Sledding Adventures

Well, it finally happened. They predicted snow for Raleigh, and it actually snowed. I focused on getting the kids some boots and enough groceries in the house, and did not join in the mad pre-snow rush to find a sled -- which I probably should have. Saturday we went out with our boogie board; and Sunday we went out with the boogie board again and a nice man who lives at the top of the "sledding hill" loaned us an orange plastic sled. The kids went down a total of, oh, ninety times or so. No school tomorrow, so I'm guessing we'll be back out there again. Josh sadly had to report to work on Sunday, but he wrote the following about our trek out on Saturday: After a boogie board ride down the hill, Molly said "That was awesome, dude." Of the boogie board, she said, "That's the best skateboard in the whole world -- the whole city."

We watched a couple drive by on a 4X4 Gator, towing their kids on sleds up the hill. Alex said, "That's a good idea." Molly pointed to kids being towed and said, "That is a good idea because, look!"

Alex exercises his 2nd amendment rights

We sent Alex to the Purple House for his lefty indoctrination. What happened?

Memorial Day Weekend, Part Two

At Hyco Lake, Freddie's first trip out. He was a real sweetie.

Memorial Day Weekend, Part One

May

Zucchini plants, seem to be doing well so far.

Raised bed with sugar snap peas. Alex and I made a "seed tape" with the sugar snap peas. We cut out strips of newspaper and glued the peas along it 2 inches apart, then later he helped me plant them. They came up nice and even. I jerryrigged this very sorry netting myself.

Other raised beds, we'll see how this turns out. There are beets, carrots, and broccoli that probably went in the ground too late. There are tomatoes of various varieties, including some heirloom brandywines that are small so far, but look ok. These have just started to blossom. There are also some peppers that are not looking tall enough yet, and some lettuce that's looking o.k., that you can't see here because they're behind the tomatoes. I have my concerns that this bed won't get enough sun, so this inaugural year will be the test.

Alex and Molly after we spent Mother's Day at a strawberry farm.

We went to a party a few weeks ago, and it really was not swimming season yet, but boy did the kiddos want to give it that old college try.

Puerto Rico

A month ago Jen and I went to Puerto Rico. NPR voice: "This trip was made possible with generous support from the nanas and the papas." We highly recommend Puerto Rico to one and all.

First stop, San Juan

where we stayed in a groovy hotel.


Next stop, Vieques, an island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. Esperanza is one of two towns on Vieques. Above is the the malecon, the beach side of Esperanza's main street, Calle Flamboyán. You can cross the street from here (watch out for cars going 5 mph and teenagers riding bareback on horses going much faster) to find little shops, restaurants, and open air bars where you order rum drinks and watch the sun set over the mountains in the background of this picture. It's literally paradise.


View from the malecon out to sea, where you'll see Jen (on a good day), sailboats, and an island called Cayo de Afuera. We snorkled around the island.


Vieques has lots of beaches. This one is called Navio. We were told they filmed a movie version of the Lord of the Flies here. We did not find a society of tyrannical children. We found paradise.


Even the local business people know they're in paradise.

Jen's final thoughts on Vieques: we need to go back, take the kids, and she wants you, all of you, to come along.


Final stop, El Yunque rainforest back on the main island


where we stayed at a place with an outdoor kitchen, which turns out to be a great idea. The highlights of the rainforest included loud frogs, terrific jungly flora, and waterfalls.




Even more pictures

Assorted pictures + video

Sorry it's been so long, everyone. Here's a few visuals from the past couple of months. Josh reports that he will do a separate blog post on the Puerto Rico trip we took a few weeks ago.


Easter egg hunt at St. Luke's, Boone. Nice service, and plentiful eggs!

Getting ready to watch the Heels play.

Alex at Douglas' Carnival. That's orange spray paint in his hair if anyone was starting to worry about the color as well as the shape...

Visiting baby Freddie. In pictures of him with our kids, for some reason he always looks ever so slightly anxious.



Side by side videos of the piano recital, and an informance depicting a tornado.

American Heart Association fundraiser

Quick solicitation --

Alex is raising money through Jump Rope for Heart at Douglas, donations go to the American Heart Association. The minimum online donation is $25, but you can also donate smaller amounts by mailing him a check made out to the American Heart Association. If you'd like to donate, his profile is here. Thanks.

If you'd like to make a different kind of donation, next month Douglas has their annual carnival fundraiser. One of their very popular events is the "Bottle Shop", where they accept donations of things that come in bottles, with commonsense exceptions like no alcohol and nothing homemade. Sodas, hot sauce, nail polish, bubble bath, stuff like that. Then they number all the bottles and sell tickets for $1 that match up with those numbers, and you get to take your random bottle home. I donate several bottles every year, but they always have more demand to buy the tickets than they have bottles. So if -- and I am thinking of my brother's beloved trips to Big Lots here -- you'll see us in the next couple of weeks and would like to donate a random bottle, we'll pass it along.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mr. Alexander M. Boyer