What? You don’t think I can climb stairs yet?
It’s really not that hard. I’ve actually been doing it for months. Our stairs are really, really steep, though, and almost always gated. So the trick is to patiently wait for Mom to forget the gate.
But still, I think it’s wise to let her know when I plan to climb them just in case I do slip (and even though I try not to, sometimes I do slip).
See you later!
“Never look backwards or you’ll fall down the stairs.” —Rudyard Kipling
The Sunday after Dad’s birthday party Mom and Dad took turns pulling me around the front yard in my new wagon (thanks, Capista family!).
And while we were outside, Grandpa found a grasshopper!
He held it so close to me I could almost touch it.
After I went inside, Grandpa took this picture of it. Isn’t it beautiful?
“When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; That is the grasshopper’s—he takes the lead In summer luxury—he has never done With his delights, for when tired out with fun, He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.” —John Keats
We celebrated Andy’s 30th birthday with a softball game and cookout at Detling Field!
My parents spent hours preparing the yard and field, which looked great.
There were, of course, signs …
and cake! (Note the left cookie is supposed to say “RIP Kara’s YOUTH.” I’m not really dead.)
As you can see here, the cake is a Uhl family tradition.
After appetizers we split into teams …
and played ball!
It was hot, hot, hot, so there was lots of beverage consumption …
shade seeking and, …
hat and bonnet wearing going on.
Liz, Katy and Tom were all able to make it, which was so nice.
After the game my dad grilled burgers and hot dogs, and we pulled out Jill and Marty’s homemade potato salad, baked beans, salsa and more.
Then, we ate!
We got some Wiffle ball and more baby-playing time in, too.
Great day.
Happy birthday, my love.
“The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love.” —Bryant Gumbel
“No day is so bad it can’t be fixed with a nap.” —Carrie P. Snow
“Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.” —Dan Rather
A couple weeks ago Steve came over for a visit! Dad made his homemade spaghetti sauce, which I love.
He and Dad BOTH played their trumpets for me, which I also loved. (Tucker, on the other hand, did not love that.)
And, I got to stay up past my bedtime. Again, loved. Thanks, Steve!
“I would teach the children physics, philosophy and music; and of these, music is the most important, for in the arts lies the understanding of all humanities.” —Plato
“Only an Aunt can give hugs like a mother, can keep secrets like a sister and share love like a friend.” —Spanish Proverb
Gebhart, Rees and Uhl families
Lunsford and Baruth families
Keith Lozinsky with Grandma Wihs
Mangan family
Janeil and Grandma Mangan
Capista family
“Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.” —Gail Lumet Buckley
Here we all are, hanging out in the shelter at the Mangan Family Reunion.
I got to meet Mavvie for the first time. She’s so cute! Mom kept going on and on and on about how she never cries.
Here’s Aunt Katy hanging out with Jessica.
Great Uncle Tom grilled a TON of burgers, veggie burgers and hot dogs.
Guess what? In addition to the shelter with crazy signs all over it, there was a pond.
And there was another shelter with picnic tables where you could watch people swim in the pond. (And you know what? I swam. In the pond. With Mom and Dad. And fish! It was so much fun.)
There was also a swing that almost everyone swung on, including Grandpa …
and Mom …
and Dad.
Here’s Uncle Kyle and Christina. Mom says Uncle Kyle never keeps his eyes open for pictures. (Grandpa Uhl says Dad does the same thing.)
Here I am. In the pond. With Dad. In a big black tube. With fish!
This, however, looked like SO much fun. Even more fun than swimming in the pond. Mom said I wasn’t old enough to dive down and get the mud, though.
Great Aunt Janeil’s good friends came all the way from California!
After the eating and swinging and swimming, I was a contestant in my first pie-eating contest! I did not win.
Great Grandma, however, did quite well.
After the pie-eating contest I blew bubbles with Great Aunt Janeil and Makenna while …
Grandpa shot Nini and Uncle Kyle with a water gun.
Then, Christina and Kyle did a very brave thing.
They jumped off the rope and the swing, into the lake, together!
I sat on the dock with Dad …
and watched Grandpa do the same thing!
I miss everyone already. It was the best day ever.
“When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.” —Joyce Brothers
Dad got breakfast in bed—Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and milk—and then he got presents!
I helped pass the presents out.
I wrote a lot of stuff on my card to Dad, thanking him for tickling my tummy and changing my diaper every morning and singing my favorite song (the ABC song, in case you didn’t know) and putting lots of butter on my vegetables (which Mom never does) and hugging me and kissing me all the time and for being so patient with me, even when I’m really, really mad and for throwing my ball to me over and over and over and for teaching me how to say “poo,” which I think is probably the funniest word ever.
I helped Mom pick out a Cincinnati Reds T-shirt and we also got him a gift certificate to go shopping for a new suit! (He says his current suit is a little too tight. I told him that that’s OK because when I wear my cloth diapers, sometimes my shorts are too tight, too.)
Later that afternoon, at the Mangan Family Reunion, we celebrated Father’s Day with Grandpa, too. (Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I love you!)
“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.” —Dinah Craik
