July 2013 – Take Me Out To The Ballgame, and More

July 2nd, and Ian is apparently dressed in camouflage in case he stands in front of an American flag. See this image larger.

This progression shows why nobody gives a six year old a license. Here he is smiling at me because he’s trying to hit me… See this image larger.

Here he is smiling because he’s almost hit me… See this image larger.

…and here he is grinning for pretty much running over my foot. See this image larger.

Look at all of the red white and blue regalia! See this image larger.

July 5th, at one of Conner’s baseball games, I wandered around and took pictures of things that I thought were interesting, because the score was 22 to nothing… and while I love my nephew very much, and I can’t underline enough the importance of seeing a game through to the end even though you’re losing… it was uh… less interesting than this multilayered paint. See this image larger.

And whatever this is. See this image larger.

This is wood. See this image larger.

Nina flirting shamelessly with the baseball players. See this image larger.

*Hi Fellas!* See this image larger.

*Hmmph. They just keep plain’ baseball.* See this image larger.

After a long day, Nina tuckers out. See this image larger.

July 6th, Nina playing at Aunt Mel’s. See this image larger.

The kids gather round one screen for a video. I think it was something about Jack Frost. See this image larger.

July 12th, one of the best feelings I’ve had as a father came from the summer reading class that Melissa signed Ian up for. The smaller class size really resonated with Ian, and he picked up the pace on his reading skills in a hurry. He was so happy after class that he skipped alongside me on the way to the car. See this image larger.

I thought about all kinds of fancy solutions, but in the end it was one of two blocks of wood that completely stopped an influx of nesting birds from trying to build under our deck. Up until this point I’d been having to take down partial nests every couple of hours! See this image larger.

July 13th, Ian and Max playing some video games together… See this image larger.

Wow, full house! Scott and Elena’s daughter and son, Rowen and Kevin join the crew. See this image larger.

Max Ninja. See this image larger.

Sometimes Max can look a little intense! See this image larger.

Must be some kind of giggle club. See this image larger.

July 14th, the good news is that this is mostly a picture of ice cream going in. See this image larger.

July 15th, a storm and a rainbow in our hood. See this image larger.

See it? See this image larger.

A late celebration of the Kitty’s birthday. I think he’s 18. See this image larger.

July 16th, and Melissa’s job hold an annual Garden Gala for vendors, clients, and family of the people that work so hard. Ian can be shy sometimes, but when play is involved, he warms up quickly. Particularly when somebody does him the service of asking him if he would like to join. This girl thrilled Ian by spending a little time with him. It is worth looking at this one larger so that you can see how happy he is. See this image larger.

Triclops. See this image larger.

After the Garden Gala; almost time to go home. See this image larger.

July 18th, this is what it looks like when you have a large party at Jester’s Court. I think this was for Jake’s birthday, but there weren’t too many other quality pics. See this image larger.

July 20th, I couldn’t get a picture of the actual mama in this pic because she was busy, but here’s Melissa holding Norah, Brandon’s daughter. See this image larger.

July 22nd, that blur is Ian going for the gusto on a major dive. He did well! See this image larger.

July 23rd, picking Ian up after reading class each day was a real treat; he was always so happy to see me, and yet also so happy with what he had learned. See this image larger.

July 24th, Nina marching around pool-side, pretty much owning the place. 😉 See this image larger.

July 25th, hey Nina, is it hot? See this image larger.

So hot that our trees needed a great big drink! See this image larger.

Yup, keep going, they’re big trees! See this image larger.

That’s probably enough for now, thanks! See this image larger.

Next entry, a Nashville Wedding!!