On a Sunday Afternoon...

There's nothing I love more than a lazy Sunday afternoon with my family. These are just some pictures of my favorite little girl.

The Forgotten Science Experiment

I knew you weren't "supposed" to put your kid in regular diapers and stick her in the pool... I just didn't know you weren't SUPPOSED to, really. I thought, "They're so expensive and we're never even down there long enough for her to really get some use of the Swimmers diaper. I'll just cheat this one time; no one will ever know."

1/2 hour later: We're home from the pool. I take off Makenna's swimsuit. She has white gel crystals covering her body. Her diaper is busted wide open and weighs as much as her, easily.




Lesson learned... they're expensive because they work. Next time, my daughter will wear the Swimmers.





The ironic thing is that I went to an Elementary Teacher Science Seminar a few years back and we actually did this experiment/demonstration. I guess I didn't keep the notes.

Wrong Turn

There was an awful movie made called Wrong Turn. The plot revolves around a group of friends that gets lost in the woods of West Virginia due to their car breaking down. A couple of inbred people try to capture the friends and torture them. Suffice it to say, I would not recommend this movie to anyone- please don't ask how I know this. However, whenever I think of the state of West Virginia, this movie comes to mind.
This weekend we rented a cabin with some friends in the little town of Greenbrier, West Virginia. Following our Mapquest directions to the cabin, eerie reminders of scary scenes from the movie kept flooding my mind. You get my point...
There were four couples there and all of us had babies around the same age, which was fun to watch as they played together. After this weekend I definitely think Makenna is a shy kid, more satisfied with watching everything else going on than making her own action.
We floated down the Greenbrier River in tubes, which to the average passerby looks like a beautifully serene river, but to the brave swimmer resembles a breeding ground for mosquitoes, smelly fish, and...riverweed? We found an old rope swing and after a few swings into the river, Drew and I concluded that we need to go on a diet so that we could actually pull ourselves up before dropping into the water (a different one than the swing in the pictures). However, we had tons of fun swimming, eating, laughing and relaxing.




Moral of the story... West Virginia isn't half bad.

Reflections of Christ

Yesterday my mom forwarded me this short slide show. I was so impressed by it and touched by the Spirit, I thought I'd post it on our blog for more people to enjoy. It's not downloadable, otherwise I would have put it directly on the blog.

Every picture compiled is a photograph, taken at various locations in Arizona (the beach shots were in Rocky Point, Mexico). They represent what the photographer felt it would have looked like in Israel at the time Christ was on the earth. The exhibit was on display at the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center during the Easter Pageant this year. It's absolutely a beautiful work of art.

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

(Make sure to maximize the screen when it starts playing, the icon to the left of the volume)

Friday Makenna and I went to the pool at our apartment complex and it was SO warm! It felt like our pool at home in Arizona, a good 85 degrees inside at least. She was such a good swimmer and even let me play "Motor boat, motor boat" with her. Drew got her this little shaded floaty tube that kept the sun off of her face. I've been waiting to dunk her until we get home to Phoenix in July. I can already tell, though, she's a born water bug.

Aperture Amateur

I have signed up to take my first course in photography. After having been to so many amazing places in the past few years, and not having captured the true beauty of our travels, I decided I'd like to learn the trade. And so yesterday I attended my second class in the course. I don't have a fancy schmancy Nikon D60 or Canon Rebel, but I've been quite surprised to learn that my new hybrid camera has many of the same functionalities. And so the title of this post is Aperture, my new favorite setting on the camera. I only wish I knew about it when we were in Austria, because Aperture in Austria would have been Absolutely Amazing.

Opa!

Friday evening we had the pleasure of attending the Greek Festival in Richmond with some friends of ours. I saw it in the newspaper that morning, and after spying a picture of a gryo with a side of fries, it was no longer a question of IF we'd go, but WHEN. The place was jam-packed with fellow Richmonders looking for some authentic Greek fare and Greek fun. There was loud music and excellent dancers, but we knew what we were there for... the gyros. After searching tirelessly for a place to sit and enjoy our meal, we finally sat down to sizzling slices of lamb, tzatziki sauce, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes wrapped in warm flatbread. Makes my mouth water just writing this.
I'm also proud to write that after 17 years of pure dislike, I have had a change of heart about baklava. ?I had only had it once before in 4th grade during Greek Week (the same week I memorized the Greek alphabet... alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta...) and I hated the dried-up pastry. But this little round of honey-drenched goodness made me a believer in the Greeks' sense of dessert.
Alright, enough about the food. If you're ever in Richmond, though, the last weekend in May- you should definitely swing by the Seventh Street Christian Church on Grove Avenue. You won't regret it.