happy day to lindsey!

See Lindsey's blog!

knights vs. heilmans

Saturday night Ryan and I challenged Jaclyn and Ryan to tennis. We headed over to SAU's courts after dark and got campus safety to unlock them for us. Stephanie took pictures with my camera so the event would be documented.

Ryan (mine) could tell you how many games they won by. All I know is that they won. It was fun. Sometime when it's not so late at night we should try it again.

phelps' cat

got this pic in an email from my dad
i think it must be michael phelps' cat
you can tell by the gold medal on its collar

the nature of my job

These four pictures I've taken over the last two years (three of them this summer) now dominate my office wall. The hummingbird you probably recognize from Monday, the echinacea is from Jaclyn's and my visit to the Belle Meade plantation two summers ago, the bumblebee is from Baughmans' back yard in July, and the swallows are from Radnor Lake in May. The bottom right picture doesn't have a frame yet because when I got them here yesterday the glass was broken. So when I take it back and get the replacement, my latest art project will be done!

amazing what you can capture with a big lens

Intramurals have started again at Highland. For softball, our first sport, Chadd had staff pick the six teams. These pictures are of the first two games, Double-play vs. In-a-Pickle and In the Clutch vs. Swiffer. My team is called Corked and we've lost our first two games (Wed., Thurs.) pretty badly.

Steve Baughman flies around the bases

Raphan, Janelle, and Katie watch their team, Double-play

Randy and Ryan take in the action

Senior Rachel looks for a high pitch

My buddy Maggie (many of you have met her in Collegedale)

Chadd runs out to make a call on Chris's run-down, or "pickle"

Kayla watches her team, Swiffer, while they bat

Carson's not to interested at the moment

Low-light panning glove trade-off

flights of fancy

One of the perks of moving into this house is that Chadd had definitely lured in the local hummingbird population. All I have to do now is keep my feeders full as we move toward the fall migration southward.

This hummer didn't trust me and kept looking over its shoulder every time I went to click the shutter. There was a female stuck in the garage for most of today - drawn in by the red emergency cord on the opener. It finally flew out the side door on its own.

They are very territorial and will stake out a feeder and keep all the other birds away from it.

This is my favorite picture from today. This female flew straight at me while it tried to figure out what I was doing.

Finally some sharing!

I liked when they flew up to look at me through the nectar.

Our feeder in the front of the house gets lots of activity too. We have three total, but I think the count will have to go up next summer.

distant two-week old memories

Jaclyn and I talking to Lindsey on speakerphone Friday night (Aug. 1). She called to tell us that she and Don are getting married on the 29th! They decided to avoid the whole wedding hullabaloo. Lindsey assures me that she'll have pictures of the ring and everything on her blog soon.

Ryan's cousins Jessica (blue stripes), Heather (pink), and Jake (brown stripes) were in Collegedale with their mom Anne.

A little croquet Saturday night

Celebrating Jake's shot

Boating the next morning - this is the most people I've ever seen in their boat!
A deviation from the usual wakeboarding. Kneeboarding is really a lot of fun. All of Anne's kids learned how in the week before this.

Randy and Jake have the same hairstylist.

Jaclyn's coming in last in this race.

Last picture before we had to leave to drive the truck to Portland.

A shot of my side mirror of Ryan driving the truck with his stuff and our new bedroom furniture and kitchen tables and chairs.

snippets of registration/handshake

I have added a sponsorship this year (I know, I know). I am helping Steve with SA. He introduced the SA officers to the student body before the mixers and handshake started.

Nikie, Janelle, Michael, Carson, and Chadd chatting before the festivities.

My other sponsorship: the Junior class. I'm hoping to go with them to DC/Boston/NY on their cultural tour in October. Interesting note about the picture - the guy who fell out of the circle has already fallen out of the school as well.

The illustrious HA 2008-09 staff.

settling

Unloading our new bedroom set at the new house Sunday night!

Ryan testing out our new table. It expands into a square when the leaf is used.

Me getting something out of the new fridge

Later that week . . . putting together our bed

Almost too tired to finish it

Ryan, our bed, and the Crate & Barrel duvet cover. If only we had the duvet . . .

A clean kitchen! This was my goal by Friday night.

The plant was a gift for helping with VBS - not sure if it'll survive.

Some of you with sharp eyes may notice we have a picture hung!

Everything is at least on a shelf and off the floor, even if it's not the final resting place of most of our stuff.