Wonderful Kid-let Chaos

Mini vacation to Josh and Sara's was an absolute blast. For the most part I will let the pictures do the talking.

 I took this photo for Dad. I know he likes the family gatherings and we were toasting to family.

 Isabel with a mouthful of corn

 This is the 'post ER' face. A lot of sass like his Mamma.

 Jacob was being rather squelchy and I successfully did what Dad did with us. Bring him back from meltdown. He was still awake for another hour before finally drifting off.

 More to come, but there were three baby squirrels living in the hollow of one of the walnut trees. They have little to no fear of humans or any concept of potential danger.

 These are the chickens. Damn the chickens.

 This is one of the squirrels watching the chickens closely

 More bold...

This was Gabe's inaugural fishing trip. I was beyond honored to start the corruption. I knew Dad would be proud and jealous.

 He was absolutely fearless of the fish.

 Riding the cement pig

 We 'camped' in the yard. The weather was beyond perfect for it. The first night our air mattress flattened and Rachel ended up inside. I stayed out with Abram and Stella. Those kids sleep hard, and Stella is without a doubt possessed by demons. She would randomly sit up and scream/growl before laying back down. She did this two or three times.

 Fishing adventure number two. This time we managed to actually catch a big fish!!! A smaller catfish while trying to catch a carp.

 All of the kids had to touch it.

 I like this photo the best because of the sheer amount of joy it shows. Everyone was pleased.

 Abram took my camera and took the cloud pics. I like the Abram shadow.

 Clouds on the water.

 Abram within arms reach of the ever-increasingly-bold squirrel.

 She was legitimately growling

 Oh the shoe chaos

 Enjoying homemade hummus!

 The squirrels finally took it to another level while Josh, Rachel, and I were out by the tree. Two of them ran and Josh, whom was wearing shorts, and tried to climb. His evasive maneuvers left me standing there. Both tried to climb but only one stayed. I have never had a wild animal be this confident/ignorant towards humans. It was borderline concerning but there very young. 

 It was wonderful to visit everyone and so much fun to play with these very spirited kids. I can't wait for the next gathering.



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Kayak Expedition

Again, another adventure involving Michael Parker. This time it was a short float on the legendary Shell Rock River. I wanted a no strings-attached fishing float.

We mostly fished backwaters on this trip, pitching for a pike or smallie.

We caught a few small pike and each backwater was cool and calm. The water in each one was spring fed and a cool 60-65 or colder.
THE backwater produced little for fish but because of the lack of any breeze, there was a misty haze on the water.

 

We fished the bend at the mouth of the backwater for awhile between rain showers.

The mosquitoes and gnats were absolutely horrendous. There were times we were concerned that if we breathed too deeply we would choke on them. I used enough DEET to make my face and fingers numb.
Nothing extraordinary but a wonderful outing nevertheless.


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Some relief from the crazy

I haven't been able to get out little as there hasn't been much time with work and more work. What time I have gotten out I take full advantage.

This being the year of the 17-year-cicada any time spent in the woods was borderline deafening. It was insane to see the little shells on the the leaves in groups of 5-???. 

I was able to even get Rachel out and on the water. We caught little but enjoyed the time out.

 

We were able to further some time out and went to our friends' wedding. Skip and Megan finally got hitched!

This was Rachel dancing with one of our parking division friends. Nick Hatlan knows a hell of a lot more dance moves than I ever will...

 

It was hotter than hell in that building.

I haven't had a lot of time but have managed a few projects in the man cave as well as worked on a few side projects. I am tired pretty much constantly anymore.


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