A sad story

Socialized medicine at its worst.

Lost roundup

Very geeky, I know...

For a possible clue about the origin of the statue with four toes, click here.

For an interview with the producers of Lost, where they talk about Season 3, click here.

Where do you think Walt and Michael will end up? Desmond kept a constant bearing on his compass, but ended up back at the island.

Henry said they always keep their word, but a few episodes ago also said "They'll never give you Walt!"

Kelvin is the American guy who dropped Sayid off in the middle of the desert.

The pregnancy test that Sun took was made by a company called Widmore Labs. The upside down balloon that Henry claimed to have arrived in said "Widmore Labs" on it.

Libby's dead husband was named David. So was Hurley's imaginary friend.

Crazy stuff. We saw all these on the forums.

P.S. One more... When Ethan was giving Claire injections he had a pocket watch with a key on it. When Desmond was released from prison one of the items returned to him was an identical pocket watch.

More photos from Fathers and Sons

Hamburger #3

Exploring

The bonfire

Drinking homemade rootbeer until you're sick

Look! A frog!

Too bad we forgot to bring our stuffed animals

The title is a quote from Ethan, uttered during our drive to the church's annual Fathers and Sons campout. Even without our stuffed animals, camping was fun. The boys did a lot of exploring, and found turtles, poison ivy and many frogs.

I had fun watching the boys eagerly touch and pick up things that I, as a kid (or now, for that matter) would never have wanted to touch (frogs, slugs, etc.).

Ethan, no fan of camping food, ate three hamburgers for dinner, then woke up for breakfast the next morning saying he wanted meat. No pancakes. No eggs. Just meat.

Andrew was the resident animal and bug expert among his friends, who turned to him anytime they had a question about the eating or sleeping habits of various creatures they captured.

We didn't get much sleep, but we had a lot of fun. Ethan, in his classic way, claims the campout was actually no fun at all (except for dinner), but I'm sure he'll want to go again next year.

Sadly, the boys probably won't miss their stuffed animals next year...they are growing up quickly.

Blowing in the wind

Think our little apple trees will survive many more of these crazy summer storms?

Pomp and circumstance

After years of toil, Ethan has earned his preschool diploma. Armed with this education, he is no doubt fully prepared to enter the real world and begin contributing to society. You can watch a video of the graduation program here.

Rockin' in the free world

Ethan and his friend Cole started a band today. They went to our house, Cole's house, and another neighbor's house and said, "We're going to play some music for you. If you like it you can give us some money."

Very enterprising, if I do say so myself. Ethan earned a whole dollar. (I think Cole earned kept two or three for himself.)

Cole played a drum and Ethan shook a jar full of beans. They haven't named their band yet, but when they decide to release an album we'll let you know.

A fun project for the kiddos

Go here to download a camera that you can print and make.

What did you do today?

Thid seven year old boy swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco. From the article:

"Asked what the hardest part was, he replied: 'The swimming.'"

Sunday afternoon drive

Emma has been asking for days to go for a ride in my car, so this afternoon we went for a spin. Can you believe we've never really been a mile north of our house? Except to drive to Chicago or South Bend, but that doesn't count. Until today we had never explored the towns nearby. Emma and I found some amazingly beautiful country roads and farms, so we returned home, put the whole fam in the car and went back out. Emma was eager to show everyone the pretty houses we saw.

The mustard (?) fields around town are in bloom right now. Here's the field exactly one mile north of us. Who'd have thought we'd ever live in a place like this?



The weather was beautiful today. Andrew and I practiced hitting baseballs in the backyard for a long time--he's definitely got the hang of it. Ethan and I rode my longboard skateboard around the neighborhood for a while, and inspected the new neighborhood pool that's scheduled to open next weekend.

People here think it's the strangest thing to see the two of us riding around on a skateboard. They wave and watch us go by with their jaws agape and a look that says: "What is that thing?"

Tummies

Summer haircuts

It's become an annual tradition. Ethan finally caved tonight, about two weeks after Andrew got buzzed, because:

1. His two best friends have buzzes.
2. He would rather have his fingernails pulled out one by one than have his hair combed for church.

Plus, it was time for a haircut anyway, so he decided to go all the way. Here's the before photo, as evidence that he was due:

Khufu's Pyramid

PBS has virtual tours on their site of Khufu's pyramid. They're fun and reminded me of being there, when all the lights went out and it was so hot inside the walls were dripping.

Desecrating the King's Tomb, 1997.

Be grateful for your neighbors

This retired coal miner in France built a 1/8 replica of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in his backyard.

Hey Lost Fans

Maybe I'm late to the game, but this forum has some interesting theories. Like this:

Sawyer is reading a book called "The Bad Twin" by Gary Troup. If you have visted www.thehansofoundation.org lately you'll notice that there is a board of directors member for Hanso that is named but not pictured. The name of that individual is "Liddy Wales". Why don't we know Libby's last name yet? I think Libby is the twin of Liddy Wales and it was Liddy that was in Hurley's flashback at the asylum. Not sure which one is the "bad twin" though. Libby is certainly connected in a deep way to the island though, that's for sure.
SPOILER: I read somewhere that Libby will show up again in a Desmond flashback...maybe they went to medical school together?

Also, there were some links to places where people have deciphered the whispering in the jungle from past episodes. It can't all be true...there's no way the writers could possibly have thought of all the tie-ins, right?

One of the "whispering" theories talked about the tape from the autopsy last week. When the girl wakes up screaming she says "John!" and then "Let John Locke go!"

Yikes

Does it come in black?

I'm thinking about trading in my car for one of these.

More Mr. T goodness

Fashion tips from Mr. T. Seriously.

I love you Mom!

Thanks for carrying me through thick and thin! Happy Mother's Day!

The internet was made for things like this

A Mother's Day message from Mr. T. Beware, it's a catchy tune!

Happy Mother's Day

Motherhood is...

Blowing bubbles outside on a freezing cold day for someone who is blissfully unaware of all the million other things you need to do.

Thank you, mothers.

Pa loves the face

Yesterday we were driving in the car and out of the blue, Emma declared, "Daddy, Pa loves the face." It sounded like she had been thinking about it for a while. Then she added, "Bama loves the face too."

She must have heard that a few times during Bama and Pa's visit last week.

Crackers

Stellarium

This is very cool. Download the free software, then enter your location. It will show you exactly what the sky looks like outside right now, with all the constellations marked. We haven't checked the accuracy yet, but if the weather here in Indiana ever clears up, we'll peek outside.

Great moments in public education

The problem is that too many kids are failing the high school exit exam in California. The solution? Throw out the test, of course.

The test is blatantly unfair:

"This year's 12th-graders were the first class to face the testing requirement, which includes a section of eighth-grade math and another of ninth- and 10th-grade English. Students are required to answer little more than half of the questions correctly and can take the test multiple times. Students with learning disabilities were exempted from the test."

Here's the article.

Popular baby names

We're lame. All of our kids' names appear in the top ten most popular names. Sorry kiddos.

We'll try to do better with the next one. We'll begin our search for names here.

Ethan is 5!

It was a busy week, but one of the highlights was definitely Ethan's 5th birthday. We love our Ethan, and are so glad he's a part of our family.

Ethan is a good friend to everyone, and as a result is very popular. So we had a large turnout at his birthday party--16 kids counting our own, plus Bama and Pa! He received an embarrassing amount of presents, much to his delight. Here are some photos of the action:

The OC

Home, sweet home:

"It is just like California," exulted Nasha Wei, a former army doctor tured businesswoman, sitting on a white suede banquette in the four-bedroom home in Orange County (China) she moved into this year."

Photos are here.

Gas prices

Enter your zip code here to find the cheapest gas in your neighborhood.

Amazing luck

This guy won a new car at a baseball game by being randomly selected, then having a player hit a grand slam in a certain inning.

It's the second time that he's won a car that way.

Are you addicted to the internet?

Take this test and find out! The test is supposed to be serious, but it's unintentionally funny at the same time.

I got a 29, much to my relief, which means I'm an "average user."

Hey Californians

Get out while you can. We have extra room here in Indiana.

Word games

The kids like to play word games. Here's one of their favorites:

Me: I bet I can make you say black.
Ethan/Andrew/Emma: Okay.
Me: What color is the grass?
E/A/E: Green.
Me: See, I told you I could make you say green.
E/A/E: You said you'd make me say black!
Me: Gotcha.

Here's Ethan's version:

Ethan: Dad, I can make you say black.
Me: Okay.
Ethan: What color is the sky?
Me: Blue.
Ethan: See, I told you I could make you say orange.
Me: Hmmm.

Here's Emma's version:

Emma: I can make you say pink.
Me: Okay.
Emma: SAY PINK!

And here's Ethan's all-time favorite, which we hear at the dinner table almost every night:

Ethan: What's your name?
Me: Dad.
Ethan: What color is the sky?
Me: Blue.
Ethan: What's the opposite of down?
Me: Up.
Ethan: Dad...blew...up! Ha!

When it rains it pours

Ethan has lately been insisting on doing all his own pouring. Here's the scene Ginger and I discovered when we went down to the kitchen this morning:

Que savez vous?

Check out these profiles of people with savant syndrome. Be sure to check out the video about Stephen Wiltshire, who rode in a helicopter over Rome for 45 minutes, then drew a detailed scale drawing of the entire city center. His proportions were almost perfect, and he even drew the exact numbers of columns on the buildings. Or check out the video of Kim Peek, the original "Rain Man," who just discovered that he has a perfect memory of every song he has ever heard, down to individual notes.

Do you think we all have those abilities locked away somewhere in our heads?

Whatchoo talkin' bout?

Emma has started talking like a Hoosier. She has dropped all her g's from the ends of verbs. Here's a conversation I overheard today:

Emma: Bama and Pa are comin' to our house.
Ginger: Can you say 'Bama and Pa are coming'?
Emma: I already said that.

She is completely unaware.

If at some point she starts saying "We was..." at the beginning of sentences, then we'll know it's time to move.