Hello Everybody,

Monday we picked strawberries; Wednesday we picked strawberries; Friday we picked strawberries; today we weeded the flowerbeds; today we mulched the flowerbeds; today we picked the peas... Whoops! I forgot this isn't a gardening journal. It's photo blog right? Okay, well, forgive me. All that stuff is true, but you won't find photos of it. Why no photos of it? Well, I figured you'd find photos of the Martin family floating in the air a bit more interesting than such down-to-earth stuff as gardening.

The Martin Family Airborne!

That's right. We're flying just like the birds.

Ever hear of spread eagles?

Mervin hasn't got his wings yet.

The parachutist discovers that...

...it is a long way down.

Some of us don't feel quite at home in the air yet.

While others just cross their feet, spread their wings, and enjoy the ride.

He's so at home he can make it appear the opposite. Now that takes skill.

Clayton zooms in: "I just got back from Mars and there ARE aliens there!"

That news was enough to bring us all down to earth.

And you know what? Some people actually think that being down to earth is more fun.

Clear the helipad. Another one's coming in for landing.

Bewitching

I've been noticing that Grace likes coming for piano lessons even better these days. It's not as if she asks me for a longer lesson though. Strange, very strange.

Update on the Little Boys

I suppose when you're this age, having Mom go away two days in a row is pretty traumatic.

Give him a hammer - he becomes a man.

Give Clayton a knife - he becomes an entrepreneur.

That's right. There's money to be made in recycled copper these days.

Now that school's over for the year...

...I'll give you an idea of the high levels of academia we have been reaching. :-)

The scholar.

Uh... the snacker?

How is anoint spelled?

Two N's - definitely two N's.

The answer key begs to differ.

And the eraser wriggles back and forth, so happy that he isn't out of a job after all.

A Visit to the Mills

We felt as much at home as Noah did in the tree.

The Mills' raised beds reminded us of our raised beds and made us feel even more at home.

And the pool table - that reminded us of the pool table we do NOT have at home.

Dad, past pro, tells Conrad to "tap the red ball just so or else you'll hit the black ball out, and then, well - you'd be history."

The pressure not to be "history."

Mr. Mills watches history in the making.

Eight ball meets carpet and Conrad's in the history books.

For the most part, the Mills seem to play fairly normal things, like table tennis.

But when you come across Hannah and Candace playing matchbox cars, you kind of start to wonder. :-)

Whatever you may have concluded about the normalcy of the Mills' activities, their light controls are indisputably not normal.

Riddle: What do you get when one big family shares a meal with another big family?

Answer: Lots of dishes (and lots of girls to do them).

Thank you, Mills, for your hospitality.

Cookie Swap Hosted by Monique

I wasn't really planning to post these photos, but then I had a little change of heart. I figured there might be people out there who get tired of seeing the Martin family and wouldn't mind seeing themselves for once. Is that the way it is? :-)

That said, we start out with a picture of a Martin.

Upon arrival, Mrs. Metarko receives her button-pin for the game Monique had planned. It involved a forbidden word, and, if you said the word and someone caught you, that someone got your pin. The goal? Get the most pins to get a prize. Monique was very shrewd in her choice of the forbidden word. Woe to you if you said the word cookie.

Charity: I did not say cookie!

Michaela: Well you sure did now!

On goes pin number two.

The Right-Left Game

The person holding the jar at the end of the game gets a prize. I think HannahGrace was tempted to just hang onto that jar.

But really, it's not nice of me to cast aspersion on such a nice girl as HannahGrace. :-)

The whispering begins.

Mrs. O'Connell cannot believe her ears. (But then, who can in Whisper Down the Lane?)

Mercy passes on the phrase in a whisper - a stage whisper.

For your information, the way to get a toddler to stop playing in the cupboards is to start taking pictures of him.

(This theory was tested on Miss Dorothy Phero with great success. Do try it at home.)

Despite taking each other's buttons all afternoon, we were still all friends at the end of the day.

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God bless your next two weeks.

Carmen