Day 4.215: Pan and clown

We've eaten a lot of meals on the deck this summer. It started while the dining room was out of action, but it has really become the default. I'm sure it won't go on too much longer. Alfresco breakfast is always a special thing. This morning we had pancakes.

It was a fairly slow start. I was still in pajamas at noon. but maybe after last night we needed a slow start to prepare for the rest of the day. This afternoon we had two birthday parties to go to, so we divided and conquered both, Exile #2 was with E5N1 at a neighbor's house for a 2nd birthday and I took the girls to one of their old school friend's 7th birthday party. There were lots of very cool games and outdoor activities and the cake was a rather excellent homemade clown.

Day 4.214: Rodeo!

I've known for some time that there is a rodeo each weekend about half an hour's drive away but it has never quite seemed possible, either due to the weather or the late night or something. So today we checked our source for all things local, and the weather and decided it was time to do it.  I think we timed it about right. It was a perfect evening tonight and, aged four-and-a-half, E5N1 could almost be trusted on the bleachers.

We all had a good time - although I failed to get a picture of the girls looking like they were having fun! The sun was going down as the show began and it was a challenge to get any decent photographs, but here is a sampling of the action.

Team roping:

An acrobatic display - rather upstaged by a small audience member.

Exile #4 said, "She's just standing up with a flag - what's impressive about that?" as she did that circuit having done various hanging-upside down and the like.  "Well, she's also riding a horse..."

Barrel racing:

The girl in the bottom left is the same age as Exile #3!

And riding broncos and bulls:

Photo slideshow

All in all a great night out and a window into the strange other world of professional rodeo.

Day 4.213: Get the shot

Apparently, it was the kids who insisted in recording this event. The knife slipped off the table and managed to stand itself up in the floor. Exile #2 would probably suggest that I would leave a child lying injured on the floor to get a photo - but of course that is a ridiculous overstatement.
 

Day 4.212: Book-ish

When I got home from work yesterday E5N1 greeted me with, "I have a present for you" and rushed off to find it.

In fact there was a card in an envelope and a package wrapped up in wrapping paper which was a coloured-in page from his Giant Cars Coloring Book (see what I did there?).  The package contained a 16 page book (home-made) with some fairly minimalist pencil drawings and words (and some completely blank pages).  I have two pages to share with you - a picture of me (with stubble) and a picture of Exile #2 (with writing that he sounded out for himself).

Day 4.211: Omi, Omi

When we visited there on Saturday, it was 22 months since our last visit to The Fields Sculpture Park at Omi, NY.  A few things had changed.

Child-size and weather from:
   
to:
  

Poker faces from:

to:
  

Overgrowth from:

to:


And a group shot from:

to:


We also saw some new and old things that were rather cool:














It really is a great place - and you can't beat the price! The whole photo-set from our latest visit is here and the one from 2009 is here.