Bridges

Here Flat Nobama Baby Doll, Flat Pharoah, and Flat Rocket explore a bridge in Pittsburgh. Flat Pharoah, contemplating the fall of the Egyptian empire, nearly jumped into the waters below. Flat Nobama Baby Doll convinced him not to by singing about the benefits of Senator McCain's tax plan.

Look what we woke up to this morning!!

Go Chiefs!

From the game last weekend...

Fall Pics with the Springfield Block Babies...

Yesterday, we hung out in the yard and snapped some pics of the kiddos....

Flat Rocket and Flat Pharoah's Long Journey

As regular readers might have noticed, Flat Pharoah and Flat Rocket took a several week hiatus from this blog.  It was not their fault, it was this writer's fault.  He left them in St. Louis several weeks ago.

For those who might be tracking the progress of the little flat guys, their journey is detailed here for the very first time.

Late September:  flat guys are left behind at a friend's house in St. Louis.  They are mailed from Ladue to Hillsboro, where they miss me by 2 days.  Dad mails them to Sara's address in Washington, DC, where they miss me by 3 days.  Sara mails them to Des Moines.  I picked them up there and they have resumed life on the campaign trail. 

Now they are in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Making Friends!

Flat Rocket, Flat Pharoah, and Flat Nobama Baby Doll make friends with Gene and Marilee at Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh.

Flat Nobama Baby Doll pledged allegiance to the Steelers, but Pharoah and Rocket rooted for the Chiefs and Eagles, respectively.

Also, Pharoah could be seen occasionally sipping a stein. Contents thereof are unclear to the writer.

Loves it

Breaking News! Flat Nobama Baby Doll, Flat Pharoah, and Flat Rocket are reunited!

After a long separation and many miles of travel (which is another post by itself), the flat nieces and nephews are back together again.

Here they are enjoying a sign painting party in Des Moines, Iowa. After lots of hard work, they are resting on a sign painted by a supporter named Craig.

Flat Nobama Baby Doll

Buys coffee in downtown Des Moines, Iowa at Java Joe's.

thoughts by jesse and shanee on election

Jesse and Shanee (missionaries in Nepal) that we know from Truman State had something to say about the election. If you are interested go here.

Dan's ATV accident

Andrew reconstructed Dan's accident. There are some pictures and a video.


The view from the dip (where the accident started). You can see where Dan ended up.



Dan apparently attempted to slow down before the dip as seen by the skid marks right before the dip (also known as the oh $%&* moment).



This shows roughly where the skid marks ended and where Dan ended up (roughly the distance he was thrown from the quad).



A view of dan (the fish) and the ATV at where they ended up ... although realistically the fish would be on its back ... and the fish would have some messed up teeth.



Just another view of where Dan (fish) and his ATV (wagon) ended up.



A view from where Dan was. That is Jon standing in the dip where the accident started.



Andrew's accident reconstruction video. Good work Andrew!

If you can't see the pictures go here.

The whole family is thankful you are alive and getting better.

Our bear friend

Visits the kids' slide.

Flat Nobama Baby Doll rents a car!

In Des Moines, Iowa.

Announcement

My friends, I do not joke when I tell you that I travel with a baby blue neck pillow clipped to a belt loop.

Bear Video

Here is the link to the short video Abby shot of the bear visiting us the other day. It's very short, but if you can see the final screenshot, he stops with both paws up on the windows! (BTW, Hallie is still scared at night, while the boys think this is all amazingly cool. :))



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdyvHKaZ8Ro

Check out this crowd

This much I can say

And I am *proud* to be an American!

(Lee Greenwood is on the left singing in American flag jacket.)

The view from up high

Las Vegas, Nevada

Notes from the Road

One of my favorite things about this job is getting to walk onto the tarmac of airports all over the country and look at planes. I like taking interesting pictures of them. The attached photo is of a small private jet at Lunken Air Field in Cinci. Another photo is of sunset at Las Vegas International Airport.

On that note, I am in Vegas this week. We started our stay here by overnighting at the Luxor (the big pyramid on the strip), which was an absolute dump. Nappy carpet, decades-old bedding, no wireless internet, reeked of smoke, etc. Disgusting.

We switched to a Hampton Inn in nearby Henderson and I have been very pleased. The carpet feels new (no squishy liquid underfoot), the bedding is *white*, clean, and high quality. And the room doesn't smell like the Las Vegas girl scout troop held their most recent weenie roast in it.

Here are the pics (still working on the mobile posting)...

Nathie wanted to have something painted on his face, too

Joel Sent from my iPhone

Our resident pharaoh

Getting ready to give his speech...



Joel Sent from my iPhone

Dan's 1st soda in 6 weeks!!

(pardon the tongue. He is being a pain--shocking, I know-- and won't
cooperate for the picture.)

More Scenes from Summer 2008

Scenes from Summer Vacation 2008

Happy Birthday Richard!!

Doesn't Danny look happy to be with me?
"Smile Richard!!"

I love thee Danny and am so grateful that thee's alive to enjoy thy 31st birthday. Please do take care of thyself in the future. Have a great birthday!

Danny's turn

Happy birthday, Danny.
I'm just so thankful thee's alive. I had a dream last night that thee'd died, and I woke up because my body hurt from crying so hard in my dream. Sounds crazy, but true. I began to wail (in my dream) because I didn't want to lose the brother that was my protector in highschool... The thought of that just killed me.

So, thanks for being my defender. I love thee so much.

Happy birthday. Thank GOD thee's alive.

PS Thanks for the walnut! :)
Ok--who's next?

Introducing Flat Baby doll!

Here is flat baby doll held by my good friend Jocelyn in Cincinnati, Ohio!

Thanks Abby and Lukey Boy!

Taking the trash can back to the house for mama

... He insisted on doing this by.him.self. What a big not-quite-two-
yr-old!! :)

Who needs a stroller...

Out for a walk

Ummm, Dad pruned the redbud.