Return to Reed Valley

Summer brought another love back into our lives...blueberries, baby, blueberries. Reed Valley Orchard in Paris, Kentucky, just gets better and better every year. And all of the rain we endured over the past couple of months has yielded a fantastic crop of blueberries, red raspberries, and black raspberries. Let the picking begin!


We know that all parents think their children are very bright bright or excel at one particular activity. Well we are pretty darned impressed with Callie's fine motor skills, and on this day she did not disappoint. She picked gently and precisely, showing an instinctive knack for only the bluest of blueberries. Not all of those precisely picked berries made it to the bucket, however, for Callie was always ready to taste the fruits of her labor.


Despite her ravenous blueberry consumption, we still managed to bring in a full gallon over a short period of time. It was hot, though, so we needed to sit down and perhaps eat a few before we moved on to the next crop.





The red raspberries were a bit more challenging, we're not going to lie. The bushes have thorns, the berries are a bit more delicate, and you have to adapt to a new color for ripeness. And this means that the final picking of the day, the black raspberries, were really tough. Now if the berries were red you didn't want to pick them. Not the easiest thing to explain to someone 20 months old, no matter how fine their motor skills.


Nevertheless, Callie would not be stopped. She loved to walk through the rows of bushes, pointing and sniffing. We can't wait for our next visit to Reed Valley. They are good people, and we learned on this past trip that they converted their livelihood from tobacco to orchard fruits nearly two decades ago because of the onset of throat cancer within the family. They felt they couldn't be involved in the tobacco industry anymore. Somehow stories like this just makes the fruit taste even better.


Visits to Reed Valley have a way of producing sweetness throughout the week that follows. It always includes one if not two days of fresh blueberry pancakes, which we all seem to love. In this particular picture, Callie and Sarah decided to make blueberry pancakes for Father's Day. It doesn't get much better than that.

Okay, so we are caught up for now. Unfortunately, through the camera debacle, we were unable to capture a true milestone moment for Callie. But it may be for the best since there is some difference of opinion in the Bowes household over what might be fit for blog publication. The fact is, Callie pooped in the pottie!!! That's right, our little girl tugged at her diaper and pulled us to the bathroom. Although we were slow to understand all of the signs, we finally figured it out, placed her on the pottie, gave her a book and a few minutes, and the rest is history. Even though we are not completely prepared to embrace this new activity, Callie continues to have the desire to use the potty about once a day. So we are certainly not out of diapers yet, but we can see that day approaching...we hope. Either way it is pretty exciting to us.

Hope you all are doing well. Tomorrow we are off to Connecticut for Alison Skonieczny's wedding and a few days on Block Island. Who knows what fun and adventure lies ahead.

Lucas Family Reunion

Let's start by setting the scene. It is the last weekend in May. We have driven a total of four hours and been on two airplanes for a total of five hours. Our destination rests in the heart of California's interior - a small town named Coalinga and a small resort called Harris Ranch. For people from California, it's the place on I-5 about halfway between LA and San Francisco literally right next to the largest, smelliest cow farm you have ever seen. We kid you not. The steaks were good but the smell could have been better.

That being said, what mattered most was the reason we were there. It was the 2009 reunion of the Lucas family - all of the descendants of seven Lucas siblings who represent the great-grandparents of Callie's generation. It was quite a crew to say the least. But we got into town early which meant we had the pool to ourselves.






Sarah made a great call and bought an inflatable floaty and lots of sunscreen. Callie was a very happy child. She spent a lot of time in the floaty, splashing around and just hanging out. It was fun to see.



When she wasn't floating around, she enjoyed climbing up and down the stairs on the side of the pool. She particularly liked splashing around with Grammy Gayle and they spent a ton of time together. Here is a picture of the two partners in crime sharing some fun in the sun.




Next up we have a picture of a couple of bathing beauties who are clearly having a blast. Callie is definitely mimicking her parents in actions and words. So if her Mom was going to lie on her towel and get some sun, that was what Callie wanted to do. They truly are a cute pair, aren't they.




Speaking of cute pairs, here's a picture of Zac and Keith at the reunion dinner on Saturday night. Two things are now official - Keith is taller than Zac and at the time we write this Keith is also a high school graduate. These two brave souls also jumped out of a perfectly good airplane this past week to celebrate Keith's graduation. Nothing like a little skydiving to bring father and son together.




The cute pairs just keep on coming. Callie loved hanging out with Keith and we have quite a few pictures of the two of them cutting a rug on the dance floor. It's amazing to see how great Keith is with Callie. She just can't get enough of him and can't wait to see him at Thanksgiving.




The dance floor seemed to be populated primarily with people under 3 feet. For those of you who attended our wedding, you know that the Lucas clan loves to dance. And the youngest generation is carrying on that tradition proudly. Here's little Brady Lucas and his parents, Tyler and Sara, getting the party started.


Callie really enjoyed hanging out with Brady who just celebrated his 1st birthday. The two of them started their night off by rolling around in their great grandmother's walker, moved on to enjoy the fine buffet, and then hit the dance floor like nobody's business.





There may have been some moments where Brady wanted to dance solo and Callie would not let go of his hand, but I guess she's a girl who knows what she wants and doesn't give in easily. It was fun to watch.



Grandpa Dan took advantage of hanging out with Callie and truly lived up to the "anything goes when Grandpa's around" motto. As you can see here, Callie is eating "fruit" which just happens to have a wee bit of chocolate on it. Honestly, if there was some chocolate with a wee bit of fruit on it Grandpa would have let her have it as well.


The night ended with Great Grandma Hazel hanging out with her girls. It's always cool to see several generations together like that. And though you can't tell from this picture, there is another girl in the mix. Haley is pregnant and expecting a little girl in November. Needless to say, Thanksgiving is going to be a lot of fun with the ever growing family.





It was a quick trip to California, and we were on a plane leaving San Jose by noon on Sunday. But the traveling was well worth it. We saw so many people, John learned to play the Portuguese card game called pedro, and Callie got to meet more cousins than she knew what to do with. Hopefully there will be another reunion soon.

A Little Colorado Love

We were lucky to have an important and fun visitor in May. Suzy was able to fit a stop in Lexington into a business trip to the East Coast. And we must say that the East Coast has clearly stuck with her. As you can see in the picture below, Suzy was happy to show Callie how New Englanders wear their sweaters.




To be honest, Suzy probably could have shown Callie how to do anything and Callie would have done it. She loves spending time with her Auntie Suzy. And they even got to spend a full day together while we were at work. Good times were had by all.



It just so happened that Suzy was in town when Lexington hosted the annual Stock Dog Trials. We drove off to Masterson Station Park with very different visions in our heads. Suzy thought we were going to a "Best in Show" type of dog event. Sarah thought we were going to watch dogs catching frisbees and running through obstacle courses. John was the only one who realized that stock dog referred to a dog who herds livestock - like, for instance, sheep. Here we see Callie watching one of the fine dogs herding three sheep through a series of obstacles. No frisbees or ribbons, but still pretty cool.



Suzy's visit also coincided with the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown. It is pretty obvious that Callie was born in Kentucky because she gets so excited about horses, especially when they are racing. This picture doesn't do the moment justice - Callie was shaking her fists at the TV and shouting. It was so funny to watch how expressive she was throughout the entire race.


We also fit a visit to the Newport Aquarium into our schedule. We only took a few pictures before the second camera went down, which meant that we don't have pictures of the Duck Tour we took in Cincinnati. So as you look at the endearing picture of a brother and sister below, try to imagine a picture of Callie driving a duck boat on the Ohio River. Seriously. Callie got to sit in the driver's seat and drive the duck boat on the Ohio River along Cincinnati's riverfront. But our camera was broken. But don't John and Suzy look cute?




Alright, we are slowly but surely catching up. Next stop is our trip out to California in late May for the Lucas family reunion. Stay tuned.

Grandparents and State Parks

Well, well, well. Spring sprung and now summer is in charge. However we thought we should do a quick update on our spring activities. Sorry for the delay, but after we broke two cameras we needed some time to get our act together. Everything is back on track now, at least that is what we hope. As the title of this post notes, we'll be covering two big events here - a visit from Nana Taffy and Grandpa Jay and a trip to Lake Cumberland State Park.


As usual, spring was beautiful here in Kentucky. We had a ton of rain and it really helped all the local flowers. As you can see in the picture here, our garden produced some wonderful tulips. We are still amazed that our "maintaining" approach to gardening still produces living things. In any case, here Callie holds the flowers she wanted to give to Nana Taffy.



One of the best things about the nicer weather is that Callie has had the opportunity to develop her love of playground equipment, especially the slides. Callie loved showing off the local playground to her grandparents. She led Grandpa Jay all over the place from stairs to slides. And as with most things these days, she didn't want any help. Here you can see how Grandpa maintains a respectful distance so that she can embrace her independence.




Callie has no fear when it comes to even the biggest slides on the playground. Without any hesitation she sits at the top, gives a big smile, and pushes off. She is definitely a hands in the air and enjoy the ride kind of gal. This is something that makes her mother very proud and her father a little nervous. Surprise, surprise.





We were fortunate that this visit coincided with Callie's baptism at First Presbyterian Church here in Lexington. It was great because not only did Jay and Taffy get to be a part of the day, but also our neighbor Chris Chrisman presented Callie on behalf of the session. Callie behaved very well during the service and was extremely pleased to be the center of attention for a few minutes.




The following weekend was the first weekend of May, and here we made both a good decision and something of a rookie mistake. The good part was we took action on a resolution to get to know Kentucky better by visiting some state parks. In this particular case, Lake Cumberland was a great choice. The rookie mistake was we planned a trip on the Derby weekend. We still got to watch a great race in our room, but you don't want to make plans like that on Kentucky's biggest day of the year.


Among its offerings, Lake Cumberland has some great hiking trails. And even though it rained most of the weekend, we managed to get out and enjoy all that nature had to offer. Callie wanted to make sure that we enjoyed that nature in silence, which is why she clamped her hand over her dad's mouth in this picture. Or she was trying to feed him a Cheerio. Sometimes it's tough to tell.



There were a lot of things Callie enjoyed about this trip. One was the indoor pool, but we don't have any good pictures of that. Another was picking up rocks and exploring around the area. She was a pretty happy camper, and probably the only unfortunate part for her was the playground was too muddy to take advantage of.


One of the coolest things about Lake Cumberland was the lodge/restaurant that looked over the entire lake. The food left a little to be desired, but the view was absolutely gorgeous. We also enjoyed the fact that Callie ate for free. And she enjoyed the big fireplace with all of the fishes mounted over it.




We can't wait to put another couple of state parks under our belts by the end of the year. It is pretty impressive how beautiful Kentucky really is. There are so many great places to visit. (Hint, hint, for anyone reading this who has not come to visit us yet.)

Okay, there's the first installment of several posts to get us back on track.

Babies, Kites, and Bunnies

Welcome to spring and another fun-filled blog post. About three weeks ago Elizabeth Ann Gipe, better known as Libby, arrived in this world. She is the daughter of Sarah and Alex Gipe and the granddaughter of our neighbors, Chris and Sharon Chrisman. It is amazing to see a newborn. It seems like forever since Callie was that size. Everyone told us time would fly by, and we didn't believe it. Pictured below we see Callie, Sharon, and Chris looking adoringly at Libby.





It was so fun to watch Callie say "baby" over and over while looking at Libby. Meanwhile Callie's parents were saying "gentle" over and over. It was quite a scene.

Here is a picture of the happy family. Of course, if you look closely, Alex and Sarah look happy, while Libby is less than pleased with the situation. But we can guarantee that many nights the smiles you see here aren't so bright when Libby is exercising her lungs. In any case, they are a very cute family and it's been fun hanging out with little Libby and her parents.


This year we were able to make it to the Kite Festival at Jacobsen Park. The weather was beautiful and it was a blast. To be honest, we weren't really sure what to expect, but as you can see from this picture there were quite a few kites in the sky. And this picture definitely doesn't do the whole scene justice. Callie loved looking all around at the colorful kites.




We met up with Fiona, Charles, and Iain at the festival. Charles had prepared ahead of time by researching how to make your own kite. One piece of paper, a staple, and some string tied to a toothpick were all he needed to make it happen. It was quite impressive. Here, Callie and Sarah fly Charles' kite. Callie was quite pleased with the results.


We also met up with our friends Zac, Claire, and Niah. Niah is only a couple of months older than Callie, so we had three little ones all less than a year apart enjoying the kites. Pictured below are the three kids with their moms. The dads were manning the kite, holding the sippy-cups, and taking the pictures. All in a days work.




The kite festival was on Saturday and the next day was Easter. This year, Easter was a lot of fun because Callie enjoyed a number of different Easter egg hunts. The first occurred at church, which was fun, but not very picturesque. Fortunately for us, Callie was more than happy to have multiple reenactments in our backyard.


While John played with Callie inside, Sarah hid the eggs outside. Then we let the experienced egg hunter loose. She very much enjoyed picking each egg up and placing it in her cute blue bag with the duck on it. Then when she got all the eggs she promptly dumped them out.




As you can imagine, this provided a great deal of entertainment for Callie and her parents. It is possible we could have done this all day long. But we had to get ready for Easter lunch at the Chrismans.




Take a moment and go back to our blog post from last Easter. You will see a picture of Callie very similar to the one below. Similar in that she has on bunny ears and is holding a stuffed pink bunny. But wow, does she look different! It is crazy how much a year can change a kid. She is not a baby anymore.





Another important part of Callie's Easter experience this year revolved around sweets. Thanks to Nana Taffy and Grandpa Jay, Callie had the opportunity to sample a jellybean. Unfortunately, we do not have a video of that moment, so we will have to try and provide a brief description. Just keep in mind, up to this point Callie has had no candy and has only had ice cream or cake a few times. The moment that jellybean hit her taste buds she was overcome with joy. She started stomping her feet, clapping her hands, and yelling, "Yeah!" We were quite happy that we had already hidden the bag of the other jellybeans or it was going to be a game of tug of war.

In any case, the jellybean was not the last of it. As a special treat we decided to get Callie her own Easter cookie. It was a big cookie, but Callie was not intimidated. Sarah has titled the below picture, "Cookie Love".





After Callie had a few bites of her cookie and the rest of us had eaten dinner, it was time to relax and hang out in the living room. We could chat, watch the Masters, and watch Callie make the social rounds.


But Callie definitely thought Libby was the most intriguing person in the room. She wanted to look at her, touch her, and talk to her. Sarah Gipe was very kind in letting Callie have some time to bond with the little baby. It's pretty cute to see Callie looking intently at Libby.


But before we all get too caught up in the cute factor, we need to remember the rambunctious and crazy girl that resides within this 18-month-old body. I don't think we need to say anymore than that the title of the below video is "Jail Bunny". Enjoy.




We are definitely looking forward to many more sun filled days as summer approaches. And it's going to be a fun couple of months ahead as we catch up with both sides of our family. Visitors are on their way and we will be heading to California and Connecticut. Although this means more airport time, being able to see our family makes it all worth it.

Spring Break 2009!

For many college students spring break means travel to warm destinations. Well things aren't necessarily that different for the Bowes family. We packed our bags, got up far too early, and caught a plane to Los Angeles. Spring break - woohoo!!

It didn't take us long to head back to our old stomping grounds on the Hermosa Beach Pier. It was fun to walk down the strand, eat breakfast, and watch Callie chase the dogs and the pigeons. The picture below captures Callie at a rare moment of repose on that sunny day.




It was warm and in the 60s, so we also made sure that Callie spent some time in the sand. She had a lot of fun with the sand in between her toes, working on her farmer's tan.



During our time in LA we stayed with Gretchen, Scott, and little Josh. Josh is now five years old and Callie was smitten. She would walk into their house and say, "Osh?" Here the two of them spend some time building sand castles on the beach in Hermosa.




Josh also showed Callie and Sarah how to look for the good shells along the seashore. We had a great time just hanging out, playing in the sand, and enjoying the company. We also tried not to get wet and failed. And, as you can tell from this photo, we also sought to capture these fun moments artistically. There is something about the ocean in southern California that brings out the Ansel Adams in any person with a digital camera in their hand.


There were many important reasons for our spring break trip, and one of them involved Claire and Nora Leshney, two five month old bundles of joy who live in Pasadena. Callie was just as excited as we were to finally meet the Leshney twins.





Tyler, the twins' father, grew up with John back in Madison. They were also roommates for three years in Manhattan Beach. Boy have things changed since 2004. Tyler married Stephanie, they moved inland and have doubled the size of their family. Pretty impressive.


Here is proud papa with Nora. It is amazing to see Tyler and Steph as parents. They obviously have mastered their roles in a short time and Nora and Claire don't know how lucky they are to be their kids. It should also be noted how quickly these two little girls have their 6'5" father wrapped around their respective fingers.




Now, how can you resist this face? Seriously. And the hat? Priceless. It is so much fun to see how early the personalities of the two girls are coming out. It may not look it here, but Claire is the energetic feisty one of the crew. And Nora is the serious, no frills kind of girl.



Now what can be said about this next picture? How about this - six years ago the two men pictured below lived in a rented house in Manhattan Beach with a cat and a ping-pong table in the garage. It was common for them to stay up late playing video games. Now they still stay up late, but video games are seldom if ever part of the picture.





One thing we can tell you is that this group is going to have a lot of fun in the years to come. And as much as Tyler and John complain about being the only boys in the group, they are loving every minute of it. Stay tuned.





But our trip to Pasadena, while fun, was only for an afternoon and evening. There was still some partying to do. More specifically we had a birthday party to attend. You may remember that back in October Callie had a group of California visitors for her 1st birthday. One of those visitors was Kate Perrone. Well now it was time for Callie to hop on a plane to celebrate Kate's big day.



Our first picture finds the birthday girl posing with some of her guests. These beautiful women were only a few of the many who spent the afternoon in Manhattan Beach admiring how much Kate has grown in her first year.



Callie wanted to make sure she had some one-on-one time with Kate during the party. Kate showed off her four new teeth as well as her standing and almost walking skills. It's cool to see how much they enjoy each other's company. Each time time they have hung out they seem to enjoy each other more and more.


Of course a birthday party requires the star of the show to wear a special hat. Although Kate was not tremendously pleased with the feel of the elastic on her face, she wore the hat to keep her guests happy. And it is safe to say that she made the hat look good...she is just so darn cute!





Outside of the hat, the other mandatory activity of the 1st birthday party involves the consumption of a cake or other sugary substance.


Kate did not hesitate when confronted with a tasty cupcake. She used both of her hands to dig right in and within moments her face was covered with chocolate, frosting, and sprinkles. This is something that made her mother very nervous and a bit uncomfortable. For those of you who don't know Lauren very well, she is very neat, organized, and healthy. The toddler years could be a bit painful.



The party didn't end there. We then went outside to soak in some sun and play with some bubbles. It was so fun to watch Callie actually blow bubbles and say the word bubble. She had a great time showing Auntie Pi her new skills. Truth be told, she may have also sipped a bit of the "bubbly", so to speak. Although we waited for it, she didn't burp any bubbles the rest of the day.


To wrap up Kate's birthday and our trip the adults went out for dinner and drinks. These trips are never long enough and we always hate to see them end. However, as usual it was wonderful to catch up with everyone and watch their families grow. Hopefully we will see all of them sooner rather than later.

And remember, for anyone interested in visiting us, April in Lexington means the spring meet at Keeneland. All the Kentucky sunshine and horse racing you could ask for. The guest room still has some open nights for April and the following months. Take care.

Hanging Out and Having Fun

Technically speaking, we are still at the rate of a post a month. In reality, this post is way overdue and we are writing this with less than four hours left in the month of February. Quite a bit has happened since Christmas, so pull up a chair, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

Where to start? How about we start next door at our neighbors, the Chrismans. We have mentioned them before, but it is worth saying again how lucky we are to have them living next to us. And Callie loves Sharon and Chris.


But she especially loves when their daughter Sarah visits and brings her dog Claire. This is one of many photos that we took of Callie just squealing in delight over the mere presence of Claire in the house. Claire, meanwhile, was jealous of any attention her owner gave to Callie. It was quite a show to say the least.



As many of you know, some of our closest friends in Lexington are Fiona, Charles and their son Iain. Iain is now ten months old and it is fun to see him and Callie actually playing together. When we gather at our house, Iain and Callie get to hang out in Callie's play corner and Callie loves to share her toys. At times this means she dumps them in Iain's lap. We are working on the "gentle" share.

We're sure all you parents out there can understand that it can sometimes be difficult to get a night out on your own. Therefore we have negotiated a monthly babysitter barter with Charles and Fiona so that each couple gets at least one night out a month. January was all about both couples being able to go to the movies for the first time. So the following pictures are from the afternoon/evening Iain spent with us while his parents were enjoying "The Dark Knight".



Now that Iain can crawl, he and Callie can move around the house together. Callie is more than happy to revert back to her crawling days so the two of them can get some quality time together.

Fortunately, both kids love a good book. Here John points out some highlights from both children's parents' past through a dramatic reading of "Good Night Los Angeles". Nothing puts a kid to sleep like a parent talking about the good old days.




Many of you might remember a similar picture of Callie like this about a year ago. She certainly has grown a lot since then, but she is just as interested in looking out the window at the winter wonderland in our backyard.




January 2009 brought an ice storm to Lexington that closed both UK and EKU down. Indeed, EKU cancelled classes for 4 out of the 5 days of the week. When we first moved to Lexington, we heard a lot of stories about the "Big Ice Storm of 2003". Everyone talked about it, and quite honestly, we thought they were being a bit over dramatic. Oops.


Here's the front of our house after a half day of precipation. The first was freezing rain and the second was snow. This picture makes it look kind of pretty, but underneath the snow is about two inches worth of ice. Our poor trees were not happy. And with every passing hour the branches dipped lower and lower with the weight of it all. It really was crazy to watch. When the storm had passed, thousands of trees throughout Lexington and the surrounding areas were destroyed. We got extremely lucky and none of our trees lost more than a small branch or two.


This is our backyard. Speaking of lucky, we never even lost power. Again, that was pretty amazing considering we have really big old oak trees just hovering over our power lines. Most of the people we know lost power for a day, and some of John's colleagues down in Richmond lost power for a week. However, we were ready for any trouble because Sharon Chrisman (a.k.a. our local MacGyver) hooked us up with candles, matches, and safety tips for surviving without power in an ice storm. Thankfully none of those tips were necessary.


Of course, when all is said and done, there was snow on the ground and a hill nearby. We wanted to take advantage of the time together and introduce Callie to some sledding. Unfortunately, she did not enjoy the experience as much as we had hoped she would.



This picture does not truly capture Callie's general unhappiness with her time sledding. It also does not capture Sarah after her one run down the big hill where she caught air and busted her butt. Seriously, she was in pain for a couple of days. That is what we get for going sledding after an ice storm.

Fortunately the weather improved in time for a visit from Callie's Auntie Gret. Gret flew in from LA for the weekend and made the most of her time in Lexington.


Here are Callie and Gret at the water station in the Explorium in downtown Lexington. We bought a membership for the Explorium and it has been great, especially since all of the bad weather has made the outdoors less inviting. We enjoy it and were particularly pleased when even Gretchen gave it her stamp of approval. Gretchen is the director of education at the California Science Center, so she knows what she is talking about.


It was so wonderful to see Gretchen and Callie spend time together. We are excited that in just a couple of weeks, Callie will not only get to hang out with Auntie Gret again, but also with Uncle Scotty and Josh.



Knowing how great a job Gret and Scotty have done raising Josh, we can only hope that their parenting rubs off on us. It certainly seemed like Callie enjoyed having Gretchen read to her. Perhaps it just felt right because she instinctively knew that Gretchen was her first out of town visitor when she was born.


We have already been to the Explorium about a half a dozen times this year, and the slide is always one of Callie's favorite stops. She loves to make sure everyone is watching before she heads down the slope. Now before any of you make judgments about the length of this particular slide, I (John) would like to point out that Callie loves all slides - and that includes going down slides at outdoor parks that should frighten a girl her age. I (John once again) am both scared and delighted that Callie appears to have inherited the fearlessness of her mother. It's a good thing most of my hair is already gray.


So, apparently Callie is growing up and becoming a little person. We should not be surprised by this. And yet, every new development amazes us. She has been using some very basic sign language for quite some time now, so we have been communicating. But lately she has expanded her sign language and has thrown in some vocal work as well. It makes us happy to see her sign "thank you" to a kid who has given her a toy or "please" when she would like milk. But when she makes the sign for please and also says "please," we start to giggle. Is this really happening?


One of Callie's latest words is "baby". Auntie Gret brought Callie the baby in the picture to the left. And one day, Callie just started saying "baby" and going to get this little doll. What has been even crazier is that she keeps trying to feed the baby and give her milk. This picture was taken in the morning, and Callie had to have her baby sitting next to her for breakfast.


Before we talk about the last picture and end this post, we need to tell a story that captures Sarah's most frightening parenting moment yet. John was out of town and Sarah was cleaning the bathroom while Callie was playing in the hallway. As Sarah was finishing up she left the bathroom to grab some paper towels. In the moments she was gone, Callie entered the bathroom, shut the door, and managed to lock the deadbolt. When Sarah returned she noticed the shut door, went to open it, and realized it was locked. At this point her heart jumped into her throat and panic set in.

Her first instinct was to dial 911 but she wasn't sure what anyone could really do. So she tried to be as calm as possible and asked Callie to unlock the door. Then she ran to get a screwdriver to take the doorknob off. However this wasn't quite possible on a door in an eighty-year old house. The knob wasn't going anywhere. After a bit more panic, Callie continued to play with the doorknob and the deadbolt and happened to unlock the door. At this time Sarah opened the door, hugged Callie, and tried not to cry. There is now tape over the deadbolt to eliminate the need for future panic. The great thing is Callie never knew there was anything wrong. There's that fearless streak again.


This last picture was taken at the scene of the crime above, the downstairs bathroom. As you can see, Callie laughs in the face of the dangers presented by the aforementioned bathroom.




Callie truly does enjoy life, as this picture illustrates. We feel blessed everyday that she is our daughter. Even her current phase of screaming when you take her winter jacket off cannot take away from the fact that she is a wonderful little girl who constantly makes our days better.

We are looking forward to the spring and hope to see you all soon!