The Banana Stand 2011!

The Banana Stand 2011 was a party.  Saw some good friends, had some delish bananas, and endured the heat with several prescriptions from the Dr. (Pepper that is).  This is the third year, and despite the long hot hours, it's been great for Andrew.  It's fun watching him take part in it all.  Ooh, and plus we added one killer new T-shirt.

We added "The Killer Bee" to the menu.  It is a chocolate banana with honey and cayenne pepper.  Most were afraid of the spice factor,
but it was not long before Andrew felt he had to try it, to promote it as a manager.  and he did.  He liked it.  

And here is the coolest T-shirt ever!  "Bite me, I'm delicious!"

Andrew's Big 7 Year Birthday Bash

Only a few days after Allie's Birthday it was Andrew's turn to have a birthday (the 20th). Andrew has now finally reached the age where he anticipates the excitement. After being asleep for a couple of hours the night before his birthday, he woke up asking if it was morning yet. He continued to do this several times hoping each time he woke up it would be his birthday. Even with little sleep the kid was up at 7:00 to start the day.

We asked Andrew what he wanted for his birthday breakfast, and he wanted donuts and coco, and then added to the request cinnamon and sugar Monkey pull-apart bread. We might as well get the sugar rush started early.

A cute picture of Emma. It seemed every time I turned around she had more and more donuts on her plate. I think she figured as long as they were on her plate she was okay to consume as many as she wanted.

Then onto lunch. The Harris crew (Andrew's cousins) and the Smith crew were over for lunch. Remember that contest I wanted to have cramming as many people as possible in one room?

Typical Andrew reaction to the camera...

...but with the help of his Uncle Scott we were able to get a picture of the Birthday boy.

Cake time! This was a pumpkin bar cake with cream cheese frosting. (Notice the Autobot symbol)

How many people can you count blowing out candles? Hmmmm.

Now onto the presents! Emma gave Andrew a Mecha-Gigan figure (from the Godzilla universe), and this was his kind reaction.

Why do we even take pictures of kids unwrapping presents, they all look the same. I guess it's kind of festive.

Then on to round 2! During the evening we had the Deming side relatives over for Diner along with a couple of neighborhood kids (Mikey and Jenny). Awhile back Rachel made Manicotti and Andrew couldn't stop talking about how much he loved it, and how he wanted it for his birthday. So that was diner. And a classic chocolate cake for his birthday cake. (Notice the Decepticon symbol)

Like the genius I am, I made the symbol out of sprinkled on powder sugar. This would be all fine and dandy if the cake was being cut and served in pieces as prepared desserts, but when you have a kid blowing out candles you get a mild sugar storm to deal with.

It was a long day, a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. It was good seeing family friends and the such. We asked Andrew on a couple of different occasions what his favorite part was, and his responses were "the whole day" or "everything", so I think Andrew enjoyed it as well. Thanks again to all the friends and family that were able to visit and help out.

Dawn of the Razor Scooter Era

Andrew's Birthday was drawing near when his Grandma and Grandpa wanted to get him one of those Razor scooters, and of course with a sibling so close in age, one had to be given to Emma as well. So we have now joined the ranks of the masses of neighborhood kids who roam around the streets on those little Razor scooters. It seems these Razor things are just a part of modern childhood. Our kids will grow up, and reminisce when they lost their first tooth, the first day of kindergarten, and when they got their first Razor scooter. It is ingrained as part of growing up these days, almost to the point where I think if we didn't get them for our kids, they would end up years later in therapy to discuss how they felt about never having one. Anyways, I ramble on too much, but I thought I would share. So in honor of this modern rite of passage into the quintessential childhood experience, here are a few pics.

We will start with the artsy fartsy photo of Andrew and his friend outside riding. I thought the angle of the sun helped give the photo a nice fall feel to it. I guess all the yellow leaves helped too.

And what good is a scooter if you can't do tricks. I believe this one is called a "mini" which is a bit simpler than the "mini squigly" which is accomplish by doing the "mini" and swerving back and forth.

Cool shot of Andrew working on his balance. (Of course I don't show the picture of him wiped out on the grass)

Basic pose of triumph. Were there some ritual or celebration to accompany the receiving of a Razor scooter, this would be the picture blown up sitting on a table in the center of the room.

Just a fun shot capturing the neighborhood.

And of course Emma, making her speed demon face.

This is like the triumph pose, but more along the lines of GQ. Should children get together to create a Razor weekly magazine, I am sure this would show up in one of the ads.

I was never able to get a triumph or a GQ pose out of Emma, instead I just got the "stop taking my picture Dad!" expression.

I think Emma got tired of the slow nature of the razor scooter and opted for the much faster bike. I can't remember if that was actually the sun shining on her hair, or if actual speed flames were bursting from her head. I think I had to jump out of the way on this one.

Dude Clothes vs. Fancy Clothes

It was picture day recently at Andrews school, so we dressed him nice so he would look sharp. But later that evening he mentioned something about the differences between "fancy clothes" and "dude clothes". So we asked him for further definitions, and it was quite humorous to hear what he considered "dude clothes" Rachel and I fit into the category of having a mixture of "dude" and "fancy" clothes. So it has become something we laugh at, and is now part of our normal vocabulary. Andrew was trying to tell me about an experience he had while we were at American Eagle a few weeks ago, and referred to it as the store that sold "dude" clothes. So just to get everyone up to date, I made a couple of videos asking Andrew to explain some of the differences between "dude" clothes and "fancy" clothes.

Trip around the Alpine Loop

We took a trip up through the Alpine Loop to see the status of the fall leaves. Some of the trees had changed colors, but there was still a lot of green.

Here you can see a patch of the yellow coming in.



I was able to shoot a couple of portrait pictures.

Of course Andrew is not so big on the portrait pictures, so I got a grumpy grumpster.

Then as fate would have it Andrew noticed some dismembered deer legs and taking a decent portrait immediately became non-existent.

What else would you do should you find dismembered deer legs...break out the camcorder.

Andrew and his Camera

So awhile back I had pulled out the old 8mm camcorder and was using it to record one of our "Cool Adventures" with Andrew, and I had him man the camera while I tried to capture a frog. After that I said he could have the camera, and use it whenever he wanted. Well he took me up on that offer, and now likes to take it out whenever he sees something of interest. The kid really took to it. He wields the thing around as if he has done this for years. I will see what I can do about capturing the videos digitally so I can post some of his work.