Blech!

We don't have any new pictures for this week, as pictures of people praying to the porcelain God are most likely not of interest to the blogging public.

We've all been stricken yet again with a nasty case of acute gastroenteritis. We're waiting on lab results, but it might have been the Norovirus. I became ill late Tuesday night, and Redmond and Sadie fell ill a couple of days later. Poor Sadie is still plagued with it today, but she seems to be very gradually improving.

We were supposed to attend niece and nephew Lily and Lucas' first birthday party in Portsmouth this weekend, but were unable to make the trip, for obvious reasons. We'll probably make a trip down in a couple/few weeks. Look for more pictures and an update by the weekend.

Parks help your children work out their ya-yas.

If it's not 20 degrees below zero or sleeting, we like to take Sadie to the neighborhood park every weekend, so that she can dispel the 3,000 Joules of energy she has stored at any given time, and thus, ensure that our furniture and house will last another few years. It's a blast watching her navigate swings, slides, tunnels, and other toddlers. I find myself envying the children their play equipment and wishing there were slides and tunnels for grown-ups. Ah well, the youth is wasted on the young, no?

Sadie climbs UP the slide. She doesn't usually get very far.


Hangin' out in a tunnel.

Peek-a-Boo!
Profile of mischief....
I'll come out when I feel like it, thankyouverymuch...
Slides are a thing of wonder...
She giggles, squeals and snorts on the swing...


A shadowy figure in a tunnel...
Playing with bells and other loud things...
And at home, Sadie decides to snack upon her shoe...

Some people give their children toys to play with...

We just let Sadie play with toilet paper...



Dad came for a visit last weekend. We realized that he almost managed to slip out without having any pictures taken with Sadie, so we tied them both to a chair for a few minutes for a photo shoot. Note that Sadie appears to be protesting the paparazzi....

Do I HAVE to pose for pictures? I have places to go and things to destroy...


Ok... surely this will be over soon...

This picture would have a Diane Arbus vibe if it were taken in black and white...


Ahhh... here we go... Dad and Sadie Diane Arbus-i-fied...


Ok.. enough... let me down now!


I took Sadie and Obi Wan on a nice hike in the neighborhood on Saturday. We decided to check out our two neighborhood ponds. Occasionally, I'll see a hawk or wood duck or will flush out some deer.

Here is pond #1. We have a neighbor who has purchased the lot across the pond and is building a ten-sided house over there. It's quite an intriguing architectural style. Is ten-sided dodecanal?


Sadie is gripping a pine cone or a big piece of bark here. In about ten seconds, she'll attempt to be Euell Gibbons.
Here's pond #2. This pond was almost emptied by drought, but we've had a good bit of rainfall this year and it's been filling back up again.