The Sun is here!

It was almost 80 degrees the other day, sun shining, birds singing, cherry buds ready to bloom… its springtime in Maryland! Paul didn’t hesitate to break out the garden hose and fill up the… uh… swimming pool?

Oh yeah!! Fill it up! It's the redneck kiddie pool! Get one for each of your kids!

It's not easy being this cool. So don't even try it.

The water won't be that cold... will it?

Nah! On a day like today, it's just about perfect. We may need a bigger bucket though, maybe like a 50 gallon drum!

Spring Training...

It appears that winter is finally gone, and summer will be coming before long. It’s been nice to get home some nights and have the sun still shining. Last week we stepped out in the front yard to get Paul started on his Spring Training: swinging the bat at me, throwing the ball at me, and running around in circles.

He was actually able to make contact with the ball sometimes. I'm sure that's already good enough to play for the Indians. And look how tall this kid is getting!

Already thinks he's big enough to beat up his dad. When he's not swinging something at me, he's got his fists up saying, "Wanna punch? Wanna punch, dad??" And then he tries to "bring the giant down!"

And then there's pregnant mom. She didn't quite have as much energy as Paul to run the bases.

But she can still sit on the sidelines and be his number one fan. So you gotta love the arrival of Spring! 75 and sunny is a whole lot better than shoveling snow!

Is it Spring yet?

No not quite yet, but the sun was shining today. While I went to work on a Sunday, Becky and Paul ran around in the yard, now mostly free of snow. It was good to get outside in the sunshine for a while, the first time in a while. And what’s more spring-like than blowing bubbles in the yard? I can’t think of anything.


Well I remember back in my day if you wanted bubbles you had to blow through one of those sticky plastic circle things. Kids these days. Now you just push a button and the thing blows the bubbles for you. After that, Paul was able to use it to update the status on his Facebook page.

The boy is growing up. I guess it had to happen sooner or later. It seems like just the other day he was a crying newborn. What would it be like to have one of those again? Ha! Oh wait...

This bubble is just about ready to pop. The same could be said for something else around here. Just five weeks until the estimated arrival of Paul's little brother. Wish us all luck!!

Down by the Bay

On Thursday we took a drive over to the Chesapeake Bay. It was kind of like going to the beach, only not quite as warm. The wind was a bit brisk, but Paul didn’t mind. He spent the time running around a playground pirate ship with a little girl who was hanging out around there. The girl’s babysitter was a skilled shark tooth finder, because in just a few minutes she found half a dozen in the sand for Paul. I looked all over the place and only found one little pathetic tooth. So apparently there are a few sharks in the bay, but they didn’t appear to be large man-eating sharks like the ones on TV that Paul loves to cheer on. Either way, the temperature of the water probably would have been worse than the sharks.

Taking a walk on the Boardwalk. A sign told me that the Chesapeake Bay produces more crabs than any other body of water in the world. That's a lot of crabs. We didn't see any.

Ahoy! Let's check the traps! It's crab legs for dinner tonight!

We're not getting in the cage. The cage isn't going in the water. Sharks in the water. Little sharks. But still... sharks.

Adam is a little disappointed that his big brother was born near a much warmer beach.

Just running around in the sand. One of his favorite things. We'll have to take him back in a few weeks if Spring ever shows up.