A Lazy Sunday

After a yummy breakfast of pancakes, Wyatt decided to make a "daddy fort" in his bed. Paul laid down and Wyatt piled everything in his room on top of the bed on top of Paul. One of the best things about this was everything got put back into its place after the game was over with.

Wyatt in his laundry hamper....

Wyatt in the pool in the backyard.

After swimming for a bit, Wyatt decided that he wanted to ride his bike. The only bad thing about this is that he didn't want to use his brakes to stop, so he rode into things to stop like one of the bushes in our backyard (see last picture). This made me very nervous, so I made him put on his helmet.

Can We Build It? Yes, We Can!

On May 18, Bob the Builder and his work crew came to Evansville. Bob and Spud the Scarecrow decorated the stage. Wyatt wore his Bob watch and t-shirt and brought his Bob doll. The tickets were awfully expensive, but we did get sixth row seats. Paul and Wyatt outside the theater:

Heidi looking a little maniacal. At first, Wyatt was a little subdued. We think that he was confused because Bob was on the stage and not on a television or computer screen.

After intermission, Wyatt became more enthusiastic. Notice his expression in the profile picture.


Bob and Wendy's finale. Lest this post end on an educational note, Paul and I really wanted to see Bob and Wendy outside (without their bubble heads) smoking and drinking after the show, but no such luck.

The First Camping Trip

Paul and Wyatt camped in the backyard on Friday night. Here is a view of the tent from the veggie garden. The second picture shows the campsite with our house in the background (where I was).

Sitting in front of the campfire.

Trying to decide whether to stay in in the tent... or in front of the fire.

Eating marshmellows, just like Curious George.

It was a really hot night, so the camping trip ended at 11pm, with both Wyatt and Paul coming inside.

Back in the air conditioning....

Our Living Room

Most of you all know that Gretchen got the camping gene in the Strobel family--she is the one who goes winter camping! When Paul and I were first dating, he asked me whether I camped or not. I responded by saying "define camping," which means that my idea of roughing it is staying in a climate controlled cabin. Wyatt, however, seems to have gotten the tent bug from his father and maternal aunt. And one of his favorite stories right now is "Curious George Goes Camping." So Paul purchased a tent yesterday and set it up our living room. I think that they are going to camp in our backyard in the next couple of days while I stay inside.

I can honestly say I never thought that I would see this.

Wyatt brought his bedding into the tent and wanted to sleep in it last night.

Another surreal shot--this one features Rosie the cat.

Manuela's Request Part II

More garden pictures, as promised. Paul very wisely recycled junk on our property to use for trellises (sp?) for our vegetables. I also think that this makes our garden look like a sculptural installation or Alcatraz.


The barn beyond the garden.

Orange lilies in bloom. The barn is to the right of this patch.

Manuela's Request Part I

Last week, I was talking to Manuela in Italy using Skype (so cool!). We spent a lot of time discussing Roger Federer's awesome French Open win (Manuela is Swiss), but we also talked about our garden and backyard.


Paul spent a lot of time planting many kinds of vegetables.

Wyatt "helped" to harvest sweet peas. Notice in this picture that he has one sticking out of his mouth as he reaches for another one!

Some water lilies...



Wyatt's favorite parking spot is also in our garden.

It's hard to believe that this is what our backyard looked like after the ice storm in late January 2009.

I am still figuring out how to blog, so I am learning things about image limits, typesetting, etc. So bear with me. In my next post, I will include a few more garden pics.

Odds and Ends

In the interests of avoiding my writing projects, I thought that I would post. During our recent trip to the Ozarks with Rob and Tiffany, Tiffany and I went
horsebackriding. Thankfully, they gave me the calmest horse, Pancho. I never thought that I would be on a horse less than 2 years after breaking my neck!


























The view from our cabin in the Ozarks (thanks to Mama/Vicki for finding for us!)





















We recently bought a slip and slide for Heidi, I mean Wyatt.

Wyatt swinging at the last playdate with Mollie--we miss Mollie and her family tons! Thanks to Kristen & Luca for having us over and to Menachem for pushing the swing.

We recently adopted two sister kittens named Charlotte and Rosie to fill the gap left by Chelsea. Wyatt likes to call them the new Chelseas. In theory, they are teaching us about the idea of patience--Charlotte is patient with Wyatt, although Rosie is not (e.g. Wyatt can maul Charlotte, but Rosie runs away). Notice that you cannot see Charlotte's face in either of these pictures. Maybe some of Charlotte's patience will rub off on Wyatt's mom. Thanks to Mollie for naming the cats after Heidi's research projects:). We now have a menagerie at our house--3 cats and 1 big dog--yes, the animals outnumber the humans.

Our First Post

Hi all: We have decided to join the blogosphere to make it easier to send pictures to you all. Last weekend was a lot of fun. It included purchasing a Spider Man fishing pole (more fishing poles to come) and a trip to the playground (pictures 2, 3 & 4).

For those Wyatt diehards, this is the same playground where his "photo shoot" took place.

In the next few posts, we will send out pictures of our trip to see Bob the Builder and of our garden.