The Lake

We've had a great time swimming in the lake at the Daingerfield State Park. Isaac has embraced the water. He's tanning up nicely and his hair is bleaching out. It's almost white it's so blonde in the front now.

Jacob and Claire spend their time snorkeling through the mud and silt. Claire catches minnows in plastic bags. Jacob likes stirring up the mud into the water column and jumping off the diving pier that's about a third of the way out to the center of the lake.

It's hot enough now (upper nineties, low hundreds) that everyone wants to be in the water as much as possible. The walk back up the hill to the car is torturous. By the time we make it there, our clothes are dry and we're staggering with the heat. It's enough to make you want to jump in a lake.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!


We love you Clint. We wish we could be with you today and every day. Every day that we do spend with you is a good day.














Jacob is holding our little Father's Day gift for you.
Isaac is planning his next attack on the cat.
Claire had to be ripped away from her drawing notebook.

Elephant Song

This is our new favorite kids' song.

Isaac Flushes

Daingerfield State Park

We went swimming in the lake at the Daingerfield State Park today. It wasn't too hot, but it was windy. The beach ball and foam noodles kept scooting away across the water. Jacob almost lost his noodle, but some friendly teenage boys swam after it for him (Jacob could not swim fast enough to catch it.)

Claire swam out to the pier without her noodle after a couple of hours of hard swimming. Unfortunately, she lacked the strength to make it all the way back to land. She got stuck, treading desperately, about 4 yards from the pier. JoAnne's brother Chris reached her before I could and helped her out until I got there with a noodle. Thanks Chris!

Isaac did not want to get in the water at all. Maybe because it was brown and you couldn't see the bottom. He liked seeing the fish (Uncle Joseph got bitten a couple of times.) and he liked throwing things in the water (like beach balls that float quickly away). He did finally figure out how to use the inflatable jet ski I blew up for him (see video below).

It was a beautiful day. We have some spots of sunburn, all in all, we got off pretty well.
We'll go back as soon as it fades to tan.

Sunday Morning

We're still waking up on New York time, so we have an extra hour in the morning before we have to leave for church. I even had time to look up windsor knot tying instructions online so I could help Jacob with his tie.

Jacob likes the pirate skull motif on his tie and his new $4 chinos.

Isaac likes the cat Kizmet.

Claire doesn't like the swing so much as she is drawn to it by some irresistible natural force.

We miss you Clint! We'll keep putting up pictures and notes for you.

Texas Food

Last night we had catfish from the Reverend Hill's Bar-B-Que place. I believe it is the best catfish I have ever eaten. The green tomato relish was delicious and the onion were flavorful without being too strong. (For those of you unfamiliar with Southern cuisine, it is common to eat slices of raw onion with your supper.)
All of my kids loved the hush puppies. My favorite part is that you take these hot, crispy, deep fried fine cornbread sticks and you dip them in butter. We do not shy away from fat here.
And the fries were great! Not sure what they fried them in, but the flavor puts fast food chain fries to shame.

We've also been eating as many plums and blueberries as we can possibly handle. There are more plums falling off the tree than could ever get to. Isaac is learning to spit out the plum pits. I think he only swallowed two. :)

Old Furniture for an Old House

This morning we found a couple of cool old chairs and spindle twin beds at garage sales. (I love that my mom has a big truck!)
I especially like the carving details on the two green-seated chairs. I think they will work well as living room chairs for us.
I had a dark spindle bed like these when I was little. Claire is especially excited about having one for herself.
I love well-made furniture. I would much rather buy something old that has worn well than some poorly constructed bright, new thing that will look awful in a year.

The next day we found the swiveling, rolling desk chair. It rolls well, is very solid (heavy) and quite comfortable for an unpadded wood chair.

I also put up detail pictures of the little student chair. I found the intials J.W. upside down on the back of the seat. Looking at the bottom of the seat, you can see the holes that were originally used for the woven seat. We have an old rocker that needs to have the seat and back replaced with woven tape, but it's a pretty big project. This little chair will give me a chance to practice the technique on a smaller scale before we invest in materials to restore the rocker.

Jacob would like it to be known that "old furniture for an old house" is his original quote, and all future uses of that phrase must be attributed to him.

Welcome to Texas

We're enjoying our visit to Texas. This morning we went out to Daingerfield State Park. Jacob and Claire walked around the lake path with Mimi and Cookie (the short-legged jack russell terrier) while Isaac and I followed at a much slower pace.

Not only does Isaac have short little legs, but he is very engaged in his surroundings. We had to stop at every little puddle of sand so he could trail his fingers through it. And then there were sticks. And bugs. And blackberries! Isaac was very excited about picking the berries himself. After eating one red one, he was careful to only pluck off the black berries.

Since we've been here, he's gotten to eat blackberries, blueberries, mulberries and plums pulled straight off the plants and warm from the sun. The only downside is that mosquitos have gotten to eat him (and me and Claire).