemary and sage.

He stretched out by the front steps on another day.

The annual Kick-It culmination to the school year. The kids all play kickball on the last day of school to celebrate the end of a successful fundraiser for research to combat pediatric cancer.

Roger's the one wearing a green Minecraft Creeper shirt.

Alan sat out most of the game, but decided later to play a little.

One of the teachers agreed to have her hair cut and donated to Locks of Love if the kids raised $25,000.

Principal Pat Farrell and school psychologist Joe D'Allessandro cooked enough hot dogs for the entire middle school population.

The annual end-of-school-year Echo Hills Bonfire.

Alan and Ian enjoy building in the sand -- forget playing volleyball!

Alan created the US Capitol.

Roger enjoyed running around playing soccer.