Life Above the Mason Dixon Line

Belated Christmas Greetings

2012-01-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

M ade his appearance on 9/21 at 7:54 AM, 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21” long

I s growing fast- already 3 months, 25” and almost 12 lbs

C harms others with his blue eyes and toothless smile

A lso likes to stand with help

H as to take medicine for acid reflux, but seems to be doing better

L oves her new role as big sister; often “Micah” is her first word in the morning

Y earns to do everything by “self”

D esires all things Elmo and everything the color “OWANGE!”

I s an avid reader (reciter?) of books and loves to sing “Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Star”

A lso likes to practice her ABCs and count to “THIRTEEN!”

R oberts Wesleyan is still where she works, though she was not there much in the fall

A ctually taught Bio 101 this summer- lecture and lab both

C elebrated her birthday in Pittsburgh w/Doug as her parents kept Lydia for the night

H ad a great time on our trip to NC in May- visiting the beach & Doug's sister's family

E njoyed a weekend with Houghton friends in July as well as other visits

L iked being a zoo member this year as we went many times with friends and family!

D ropped from 50 to 40 hours a week in surgery at Unity Hospital- every Friday off!

O utperformed himself in church softball – batting 1.000 up until the last at bat

U nderstands how much busier life can get with two kids, but enjoys walks, the zoo, bathtime & bedtime routines, and playing with the kids as they grow and learn

G athered with all three sisters at Delta Lake and with the Lee family in July

We also celebrated our 10^th anniversary on December 29th- time flies when you are having fun! We are thankful for the time we have been able to spend with family and friends this year and for the help we received as we transitioned to a family of four. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and that the joy of a Savior who is God With Us lasts all through your 2012!

With love, Doug, Rachel, Lydia and Micah Graham

Photo Card

2011-10-10T22:31:00.001-04:00

Classy Collage Blue Baby Announcements

Graduation invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

First apple

2011-09-27T21:33:00.000-04:00

Lydia concentrated very hard to be able to eat her first apple. Then she spit out most of the skin so I am not sure how much apple she actually ate!

Catching up

2011-09-27T21:31:00.000-04:00

Lydia tries to keep up with all the latest news.

Busy, busy, busy

2011-09-02T07:11:00.000-04:00

Lydia has discovered Rush Hour Safari and she likes playing with the animals when she is not busy with Elmo or her "babies" which need a lot of moving around from stroller to cradle to swing to cradle to swing to stroller to cradle to the kitchen to the car to have their teeth brushed etc. She has a particular attachment to my sister's Cabbage Patch Kid doll. As soon as she saw the Cabbage Patch Kids she said "Baby? Please?" and she has been dragging them everywhere since.

Bucket List

2011-08-23T21:33:00.000-04:00

In July, my parents came to visit and we crossed an item off my bucket list which was to visit the Jello Gallery in LeRoy, NY. I love how Lydia looks awkward in this picture.

Cousins

2011-08-15T23:10:00.000-04:00

Caitlyn and Lydia got to hang out for 2 weekends in July when Dawn and Nate came to visit. It was fun to see them interact more now that they are older.

Where have we been?

2011-07-28T16:38:00.000-04:00

We spent 3 weekends this July at Delta- here Daru and Lydia sleep on the trip to Delta for the 4th of July weekend.

New hairdo

2011-07-01T22:17:00.000-04:00

Amanda got Lydia to cooperate enough to put up her hair in a rubberband. She likes it!

Rainy day

2011-06-29T21:42:00.001-04:00

It was so warm when it rained last week, we went out to play in the rain.

14 months

2011-06-28T06:36:00.000-04:00

We have almost hit the 15 month mark but here is a picture from Lydia's 14 month birthday. We've stopped the weekly Elmo picture and are hoping to remember monthly ones. I think she looks so old here- and like she needs a haircut!

We are doing what?!?

2011-06-23T06:54:00.000-04:00

We are going to put this in the water?!?

Bicycling

2011-06-22T19:55:00.000-04:00

After some initial hesitation with wearing a helmet (including real tears), Lydia decided that riding a bike was not as bad as she had thought.

Happy Father's Day- belated!

2011-06-21T06:32:00.000-04:00

Lydia thinks her daddy is #1. (Or she might see an airplane, but she does like him)

With the gators

2011-05-28T20:32:00.000-04:00

We let Lydia hang out with some alligators in NC. One of the days we were there we went to the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island since we got in free because of our zoo membership. She liked the fish and turtles, but we aren't sure if she could pick out any of the live alligators.

Out of order

2011-05-23T16:41:00.000-04:00

I never posted any Easter pictures, but here is one of my favorite pictures of Lydia on her second Easter.

Lydia hits the beach

2011-05-23T16:15:00.000-04:00

We went to NC for Doug's week off and headed first to the Outer Banks for a few days. Lydia loved the beach even though the water was too cold to swim in. She had a great time playing in the sand, chasing birds, walking and getting her feet wet.

2011-05-10T06:36:00.000-04:00

Lydia, until a few weeks ago, would eat anything and in large quantities. She has started to get a little more picky and will shake her head "no!" if you try to give her something she doesn't want. Her main favorites of the last 2 weeks are bananas and hard boiled egg. No more cottage cheese loving!

The Real Birthday

2011-04-24T21:00:00.000-04:00

For Lydia's actual birthday, we took her to Moe's since kids eat free on Mondays. I know this is a little hypocrtical since I wouldn't give her real cake, but I gave her fast food. She wolfed down an entire kid-sized quesadilla and loved the helium balloon. Then we came home and she ate another entire "cupcake" and some ice cream!

Cousins

2011-04-21T17:41:00.000-04:00

Lydia loves to play with Matthew- he makes her laugh all the time!

Lydia turns 1

2011-04-19T21:25:00.001-04:00

So my next few posts will probably be highlights from the celebration of Lydia's birthday numero uno. These come from her birthday party with family and friends the Sat. before the real day. Yes, I confess I turned into anti-sugar mom and made Lydia her own special strawberry banana muffins (further confession: I made them with applesauce and whole wheat flour) while all the other guests were allowed to have real chocolate cupcakes with frosting. We did put whipped cream and sugar on top of Lydia's to make it more authentic. She was not so sure about the whole experience partly I think because she had never been given such a large chunk of food to navigate on her own. So she took off all the whipped cream and just ate the muffin in large chunks- the whole thing! She did get to try ice cream too, but we think it was too cold for her the first time since she didn't love it. Doug was a little concerned.

Lydia feeds herself

2011-03-21T21:03:00.000-04:00

Well, she can feed herself with a spoon...if she feels like it. If not, she will cry with the spoon an inch from her mouth because she doesn't want to put it in herself. Where does she get this stubbornness?

Winter break

2011-03-14T17:40:00.000-04:00

I got to spend the week with Lydia a few weeks ago when I had the week off and we enjoyed looking out the window at the snow one afternoon.

Baby proofing

2011-03-12T10:20:00.000-05:00

We still have some work to do on baby proofing. At least this drawer is not full of knives!

Lydia can pull herself up anywhere

2011-03-06T22:16:00.001-05:00

However, she cannot brush her own hair yet.

The Cheese Face

2011-03-06T21:57:00.001-05:00

Lydia has mastered the cheesy smile and she plasters it on her face whenever she sees the camera.

Lydia gets larger

2011-02-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of Janury Lydia, finally and with a lot of grief, got 2 teeth.

And a snotty nose came with them too!

Also, she now knows that she is so big!

And, at the end of January, she finally figured out the whole moving thing- to the chagrin of the dog and cat.

Lydia loves Christmas

2011-02-21T15:39:00.000-05:00

And she loves Daru too!

Lydia's first Ikea project

2011-02-21T15:17:00.001-05:00

'
We put Lydia to work assembling our new bed frame.

The directions were a little confusing for her at first.

But she quickly caught on.

No, really I can use a screwdriver by myself!

It must only let me post a limited number at one time...

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

We can divide 2010 into two sections pretty easily: before Lydia and after Lydia.

Before Lydia highlights:

We took a weekend trip to Corning Museum of Glass, made our own blown glass items and spent two days at the museum.
We had 4 baby showers- one in absentia since we were both sick, one at church and one thrown by Rachel's work. It was fun to get ready for Lydia's arrival with family and friends! Our Houghton friends surprised us with a shower after Lydia was born.

After Lydia highlights:

Lydia Nancy arrived on Easter Sunday (4/4/10) at 4:59 PM, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and measuring 19.5” long. She was the 5^th baby born on Easter at Unity and the 4^th born between 3 and 5 PM! Grandma and Grandpa J., Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Ryan, and Aunt Robin and Uncle Steve all came to visit that day followed by various friends and Grandma and Grandpa G. in the next few weeks. Daru and Kina have adjusted well to the new addition.
We all attended and participated in 3.5 weddings between April and September- 2 Houghton friends {Charles married Sherry then Kristine married Daniel} and 2 of Rachel's cousins {Jason married Bonnie, then Jake married Chelsy}. The ½ wedding was because the wedding was actually on Labor Day so we only went to the pre-party since Rachel had to work on Labor Day!
We attended two family reunions- Rachel's dad's side in VA in June and Doug's mom's side in NY in July. By the time Lydia was 10 weeks old, she had been to 10 states!
We flew to CA in August to visit Doug's sister Dawn and Nathan and Lydia's new cousin, Caitlyn, who was born on May 8, 2010. We had a lot of fun with 2 babies!
We enjoyed two weekends at Delta with the Graham family and Lydia had her first boat ride with Grandpa Graham driving.
Lydia was dedicated on November 7^th, with members of both sides of the family and many church friends present. We are thankful for all the friends and family who are with us on this journey of parenting which is both delightful and daunting at times.
We took a five week curling class at the Rochester Curling Club and enjoyed learning the basics of the sport- yes, it does require some athletic effort!
We spent Lydia's first Thanksgiving in Beaver Falls with Rachel's parents. Even though they have lived there for 6 years, it was the first time we had been there for Thanksgiving.
We both stayed in the same jobs. Doug still works in the surgery department as a PA at Unity Hospital where Lydia was born and Rachel went back to work at Roberts in the fall after spending most of April-August with Lydia. Grandma and Grandpa J. came to watch Lydia for a week while Rachel taught a summer biology camp. We are incredibly grateful for God's provision in child care as Amanda, a friend from church, watches Lydia at our house. Lydia loves Amanda and she gets to hang out with her friend Evelyn twice a week as well!
In December, Dawn and Caitlyn and Doug's oldest sister Deanna came to Rochester so we had an early Christmas with the Graham family- what fun to see cousins playing together!

Being parents at Christmas for the first time also gives us a new appreciation for the story of Christmas and a new awe that Jesus came to earth as a human baby. How amazing that He chose to be Emmanuel, God with us, and how thankful we are for that! We pray that you will know the joy and peace that come from knowing that God is with us. Merry Christmas and happy 2011!

With love,

Doug, Rachel, Lydia, Daru and Kina Graham

137 Glenview Lane

Rochester, NY 14609

rmjgraham@gmail.com, doug77@gmail.com

www.rachelanddoug.blogspot.com

Cloning

2010-11-30T18:08:00.000-05:00

We like Lydia so much we decided to clone her.

Lydia's Dedication

2010-11-18T21:56:00.000-05:00

Lydia was dedicated on November 7th. She was well behaved except for trying to grab the mike from our pastor. She had prepared a short speech of course ;)!

Dear carrots, I don't like you. Love, Lydia

2010-11-15T22:35:00.000-05:00

29 weeks

2010-11-15T22:33:00.000-05:00

Lydia with Elmo at 29 weeks

Curling

2010-11-09T07:34:00.002-05:00

We finally achieved our dream of becoming Olympians- well at least learning a sport that we are not too old to go to the Olympics in =)! We had our third curling class on Sunday and my parents came to watch and they took some pictures for us. Top left- Doug is in the hack getting ready to throw; top right- I just released the stone which was probably hot or short since I can't figure out how to throw with the right weight; bottom left, Doug throws from the other end; bottom right, I am sweeping and Doug is acting as skip- actually I didn't have to sweep that stone, but I am holding the broom and walking with the stone ready to sweep at the skip's command.

Hanging out

2010-10-29T07:49:00.000-04:00

Lydia enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Ryan and Daddy at the Penn State Arboretum a few weeks ago.

But Mom...

2010-10-27T21:42:00.000-04:00

They taste so good.

Pumpkin

2010-10-27T21:31:00.000-04:00

Lydia liked playing with the pumpkin and the fall leaves today. She managed to have them in her mouth only 95% of the time...she also tried to eat the pumpkin. But she is showing off her sitting up alone skills!

Jump, Jump, Jump

2010-10-19T06:49:00.000-04:00

Lydia loves hanging out (literally!) in her Johnny Jump-Up. Usually she is bouncing with her mouth wide open, but she must have tired herself out for this picture.

This baby is trippin'

2010-08-29T20:35:00.000-04:00

At the Aquarium, Lydia enjoyed watching the schooling sardines in the circular tank. One passerby said after watching her, "That baby is trippin'!". Maybe not trippin' but she does have an appreciation for sea life =).

Puffy Wuffy

2010-08-27T21:50:00.000-04:00

Though almost everyone claims that Lydia looks EXACTLY like Doug, she has my chubby cheeks...

Lydia 2.0

2010-07-02T09:06:00.000-04:00

Though she has not yet doubled her birth weight, Lydia is making a lot of changes in the last week or so. She consistently sleeps 8-9 hours a night, she consistently goes 3 hours or more between feedings during the day, and she would like you to pay full attention to her if she is awake and will let you know more dramatically if she is not happy. She still is a pretty content baby overall, but she is starting to show some of her stubborness. She loves to be standing and she likes to talk with you. She is more interested in real people now than in pictures too.

Oh deer- again!

2010-06-30T11:12:00.001-04:00

Though some of our pictures are not great, we have been fawning over the neighborhood deer this spring/summer. These first pictures are from our yard and the second pictures are from our neighbor's driveway.

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-23T21:01:00.001-04:00

A picture of Doug and Lydia on his first Father's Day...

Lydia at 10 weeks

2010-06-13T23:37:00.000-04:00

This is the smile I get to see in the mornings now when she wakes up!

Happy birthday!

2010-06-04T12:42:00.000-04:00

Happy 2 month birthday to Lydia today- though this picture is a few weeks old. She weighed 11 lbs and 10 oz at her dr. appt this week!

Sunday clothes

2010-05-18T18:55:00.001-04:00

Lydia is all dressed up for church, but she has to keep wearing long sleeve onesies under all her cute spring/summer clothes since it is so chilly here!

Lydia Nancy Graham

2010-04-20T12:44:00.000-04:00

Lydia Nancy Graham arrived on Easter Sunday at 4:59 PM at 7 lbs. 11 oz and 19.5 inches. We named her Lydia because we wanted a Biblical name and a name that had 2 or more syllables since Graham is only one. Lydia was a seller of purple cloth in Philippi when Paul and Timothy came to preach there. She welcomed them into her home and was the first European convert to Christianity. Nancy is in honor of both her Grandmas since my mom and Doug's mom are both named Nancy.

Lydia is already growing quickly- last Thursday she weighed 9 lbs. at the doctor. She is a mostly content baby, and Daru and Kina are adjusting to life with an infant.

Micro's room

2010-03-16T18:48:00.002-04:00

Doug has worked hard to finish Micro's room. He painted the chalkboard wall and made the frame to make it look like an aquarium and painted the starfish and fish border. I had trouble getting a good picture of it with the sunshine coming through the windows...2 weeks and 3 days!

3-D pictures

2010-03-01T19:38:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the 3-D pictures they took last week- still sideways!

Micro is macro these days...

2010-02-28T17:56:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago, when the dr. measured me, I was 3 weeks behind, so she sent us for another ultrasound to make sure Micro was growing appropriately. As of the u/s, Micro weighed 4lb 15oz. which is in the 56th percentile. Less than 5 weeks to go before we meet him/her! Sorry I tried to turn the pictures, but it didn't work I guess- sigh!

Merry Christmas 2009!

2009-12-23T16:22:00.010-05:00

The Grahams’ Annual Report

Quarter 1- January-March 2009
• We attended our college friend Paul and Rachel’s wedding in Georgia in January.
• In February, we made a trip to CA to see Doug’s sister Dawn and her husband Nate (and their dog Bailey). They live near Monterrey, and we enjoyed hiking, many rainbows, the Aquarium, and kayaking with Dawn, sea lions and sea otters.
• At the end of February, Daru impaled herself on something during a jaunt in the woods. After emergency surgery and a long night, she was basically back to normal; the vet said she was a lucky dog.
• In March, we made maple syrup from our 3 sugar maples. Doug hauled the sap up the hill daily for us to boil. We made about 12 oz.; we’re not sure we will repeat it, but it was fun to try once!

Quarter 2- April-June 2009
• We had a great time in May with Robin, Steve, Matthew and Ellie at ImagineRIT, the innovation fair at RIT, and we also made it to the Lilac Festival this year!
• Rebekah graduated with a PhD in mathematics from the University of MT in May as well, so we attempted to attend her graduation. After missing our connecting flight, we spent a night in Denver, but we did get to attend the celebrations afterwards with the Johnson and Yates families.
• In May, we also made some trips alone. Doug went to the AAPA conference in San Diego and met up with some friends from MUSC there while Rachel went to NC to watch Dee and Shan’s kids while they went to a conference.
• At the end of May, we attended the wedding reception for Rachel’s cousin Joshua and his wife Karis in the Adirondacks. It was a fun celebration and we enjoyed seeing the area as well.
• At the end of June, we sadly said good-bye to our friend (and pastor) Allison who moved to Seattle for a new job which suits her well- but it was still sad!

Quarter 3- July- September 2009
• We took a roundabout vacation in July starting with the annual 4th of July weekend at Delta with the Grahams. From Delta, we travelled to NYC to meet up with some friends from SC. Next, we spent a few days camping at Ricketts Glen in the Poconos (well worth the trip!), and then drove to DC for a night to see our college friend Danielle and Grace. From DC, we went to WV to Rachel’s cousin Laura’s wedding to Ryan, and on our way home from there, we stopped to see our friends Michael and Mindy and their week old baby Molly!
• We hosted the annual Lee family reunion in July; we were all happy Grandma Lee was able to come!
• In August, Rebekah and Ryan moved to Houghton and we helped in the moving process at this end.
• Rachel celebrated a milestone birthday this year after a weekend gathering with the Houghton gang. She celebrated her actual birthday with Doug, Ryan and Rebekah at the Strong Museum of Play.
• Rachel taught 5 labs a week this semester starting in September and took on the role of advisor for the math and science club. It has been fun to help them get involved with events like making a float for Roberts Homecoming.

Quarter 4- October- December 2009
• At the beginning of October, we attended Houghton’s homecoming with Rachel’s family. The following week, we traveled to Tully to see Doug’s parents so that we could tell our families in person that we are expecting a baby in April 2010. Baby Micro (gender unknown) will be the first grandchild on Rachel’s side and the seventh on Doug’s side. While we are excited, we are starting to feel the realities of impending parenthood, and we can’t even begin to explain to the dog and cat what is coming! Micro will be getting a new cousin at the end of April, as Dawn and Nate are also expecting their first baby.
• This quarter has been full of many house projects-- from getting a new furnace, to painting, to getting new carpet. We are grateful for a lot of family (read: free) help!
• We celebrated Thanksgiving in Houghton with Rachel’s family and one of Rebekah’s students. We are still working on Möbius (their cat) and Daru being friends, but we are making some progress.
• Doug celebrated his birthday in early December. He continues to enjoy his work as a PA in the surgery department (most days). We have both been thankful this year for steady jobs which we enjoy.
• We have been blessed in many ways by the love of family and friends this year. We appreciate the many opportunities we have had to share experiences with family and friends from near and far! As we look ahead to the many changes coming our way in 2010, we are most grateful for an unchanging God who is faithful in all situations. We pray that this season you will know the peace that comes from knowing He is in control.

With love,
Doug, Rachel, Micro, Daru and Kina Graham
137 Glenview Lane
Rochester, NY 14609
doug_graham77@yahoo.com
rmjgraham@gmail.com
updated occasionally (like today): rachelanddoug.blogspot.com

Turkeys in the trees

2009-11-27T18:04:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving Eve we saw a bunch of turkeys in the trees but it was too dark to get a picture, so when we got up on Thanksgiving, we saw them still there. I didn't get a great picture obviously, but we scared them away when we took Daru by and at least 12 flew off the branches of different trees.

On the trestle with a train

2009-11-06T17:24:00.000-05:00

We took a weekend trip to Letchworth State Park with the Math and Science Club and headed up to the railroad trestle. When I heard the train whistle blow, I ran off the bridge, but Doug and some others stayed on with the train.

Rock Star

2009-07-28T20:06:00.000-04:00

A while back we had a Rock Band, chocolate cake and sausage party with our young adult group. We discussed wearing costumes so we would be like rock stars, but only some of us (read: the Grahams) took this idea seriously enough to carry it out....Doug is on call tonight and is still at work and has 2 cases to go so he can't prevent me from posting this rock star photo ;)!

Young buck

2009-06-19T22:26:00.000-04:00

My aunt said when we moved here that we would grow to hate the derr, but I don't feel like I do yet even though they do like to munch on all things green. I watched this spike eat our tree for awhile until Daru scared him away.

Hiking the M

2009-06-17T07:47:00.000-04:00

The University of Montana is the only college with a mountain on campus so they put a big concrete M in the middle of it, you can hike to it and then buy a t-shirt that says "I hiked the M" though I suppose they would not prevent you from buying the t-shirt even if you didn't hike it. Last summer, some kids had started a fire near the M so we couldn't hike it because the trail was closed, so we finally had this experience this year. Here you see part of the M and part of Missoula.

The Pinata

2009-06-15T14:17:00.000-04:00

We tried in vain to break the pinata with a frisbee but ended up resorting to the field hockey stick method.

See we were there!

2009-06-12T11:47:00.000-04:00

Doug and I were a little underdressed for the event...

Where did May go?

2009-06-11T13:50:00.000-04:00

We had a crazy busy May with lots of travel adventures and family activities and fun. In the middle of May we headed for Rebekah's graduation with a PhD in mathematics. While our airline adventures (don't travel with us!) did not allow us to actually make it to the graduation, we arrived right after it was over and recreated it to simulate the experience minus the speakers and all the other graduates.

Everything's coming up lilacs

2009-05-12T18:42:00.003-04:00

This week marks the beginning of the festival season in Rochester with the most famous festival- the Lilac Festival in Highland Park. We took a picnic there to see the lilacs, and I must admit I was impressed by the variety of types and colors.

Wiscoy Creek

2009-04-21T20:54:00.000-04:00

We got to visit Wiscoy on our way back from Houghton last weekend. If the water were warmer, we would have gone in, but we did hike/crawl all the way up to the dam at the top.

A Perilous Journey

2009-04-03T20:03:00.000-04:00

This ant ventured across the bunny ear cactus which is pricklier than it looks...if you touch it at least!

More Lamberton

2009-04-01T17:50:00.001-04:00

Doug thinks this should be called string of peas....

14 oz.

2009-03-26T20:00:00.000-04:00

After hours and days of boiling, we think we have about 14 oz of syrup that is passable as actual maple syrup. These photos are from the first batch and beginning of the second.

Lamberton Conservatory

2009-03-21T12:55:00.000-04:00

Doug and I visited Lamberton Conservatory in Highland Park a few weeks ago so I could prepare for an upcoming field trip. I really liked the desert room. I learned that cactus spines are actually modified leaves and serve not only as protection from being eaten but also as sun protection (for some cacti that have a million spines). Here you see a Golden Barrel Cactus in the upper left, a Bunny Ear Cactus in the lower left and I don't remember the other 2 kinds!
Side note: if you google Lamberton Conservatory, Neil Cowley's website comes up as the 5th entry I think (we went to college with Neil).

A Lucky Dog

2009-03-06T18:00:00.000-05:00

Daru had a run-in with some object in the woods last weekend and had to go to the vet for surgery. In the bottom left, she is recovering from the surgery. The top left shows some of her shaved chest and leg (for the IV) and the right side shows Daru in her day wear. She has to wear the lamp shade and shoes to keep from scratching her stitches out. The vet said she was a lucky dog since there were no major organ injuries.

I love seahorses

2009-03-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

The Monterey Aquarium is opening a new exhibit on seahorses on April, 6th so Dawn and Nate will have to enjoy it for us, but we did get to ses a couple of different kinds of seahorses in their regular exhibits. Doug took this photo.

Not a great photo

2009-02-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

But it has a better story! This is a female octopus with her eggs. Before we got there, she had left the eggs unattended and an unsuspecting starfish was climbing the window toward them (to eat them?). The mother octopus (though they don't think the eggs are fertile) jetted over, pried the starfishes arms off the window with her tentacles and threw it on the ground. I wish I had seen it!

Crab and more

2009-02-26T15:51:00.000-05:00

I can't remember what kind of crab this is, but it is pretty scary looking (or it would be if it were larger!). We were really interested in the decorator crabs we saw, but we didn't get any pictures of them.

Monterey Bay

2009-02-25T20:22:00.002-05:00

These are some facebook rejects- Andrew psots his blog rejects on fb and I post my fb rejects on my blog...

Meterology

2009-02-13T20:31:00.000-05:00

We visited the Rochester Museum and Science Center when my family came at Christmas. Here Ryan practices weather forecasting for some weather incident that I don't remember. You could e-mail the video of your forecast to someone. We were entertained by ourselves.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

2008-12-23T21:16:00.000-05:00

Daru loves snow and won't come inside even when it looks like this!

Raccoon in the tree

2008-11-19T20:12:00.000-05:00

The raccoons really liked the stinky fruits and at one point we saw 2 in the tree at the same time- yuck! They spit the seeds all over the ground. Here this guy is chowing down.

Deer Meets Raccoon

2008-11-12T20:59:00.000-05:00

Sorry it is a little dark, but this is the best we could do with the crepuscular conditions.

Rocco the Raccoon

2008-10-27T20:14:00.000-04:00

This guy (Procyon lotor) has been visiting lately and climbing our stinky female gingko tree. Daru is distressed by this.

The Buck I Shot

2008-10-20T21:31:00.000-04:00

With the camera after it wandered into the backyard. I heard that hunting is illegal in Irondequoit....

Baby Elliana

2008-09-08T21:09:00.000-04:00

Elliana Grace, our new niece, was born on August 20th.

Grace

2008-07-06T21:45:00.001-04:00

Last September, the Houghton gang gathered for a baby shower for Grace who was not yet born. This year many of us met her for the first time. Contrary to the majority of our pictures, Grace was clothed for the majority of the weekend. It is easier to clean the baby than the baby's clothes (when she won't wear a bib at least), so she eats in only a diaper.

The Iron Chef

2008-07-02T08:08:00.002-04:00

As part of our weekend adventures, we went to a local arts festival in some suburb that I won't even attempt to spell. We heard the pork people mention free t-shirts and all of a sudden we were sitting in the blistering sun watching this chef who is a contestant on the Iron Chef make pork tenderloin with almond-plantain BBQ sauce or something to that effect. I did a lot of smiling and nodding since I am not convinced that it would take me only 8 minutes to make the marinade and I don't own half of the equipment he mentioned. He seemed to appreciate our group, perhaps because we actually sat through the whole thing and even asked a question on mike. (I am sure you will see some better shots of this experience from Andrew) He was our "local professional photographer." Allen, Danielle and Grace had parked themselves in the shade so they didn't get a stunning t-shirt which says "Bring it Tong!" =(

We got to sample the pork and I must admit it was pretty good even if Heather looks a little apprehensive here. He served it with mint and a chili pepper thread which he of course claimed that normal people could make in their own home. Again, I was not convinced, but maybe more skilled cooks could. Andrew got a group shot of all of us with the chef.

Aunt Mindy in Action

2008-06-30T21:27:00.000-04:00

On our way home from our Philly Houghton reunion, we stopped to see one of my high school friends and her family who happen to be one of my college roommate's in-laws since she married my high school friend's brother (who was also a high school friend). Got that all? Here Mindy reads to her niece and nephew about the wheels on the bus (which go round and round).

Chipmunk cheeks

2008-06-11T22:11:00.000-04:00

Tamias striatus came to our patio the other day. Though we have seen them in the woods, I hadn't seen one so close to the house yet. Luckily, Daru did not see it. Those spry little guys make her crazier than squirrels. I failed to get a great picture of its bulging cheeks which were making me laugh. It was just too fast. Some people in my family have chipmunk like cheeks when we smile. Rebekah and I had a friend who called us "Cheeky Weeky" and "Puffy Wuffy" (respectively) because of our chunky cheeks.

The front yard surprise

2008-05-28T19:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning, when walking Daru, I was surprised to find this fawn, Odocoileus virginianus, laying in the front yard near our driveway. (Our grass is about 4-5 inches high for a reference- yes it might need to be mowed =)!) I was more surprised that Daru didn't notice it when we walked by either time. After some reading, I learned that baby deer are almost odorless so Daru probably couldn't smell it even though she was 2 feet from it:

"When a suitable place of concealment is reached, the doe leaves her fawns and moves off perhaps 100 yards away. The fawns in their spotted coats are almost impossible to see and are almost odorless. The doe comes back five to eight times a day to nurse the young and then leaves again. She always remains somewhere in the area where she can see if danger approaches or can hear the little ones if they call to her. (http://www.bowhunting.net/NAspecies/whitetail3.htm)"

For more on white-tailed deer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer
For another cute picture of fawns from Rochester: http://rachelanddoug.blogspot.com/2006/08/oh-deer_01.html

The Law of Reflection

2008-05-16T20:48:00.000-04:00

We talked about the law of reflection in science class today...angle of incidence equals angle of reflection.

When the turkey calls...

2008-05-02T22:01:00.000-04:00

Meleagris gallopavo visits our backyard- and later gets trapped on the front porch and freaks out.

The Waterfall

2008-04-24T12:52:00.001-04:00

We have been kayaking on a creek that leads to Irondequoit Bay the last week or so. We checked out the creek on Google Earth and saw what looked like a waterfall upstream. We had some time restrictions a couple times and didn't make it to the apparent waterfall until Monday. As you can see it is not quite a waterfall =). Doug was able to get over it to the other side, but I could only get half over (it really is a stronger current than it looks like- I promise), partly because I laughed everytime I got stuck halfway. I tried another opening but it was like I was on a kayaking treadmill. If you want to see the Google map, here it is:

Branta canadensis

2008-04-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

While very few people love the Canada goose since it eats the grass and poops everywhere in parks and other public areas, it is interesting to observe them more in their natural habitat. In our kayaking we have seen many nesting pairs, and it is funny to see how the females duck their heads and try to look invisible. It will be fun to see the babies, though I am a little nervous about getting attacked by a protective mom or dad =).

Agelaius phoeniceus

2008-04-21T22:42:00.000-04:00

Though you can't see the red wings so well, this is a male red winged blackbird from today's kayaking adventure. I just realized that I work at Frontier Field which is the home of the Rochester Red Wings- are they named after red winged blackbirds?

Daru goes to school

2008-03-30T21:27:00.000-04:00

Yes, the boys get all the fun classes. Daru came to school to talk about animal behavior a few weeks ago. She was pretty well behaved considering the herds of children and strange surroundings. If you look very carefully, you can see my boy who is terrified of dogs in the back of the room.

Chameleon Climbing II

2008-03-13T22:06:00.002-04:00

Chameleons have zygodactyly.

Chameleon Climbing

2008-03-13T22:02:00.000-04:00

My "big boys" and I took a trip to Petco to see the animals- a free field trip thanks to Field Trip Factory. They loved the chameleon and it was pretty cool I must admit. I had never seen their feet which are forked to help them climb and it was fun to watch it climb all the boys.

The birds

2008-03-09T18:38:00.001-04:00

After 2 months of a birdless feeder, the birds came in full force starting last week and almost emptied the whole thing. We have seen chickadees, nuthatches, two varieties of woodpeckers, and male and female cardinals. Kina loves bird watching and I think this morning she was licking her lips.

The Falls

2008-03-02T15:44:00.000-05:00

There were actually falls too- not just ice and rainbows.

Ice

2008-02-26T12:18:00.000-05:00

Everything near the falls was covered with ice from the mist. It is amazing that the trees can survive a winter at all! The Kodak building is in the background.

Sunny day

2008-02-24T22:01:00.004-05:00

My cousin Joshua came to visit so I decided I wanted to show him High Falls in downtown Rochester, but then I saw a picture of Lower Falls and decided I wanted him to see that (or at least I wanted to see it). We went yesterday at dusk with a camera sans batteries, so I dragged Doug there today. It was a nice day to go. A faint double rainbow is above the clearer rainbow.

The Deer Gang comes to visit

2008-02-13T13:50:00.000-05:00

Six (one not pictured) deer came to visit this afternoon, but not the buck. If you look carefully at the picture you can see a cat also made its way into the photo.

Vindication with Vulpes vulpes

2008-01-27T22:03:00.000-05:00

This morning as we were getting ready for church and watching some deer, this little guy (or girl) came traipsing through the backyard. This picture was taken from the bathroom window after I went running through the house to get the camera and binoculars, scaring the cat with my excitement. I think this is a red fox, Vulpes vulpes.

Charles on Fire

2008-01-24T13:47:00.000-05:00

I realized when I looked at this picture that it appears that Charles has flames shooting out from his sides-oops! A good photographer would have composed this photo better.

Charles came to see us last weekend since we had not seen him in over a year. He had originally suggested that we go skiing, but I was not sure there was much good snow and it was bitter cold, so we opted to go shopping instead. I asked Charles where he wanted to go- like what was high on his list of things to get since shopping is better now in the US (for Canadians) due to the exchange rate and lower sales tax. His first request was to go to the dollar store. Yes, the dollar store as in everything is $1. I was puzzled as to why he wanted to go there; like don't they have dollar stores in Canada? Charles informs me that they are not the same there and he really wanted to go there to get spray starch for his shirts. Again, I suggested that they might sell this in Canada as well, but he informed me that it was much cheaper in the US. Okay, we'll go to the dollar store! Then I asked where else he wanted to go so we could pick the right shopping area in Rochester area. Charles told me that next he needed to go to Wal-Mart. Again, I inquired about what he needed at Wal-Mart, thinking it must be something unusual that Wal-Marts in Canada don't sell. It was conditioner, as in for hair. Apparently, this also is much more expensive in Canada? Other exploits included a little girl's dress for a cousin's birthday party, gift bags, scented candles, a wall clock, hot pepper relish and a new winter coat. We (Doug was working) spent 8 hours shopping including a trip to Moe's (WELCOME TO MOES) and the Christmas Tree Shop, my 2 favorite places in Henrietta. I made some progress on next Christmas.

So if you are looking for spray starch, conditioner, or other shopping assistance, I can hook you up! Thanks for the shopping adventure Charles!

3 words

2008-01-20T17:31:00.000-05:00

Charles was here.

Under the bridge

2008-01-18T17:30:00.000-05:00

Doug took this picture of the 104 bridge from underneath on our kayaking adventure; not that Adam cares...