Preschool graduation (SNIIIIFFFFF)

Today was Isaac very last day of preschool. The kids were allowed to bring one parent along for the whole day, and I so happily got to tag along.

He played with his buddies, some of whom he will see in kindergarten, like his best friend, Leah.



We all joined in for a cozy version of circle time.



We played outside with Evelyn and David. Who cares if our shoes got wet?



We made spin art. It took much concentration to bring Isaac's vision to life.



We played dress-up, with clothes and bendy foam.



We played stomp rocket with everybody. That was quite awesome.



Then it was time for graduation. Daddy and Jake showed up to witness the class parading in in their hand-made mortarboards.



The kids serenaded us. In complete contrast to Isaac two years ago, who would never sing and would only cling desperately to me or Dad during performances, Isaac the Graduate sat right next to Miss Susie and Miss Barbara and sang right along.



He even inspired Jake, who left my side to join Big Brother singing "Way Up High in the Apple Tree" and "Skinnamarink". I just about lost it when they were singing "Skinnamarink" and Isaac pointed right at me when signing "I love you". I'm not sure how I held it together.

As a graduation gift, Miss Susie and Miss Barbara gave each with special plate decorated with the kid's drawings. We all agree that it is fully awesome.



When I asked him, Isaac told me he was a little bit sad about leaving preschool behind -- that he would miss Miss Susie, Miss Barbara, and of course all his friends. Lucky for him, he will see at least three familiar faces in kindergarten next year, including his best friend Evan.

More from Jake in the backseat

"Hey Isaac, know what I dreamed about last night?"

"No."

"Star Wars guys drinkin' beer."

How does my garden grow -- Memorial weekend edition

The first beds I planted are so lush and loaded with gorgeously vigorous specimens that it gives me great pleasure just to go outside and pet them. Especially the carrot greens. But we are all just agog at the sugar snap peas. They are outrageous. Seriously, they are as tall as Isaac. See?



Here's the big picture, and you get a view of my Mother's Day present just beyond.



You'll notice the ridiculous number of flowers on my snap and bush peas, as well as my green and beautiful carrot tops. The strawberries have done okay. I'm supposed to pinch off all the flowers this year and just let them spread, but we are far too fond of strawberries (and too impatient) for that. The boys each have eaten two ripe berries so far, and agree that they far exceed store-bought berries in quality. The local birds ate about ten before Daddy and I put a stop to that with some netting. I planted catnip and catgrass in the strawberry bed also to attract natural pedators. Don't mess with my garden, fools.

Anyway, I planted out my second set of beds early last week. Let me give you a tour. I'll step closer.



And here's a view from the back of the house. Daddy insisted on being all architectural. They are very comely, are they not?



In the topmost bed I have five different kinds of tomatoes -- Roma, Early Girl, Better Boy, Supersonic, and Sweet 100 (a cherry tomato). I planted basil seed around all of their bases, just like Martha Stewart told me to.



In the middle bed, I went a little crazy planting peppers.



I blame those nerds at Lowe's for selling me a six-pack of bell pepper plants when all I really wanted was one. In addition to those, I have an Orange Bell, a Poblano, a Jalopeno, a Cayenne, a Hungarian Wax, and a Yellow Hot. If these plants don't get too peeved at me for putting them so close together, we will have a very pretty pepper crop come July or August.

In the perimeter bed I planted two mounds of slicing cucumbers ('Straight Eight'), two mounds of pickling cucumbers ('Picklebush'), a mound of zucchini ('Black Beauty'), and a mound of 'Sugar Baby' watermelon for Daddy. I also planted dill between the cukes to facilitate pickle-making, and cilantro as well.

Stuff we did last week

Last Thursday, Evan's dad invited us out for an afternoon of bowling. (Isaac took these first two pictures himself.)







Bowling held everyone's attention for about 7 frames, before the boys realized there were arcade games to stare at and climb on. Before then, Jake practiced his forceful granny-style bowling technique, while Isaac worked on a new method, the chuck-it-from-the-hip.

Last Friday we met Ella and baby Sam at the orchard. It was very fun and very hot. Sarah and I came with two quarters between us for goat food, so the kids improvised. Goats eat grass, right?



How many blondes does it take to feed a goat?



Buddies. Awwww...

Mommy loves Daddy

So says this white chocolate cheesecake with chocolate ganache, anyway.



Two whole Ghirardelli white chocolate bars plus a cup and a half of heavy cream went into this dessert, so you know it will not suck.

Blimp aftermath

After the blimp gala, the boys and I were tasked with taking a change of clothes across campus to Daddy's office so he wouldn't dirty his nice suit during the site's tear down that afternoon. He certainly can't lug a ratty old bag of clothes to lunch with the President, prepared especially for a small entourage by the President's personal chef.

We were pleased as punch to have any kind of jobs that required outside time on this glorious sunny afternoon. We came prepared, too, scootering to the blimp site with the clothes bag in our wagon, and enjoyed a lazy afternoon scootering through campus.











It should be noted that Isaac scootered to the blimp site, about a mile from our house, in 15 minutes. He was hauling so much tail that Jake couldn't keep up, and I had to drag his fat butt in the wagon, with me running, most of the way. Isaac then proceeded to scooter allllll across campus, and then all the way home. Probably a round trip of 5 miles, all by himself, not complaining once. He then took a nap.

Big hairy blimp thing!

Of course we attended the blimp dedication today in support of our darling hard-working Daddy.





So did other important people, such as the nice lady who donated all the money to buy the blimp. Her name is Rachael Ledbetter. She is from Texas, and she is in the cream suit.



She brought her brother and sister along -- they are all on a road trip from Texas to her sister's house in Maine as part of her sister's 80th birthday (she's next to Rachael, in red). Rachael is a devious young lass -- she kept the blimp a total secret from them until they got to town.

Wait a second, who is this handsome thing? Oh wait, he's the idea man. And he's about to give a speech! Break a leg, Daddy.



But first, some comments from UD's President Harker:



Then comes Daddy!



He thanks Mr. Jack and Tom McKenna at the Delaware Geological Survey, talks about stuff the blimp is up to, including the blimp's recent mission flying over a Delaware marsh with thermal cameras. Most importantly, he thanks Rachael for doing it for the students, and tells her he's already using the thermal camera data in his GIS class for a project this semester. He told me Rachael teared up at this part in his speech, because he's awesome.

After the speech, Daddy, his co-PI Mr. Jack, and Rachael teamed up for a photo-op. I snapped this just after Prez Harker left their group hug (there he is, departing stage right). I think this is just after Rachael broke a bottle of champagne on the gondola to christen it.



Everything was gorgeously prepared, a result of lots of hard work from Daddy, Mr. Jack, pizza-fed students, and event-planner/alumni-gift-coordinator extraordinaire Stacy Muzzi. Viva la blimp!

Quote from the backseat

From our lovely Jake...

"Will you guys be quiet? I can't hear the damn song!"

Blimp prep

We spent the whole day today running like crazy beheaded chickens, trying to help Daddy and others get ready for the big blimp debut tomorrow. The crowning glory to our hard work was this afternoon, when the boys and I scootered to campus to watch it being inflated.

Here it is, flaaaaaaat. The 8000 liters of helium come in just a sec.



Blimp Iwo Jima!



Ta-da!



Though it was fascinating to watch, be aware that from flat to full took 3 hours. Two little monkeys and their mommy entertained themselves by:
*scootering around the buildings and pathways
*flirting with co-eds ("That's my Daddy's blimp!")
*stuffing their faces with pizza
*playing with this enormous cardboard tube:



*playing hide-and-seek:



*runnnnnnnnnnnnnning full-speed everywhere:

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day started out very calm and peaceful-like. A handmade card from Isaac. Church. I requested "brunch" at Starbucks -- quick and light -- so we could get down and literally very dirty on my real Mother's Day present -- phase 2 of my garden. As you can see, all boys put in a hard day's work.

Blimp wash

Daddy's new baby, the UD blimp, makes a gala appearance on Tuesday. Philly's ABC news even did a short segment on it that appeared on the 6 o-clock news Friday night, showing Daddy and his student Ashley looking scientific and busy.

We took advantage of the sudden un-raininess to give Daddy's blimp a spit-shine today.





Funds for the blimp were donated by a gracious alumna in memory of her grandfather, also an alumnus, as noted on the freshly painted gondola that goes under the blimp:

A walk in the woods

The rain, it stopped! After only 9 days!

Here are the boys, exploring a new-to-us trail at White Clay Creek with Carlos.