Atlanta Fernbank

Atlanta Botanical Gardens 07

Let's go, mom! H is ready for her summer adventures.

Summer Begins: Atlanta June 07

Brauns in town

The B's are in town for a week. These photos represent Friday night at our house and Saturday night at Jerry's.

J and J never missed a beat and immediately got to some serious playing. H and G didn't seem to mind each other's company either. The D's came over and all the kids played hard and ate pizza. To see more photos of the events go to www.flickr.com/photos/hillcphotography

Craftsman

This weekend big J is away doing his Wang Dang Doodle: riding to Hood, climbing Hood, riding home, paddling to the coast, surfing, etc. He's left the rest of us at home... sick. J has a fever and some nasty, swollen tonsils, Baby H and Big H have terrible colds, so we're moping around the house and watching lots of videos.

Here is a photo of H and a photo of the house, craftsman wood cut style. It's this new photoshop project I'm working on. I've also completed a few landscapes to go with the house. Photography is turning out to be quite the creative outlet for me. I've been busy in the basement darkroom lately brewing up some prints, which aren't really very useful because I can't put them here, and I did a photo shoot for a friend's band earlier this week. It was really fun and educational. All in all, it's been a productive and creative spring for me.

We're headed home soon. J, H, and H on June 14th and Big J to follow a few weeks later. So we'll probably be seeing all of you, who keep up with us here, soon.

Horse Project

One beautiful afternoon we took a bike ride through the neighborhood, and I took this photo of J blowing bubbles for the minature horse. The horse is part of "The Horse Project." It's kind of an art happening, started by an artist in town to pay tribute to this urban legend about the purpose behind the rings in our turn of the century sidewalks. Supposedly these rings were for hitching horses. People (anyone really) tie up Breyers horses to the hitching rings around town. We've even seen a rocking horse tied up before.

More photos soon.

Day at the Park

We went to the park this week and took some springtime photos. J makes a wish. H poses as a flowerchild. And finally, the sign on the slide says it all: J really has become a big boy.

"Play Ball" and Eat Peeps

As for the first photo, all I have to say is that you can see who the real athlete in the family is. (Look at that form, and believe me, she didn't have any coaching. She just picked up the bat and started swinging.)

And as for the second photo: no, I was not feeding my baby Peeps for Easter; however, J and I turned away to check out some of his other Easter candy, and when we looked back, this is what we saw. Obviously, she is taking after her aunt Doda. (Yes, I took it away after I snapped a few photos...I think marshmellows are considered choking hazards.) As it turns out J doesn't like Peeps, so they'll probably fossilize on the kitchen counter.

Spring BREAK

During Spring Break, J took a little spill down the steps. It happened on Thursday evening. When he claimed it hurt too much to carry a paper plate into the kitchen the next morning, I decided he'd better go see the doctor. In the photo she is putting on a splint. He's supposed to wear it for three weeks. He's already told me "that's a long, long time." It doesn't seem to be slowing him down much though.

Now the reason he was in a hurry to get down the stairs is that he wanted to show neighbor J a book. I guess neighbor J felt kind of bad about things, so he gave J a "get well soon" gift, a book about dinosaurs.

Waterfalls and Pitfalls

Well, we had a fun adventure with the Doornbos' on Saturday. We loaded up Dan's "Family Truckster"(minivan) with 4 kids and 4 big people and headed to Silver Falls, about an hour South of Portland. Dan with his New Mexico blood (where there are only about 4 paved roads in the whole state) hadn't quite figured out how to navigate the hills of Oregon, so we made a slight detour on the way...the good thing is that we had fun counting toilets and race cars in front yards (just like TN). Once we arrived we had a great hike, watching water fall off the lava escarpment. To continue the pitfalls, Dan tried to block a rock J. threw...with his face. Instead of rock-in-water...we got blood- in- water: J -1 , Dan -0. After arriving back in Portland, Dan showed us how to park in a firelane and get his Family Truckster Minivan towed. Luckily for him, it was only 110 bucks... I'm pretty sure he took all his pent up energy out on me last night while riding the bike home from work.

J Learns to Ski...Really

Jboy and his cousins went to Mount Hood last weekend. He started out by going straight (otherwise known as french fries) and falling down. Meanwhile the cousin's were skiing like Bode Miller wannabees. By Saturday afternoon, J. learned to make a few parallel turns, but still couldn't snowplow (aka. Make Pizza) to stop. Later that night, we went back out for an hour and it came together - the pizza was being served. I could go to the bottom of the slope and let him ski down. On Sunday, we went back out for a few hours and J. made it all the way down Buttercup (one of the toughest runs in the Northwest - you can tell by the name) without falling.

Another real highlight of the weekend was the Collins Lake Resort, where Aunt Doda and Uncle Greg arranged an awesome Condo. The kids swam in a nice warm outdoor pool every minute they weren't on snow!

Spring, Sort Of

In these photos we're playing outside, pretending it's warm and dry.

Pulling Up

H enjoys seeing what's on the sofa.

st pat's parade

A 9 month portrait of H, and a post St Pat's Day parade photo of the family. We always love the neighborhood St Pat's parade. This year J rode his bike and E rode her scooter. H fell asleep in the stroller even though the drummers behind her were making lot of noise.

Valentine's Day Cards

These are the Valentine's Day cards I created for J to take to school. And a recent picture of H.

Tuesday was our 8th anniversary. I'm taking a 5 week photo class on Tuesday nights. While I was gone, J, J and H all headed out and bought a new mattress. What a nice, much needed surprise, since our current mattress is about 30 years old. J is excitedly awaiting the delivery, so we won't fall into the crevasse in the middle of the bed any more.

Birthday Boy

It's that time of year again, J's birthday, our anniversary, Valentine's Day. We're celebrating numbers 4, 8, and 13. Here are a few pictures of J's big day complete with "Cars" cake, family portraits, and lots of little ones.

Snow Days Jan 07

Finally, seven years west of the Mississippi and at last a snow day. In fact, a whole week; the school decisionmakers went ahead and canceled exam WEEK. Amazing. Here are a few photos of PDX fun in the snow.

J builds a snowman, with edible facial features, of course.
J and J swoosh down the 26th Ave sledding course, a panning shot.