Sidewalk Chalk and Covid 19

A couple of days ago Ginger and Lisa, bored by the quarantine, decided to decorate our sidewalk 

The Solar Eclipse of 2017

I never bought into the hype surrounding the eclipse. I love astronomy, and give me a new picture of Saturn any old day, but an eclipse? The moon passing in front of our view of the sun might be great if you're starring in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, but here in 2017? Eh.

Still, in the end it was a hoot to see.

The day before I'd taken Smiley and Ginger to a science and surplus store where they made free eclipse viewers.

When it came time for the eclipse, we headed back to the store, which was holding a get together in the parking lot to celebrate the event. My friend Tre and my Godson met us there.

There was heavy cloud cover, and save for a few minutes the homemade kits didn't work.

Thankfully, one of the store clerks slipped me a pair of (sold out) eclipse glasses during a handshake, and so we got to see some of the show.

We didn't get any good pics of the eclipse, as you'd expect. But in person, it was genuinely kind of neat; certainly more impactful than seeing it on TV or in a book.

It was  a good memory to make with the kids, and I'm glad I experienced it with them.

Smiley and Ginger at the Park

There's no significant event behind this post. It's just a random visit to the park after the first day of school. Enjoy. 

Grasshopper Hunting to End the Summer

Last Wednesday was the last day of summer vacation for the kids (my two week vacation from classes ended that Monday). We had a  mini-tradition, for a bit, of having a picnic in Whitnall Park during the week Lisa would work at State Fair. It's been a few years, but Ginger brought it up recently and so, for a last hurrah, we did the same. 

Sorta. 

We started out with an early dinner at Kopp's Custard. 

Oy, I know YaYa will hate this picture, given it shows her apparently jamming food in her mouth. But of the two I have as options, trust me kiddo - this is the more flattering ;)

 Alas, after dinner we split up. Nothing was wrong, but for some reason I don't even remember I got it into my head to go catch grasshoppers, and that only appealed to Ginger. In an act of sisterly love, LuLu offered to come with. And so the three of us went a'huntin'. 

Ginger was game for the chase. 

LuLu was not, and served as our spotter. An effective one at that. 

 

 LuLu also became our location photographer. 

 We were very successful, catching enough grasshoppers to fill a gallon pickle jar when we got home.

Ginger's grasshoppers have even mated and laid eggs since they joined our household!