Little & Big

hiking up Mt. Philo

ball game with grandparents

bunt

throwing some serious strikes!

the gesturing outfielder (aka Papa)

and the distracted outfielder

with the grasshopper he caught.

game over (and catching our breath).

photos that went up on another blog

I love this set of photos.  It was posted here along with a Sparkle interview. 

the other catcher

Catcher's outfit version 2, by little brother.  Not to be outdone by big brother's version from the other day.

Are they not the cutest?  Golly. 

I have to say, what I love more than their cuteness is their creativity and their initiative.  Big brother's been out there creating targets for himself in order to practice pitching.  A tire on a stepstool.  A box drawn in chalk on the barn.  A big rock in the yard.  And then there's little brother, who finds things to create with: the bit of charcoal (below), the beautiful pile of rocks on the rusted metal square, a jar and a bunch of gardening stakes, or whatever he can find in the recycle bin.  They just go and do.  Beautiful.

(That is, of course, when they're not digging up the garden or taking apart something useful.)

charcoal chalk

too hot to cook inside

After work I came home to a campfire, a bowl of dough and boys with sharpened sticks.  Gosh I love almost-summer.  And "dough boys".  And hot campfires and evening breezes.  And the boys that made the dough and built the fire and sharpened the sticks.  

                                        photo by little brother

P.S. "Dough boys" are hotdogs, wrapped in biscuit dough, and cooked on sticks over a campfire.

the catcher

Undaunted by lack of gear.  Creates his own garage gear (Life vest, hockey helmet, wire mesh basket).  Clever.

Montreal weekend (sans kids)

walking Old Montreal....

and imagining where we'd like to live...

and dining in various places...

We saw wedding party after wedding party: brides and grooms and their entourages of bridesmaids and groomsmen (and photographers and videographers).  Parading, posing, laughing, primping.  All around old Montreal. I saw at least 1/2 dozen.  No kidding.  It must be what Montreal wedding parties do. 

Which was perfect as this was our weekend celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary. 

Fifteen years, people!  How crazy is that?

first grader?

Kindergarten is officially over.  "I'm a first grader!" he pronounces, not sure if that's a good thing or not.  First grade.  Here we come.   (After a good, long summer.)