Art Is Subjective

While we were in New York, Phil and I snuck away to this great antique store down the road from our friend's house. We were casually walking around...doing our own thing...enjoying the quiet.

At one point I stumbled upon a painting. It had a tag that said "Elephant Art" and the signature said "Bozie - Lincoln Park Zoo - 1990." I immediately googled Bozie, and discovered that she's an Asian elephant who paints on canvas to help keep her occupied while in captivity.

I called Phil over to show him - just because I thought it was hilarious. We laughed and I moved on to look at other things.

Only when I turned around, Phil was still standing in front of the painting. Head slightly cocked to the side, he was taking it all in and I thought to myself, "I'm now the owner of Elephant Art."

And here she is hanging in the house. Well done, Bozie.

13th Annual Outing

Every July the Kerpers gather up in beautiful (aka rustic) Northern PA for a family reunion (even though we pretty much see each other all the time anyway...it's just a good excuse to get away).

This year was the 13th annual "Kerper Outing" (named after the outhouse in the woods) and our first experience up there with the 4 kids. We had to stop about 2 hours into the 3 1/2 hour trip to run laps. Seriously.


When we arrived we realized that our cousins had set up a tent the size of our first floor at home (it had a bedroom). Our 5 person tent paled in comparison.


The first morning was dewy and cool - perfect conditions for going salamander hunting. The little critters were out and about and we saw tons of lizards and a few snakes too (ew).


Dean, on the other hand...not so into by the wildlife. Kids are so hard to impress these days.

That afternoon the kids were looking for entertainment, so we fired up the hose and filled some water balloons. The grown ups soon realized that there was a sling shot, so we knocked the kids out of the way so we could have our own fun.

In the midst of all this excitement, Charlie fell onto the pole of The Palace (our cousin's tent) and ended up looking like Nelly for the rest of the trip.

Once the kids got the taste of the hunt, it was off to the mud hole to dive for salamanders. I don't need to tell you how this ended up - use your imagination then multiply that mess by 5.



The fam recently got this hauler / tree-cutting-down-thinger and Eric took some of the crew for a ride. He ended up needing to chop something down in the middle of the path and the kids marveled at his burly manliness (with their hands over their ears).



Here's a picture of the kids (minus the 2 baby munchkins who were inside napping). Just a few years ago we were hanging out with GG trying to kick the keg...now we're chasing after kids and diving into mud puddles.

At least there was still a keg!

Love You-Ou

Our fantastic friends came down from upstate New York for a weekend of fun. Friday night we walked into town for pizza and the boys talked us into shoulder rides. Luckily there was a nice flowery backdrop to take my mind off the sharp pains shooting down my shoulders.

We came home for a group bath. No words needed, just take it all in.

The next morning was Cole's first day of T-Ball. The kid's got a great arm, unfortunately he sometimes wears his glove on the wrong hand. Give him time.

While Phil took Cole to his game, the rest of the gang went to the library. Jim found this puppet and chaos ensued.

Last stop on our adventure was The Please Touch Museum. By this time, Graham had totally gotten the hang of the Kerper boys and dove right in.

Charlie stopped to take in the sights...

...and we found this adorable little baby in the faux Children's Hospital.

Everyone passed out on the ride home - three cheers for a job well done. We miss our buds already.