Fore!

One of my favorite memories of being pregnant was the day we found out we were having a girl. I distinctly remember Rob's reaction. He was kind of hoping for a boy, so it took him a minute to process this new nugget of information.

Deep in thought, he started going through the following check list out loud: She can still play golf. She can still play tennis. She can still be a swimmer. She can still be a cyclist... He was audibly switching gears from blue to pink and reassuring himself that even though football was probably not going to be an option, she could still do many of the activities that he enjoys doing.

The ultrasound technician and I just looked at each other and smiled.

Well, I am happy to report that we are one step closer to achieving Rob's checklist. Behold what was waiting on our porch when we got home last night.

Rob has been teaching her how to putt in the living room using one of his putters. It was obviously too big for her, but she was actually pretty accurate with it. Now that she has some clubs that are a little more appropriate, watch out. We may have the next Michelle Wie on our hands!

PT Cruisers Behaving Badly

Some of you may be familiar with my theory on PT Cruisers. In a nutshell, people who drive PT Cruisers are the worst drivers on the road. If there is some sort of unnecessary congestion on the highway, chances are a PT Cruiser is involved. If someone is driving down the middle of the turning lane, more often than not they are driving a Cruiser. 

I'm a scientist, so it's only natural that I would want to collect data to document my run-ins with Cruisers. Case in point...I took this picture in my parking garage not too long ago. I actually watched this person park. It was a sight to behold. 

Last night, I caught this PTC behaving badly. Notice that the light is green, yet traffic is still stopped because the Cruiser is blocking the lane. By the way, I'm fairly certain that this is a different car than the one above. The color is just coincidental. 

You don't have to take my word on this subject. The next time you find yourself in the midst of a PTC, keep your eyes on it. I bet they do something ridiculous. And when they do, snap a picture and send it to me. I'll add it to the collection. 


Disclaimer: I realize that I am making a rather generalized claim. Furthermore, I'm not aware that any of my family, friends, or acquaintances actually drive a PT Cruiser. So if you are reading this and you do indeed drive a PT Cruiser, I'm not talking about you. Fair enough?

Fair Rides and Fair Fries

On Saturday, I took Harper to the Williamson County fair. All in all, it was a pretty dinky fair - nowhere near the caliber of the Canfield Fair. Those of you who still live close enough to go to the Canfield Fair, you do not know how lucky you are. This fair didn't even have any good fair fries! Can you imagine? 

Although I was a little disappointed, Harper had a great time riding the rides. 

Until that day, she had never been on a carnival ride so we started out slowly with the caterpillar and bear. 

Then we hit up the bee and elephant. 

Look at the humoring fake smiles she was able to muster.

It was at this point when she politely asked me to put the camera away...

which I agreed to until she decided to brave the roller coaster. She'd been eying it all day and after a quick ice cream break she was ready to tackle it. 

The first hill

White knuckling it

Looking slightly more under control

Maybe a hint of a smile

Although it may not have looked like it, she enjoyed every minute of that ride. So much so, that she didn't want to get off when it was over. The lady running it had to unbuckle her seat belt and lift her out.

Overall, this trip to the fair was pretty fun. I enjoyed watching Harper be adventurous (did you notice that she instinctively sat closest to the front on the roller coaster? All of the other kids wanted to sit in the middle or the back. Amateurs.). It also became clear to me that we will need to go on a family pilgrimage back to Ohio so that we can go to the Canfield Fair. I don't think it's going to happen this year. But next year, look out. I'm coming for you, fair fries!

Heartwarming Technology

This is my friend, Andrea. She's a fantastic photographer among other things. 

Andrea recently shot a wedding that is gaining international attention. The bride's mother was terminally ill and could not attend the wedding. Thankfully, technology intervened and her mother was able to watch the ceremony and reception via Skype.

My abridged version certainly does not do this sweet story justice. Click here and here to read more. And stop by Andrea's photography blog. It's beautiful just like she is.

Rainbow

I took some pictures at work today. Here's my favorite of the bunch. Sorry for the poor resolution. The images were taken on a high resolution microscope camera, but they got compressed when I uploaded them.

I love that even though this is a static image, you can almost see the cells stretching to crawl out of the pile.

Then I decided to play with the color.

I like my job.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I took this on the way to the airport as we were getting ready to leave Florida. Harper was so worn out from the week, she fell asleep mid-burger. I think she actually took another bite when she finally woke up.

Back

Well, our vacation is officially over. Today was our first day back to work and baby school. If Harper could read, she would object to the term baby school because she is not a baby anymore. She would then remark that she would like me to refer to her school as big kid school because she is in fact a big kid now. But alas, I digress...which is a major symptom of vacation withdraw.

In an effort to ease back into real life, I will be posting some of my favorite pictures from last week. I will then visit this page periodically though out the day and wish we were all still at the beach. You can play along if you would like.

 Harper and her crazy sunglasses 

Taking a break from swimming in the pool

Cinnamon Beach - don't you just love that name?

Harper holding a crab

Outside of our favorite breakfast spot

Having lunch after a morning at the beach