avablog

Last night I heard the first cicada of the season. July 5, 2008, Iowa City, IA. As I type this, more are buzzing away over the lilting notes of Jazz guitar coming from downtown. None of which we’d hear with the A/C on….

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Ava didn’t get to sleep until 10:30 on Thursday evening, the day we arrived in Decorah, so we fired up the sparklers a little early last night. Worked out better for photos anyway: Thankfully, Decorah holds off on its fireworks display until its Nordic Fest celebration at the end of the month, so there were […]

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Guess who got into the dress-up bin again? The Bunny Princess, with clover.

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Leah thinks I’m crazy. For the past couple weeks, I’ve been trapping chipmunks at our house and relocating them to a park about a half mile (and across a creek) away. I caught five yesterday and one this morning before we even left for work. I’ve probably trapped about 20 total (not including the sparrow […]

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We also went to City Park for a picnic and to ride the rides last weekend. My mom snapped this shot of Ava on the carousel: It occurs to me as I write this that those of you who subscribe to this blog via RSS might not visit when I have consecutive posts with the […]

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It was a great weekend for breaking out the sprinkler and having (all) the neighborhood kids over for a good dousing. Ava is pictured here in her SPF gear. I don’t know where Leah got this sprinkler; she always manages to come back from her shopping trips with at least a couple things she didn’t […]

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You know I can’t let Cindy get away with all the cuteness around here (here = WWW)! GAME ON! As always, click on the image for a larger version. This kid loves the fountain!

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Gosh, this post could go anywhere with a subject line like that, eh? But I’ll keep it clean.

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When it’s time to go inside and get ready for bed, but you want to stay outside and play “owl:” Take notice of the green Croc in the upper right. It was removed and tossed during the course of the meltdown. We’re loving 3 1/2 so much!

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Poom Poom and G.G. were in town over the weekend to spend some time with Ava. The stay began with a bout of what Leah and I like to call “Madison weather:” Cold, wet, and windy. But things shaped up steadily as Saturday wore on, and by yesterday, the weather was downright amazing. We got […]

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In an effort to make winter last as long as possible, we’re heading north to Minneapolis this weekend to spend a couple days with Leah’s sister and brother-in-law. We’re dropping off Ava in Decorah at Grandma Georgie’s; that’s where we are now. This afternoon Ava participated in her first peace rally. She even got to […]

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We walked downtown to grab coffee over the weekend and took the opportunity to stop in a park along the way to pretend like it’s spring. Ava likes to play Three Billy Goats Gruff with Leah these days. Ava plays the billy goat. Guess which role Leah gets? (Hint: It’s the troll.)

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The weatherman (or, as Leah says, “weatherperson“) tells us the temp is going to drop something like 70 degrees by this evening. Seriously. That’s crazy. The threat of 45-mph winds and extreme cold (I even heard the word “blizzard” within the first hour of being at work) have already intimidated the local schools into closing […]

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Photos here. Still uploading images as I type this. My favorite picture from the trip:

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OK, I stole that headline from today’s WSJ. Sue me (KIDDING, Rupert!). Sunday evening we loaded into the car with Gramary and went out to see some Christmas light displays. Ava was very, very excited. There was one home in particular that we were looking forward to, and when we were leaving the house, we […]

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Our new house has the garage under the kitchen. This is nice for a number of reasons, the main one being that the car stays warm and dry during inclement weather. The downside is that if there’s an ice storm – -like there is today — the driveway becomes a super slick inclined plane. When […]

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G.G. came into town on Friday to see Ava and to accompany us on some holiday errands, including getting our Christmas tree. But first things first. I said I’d try to get a face-on shot of Ava’s new haircut, and I did. Here it is:

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Here’s Ava decked out in her swim/sunwear for our Mexico trip in January. After this shot was taken, she bounded upstairs (at least as much as she’s able to bound at her size) and hopped into the tub, pausing only to remove her hat. These duds are supposed to provide UV protection. Leah ordered them […]

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Now that it’s widely available here in town, I thought I’d mention that I recently had a couple pictures selected for the annual Friends of Hickory Hill Park calendar. They are July and August, and the images are, respectively: and… Leah and I were married about 20 yards from where I took these shots, so […]

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