Here Comes A New Shelmet

This past weekend we had three adults and three children spend Saturday night at our house. It was a loud, fun, crazy time and everyone really enjoyed it. After the dust settled on Sunday, and everyone left for the day, I took Zoe to get some lunch from Wendy's. We went through the drive thru and brought the food home for a picnic on the front porch, because it was over 50 degrees out and it seemed like a good idea. We laid out a blanket and set up our spread of nuggets, fries, and drinks. Zoe sat back and said, "Ahhh, this is the life." In that moment, it really was. The sun was out, keeping us warm on a cold January day. Her music mix was playing from my phone, about halfway through Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer. And right after she said it, we each picked up a french fry, tapped them together and said, "Cheers!" Later that afternoon, we decided that we would head down to the creek. It had been a while since we were down there, and I was looking forward...

The Halloween season has come and gone, and each year it seems to pass by faster and faster. This year seemed to zip by, either that or my procrastination is getting exponentially worse. Anyway, it seemed that the selection of costumes in the stores was especially motivational, since one more than one occasion an impromptu dress-up show was done in the aisles. Along with that there was some sweet gingerbread haunted house construction, complete with spooky after effects and a lesson in good nutrition. This year, with Zoe now in Kindergarten, she had her first Halloween parade at school. All of the kids were dressed in their finest and some of the hand crafted costumes were impressive and inspirational. After the parade, as the light was fading and the time to head out for candy was fast approaching, we took some pictures in the backyard of our family costumes. This year we went with a Moana theme. Zoe was Moana, Cheryl was the goddess Te Fiti, and I was Maui. We loo...

Every year Cheryl and I take a weekend trip down to Delaware Seashore State Park while Zoe stays with Mimi and Joe Pop. This year we decided to take a longer trip and bring Zoe along for her first camping experience. It's a really long drive, and we made a few stops on the way down. One of them was at a cool, UFO-shaped house where we took a couple of pictures. It didn't take long after that stop to arrive at our destination. The weather held out while I set up the tent, which is way bigger than the old one. Once the tent was set up and the mattresses were inflated, we made our way under the bridge over to the beach. It was pretty cold out, and the water was much colder, but we still spent some time walking through waves and collecting shells and stones. That night, before heading to bed, Cheryl and Zoe went to the bathroom to brush their teeth. On the way back they called me over to see 5 baby turtles climbing around just outside the building. Zoe was really ex...