SamSaw

This is the new bandsaw that ben took from an ugly duckling to a swan. It took him 3 months. The other project in the picture has taken a little longer......

Nosey

This is Lil being super nosey when I was trying to take the sunflower planting pictures. I thought they were funny.....

Sunflower fever!!!

Ben had the great idea of planting sunflowers along our back fence as a little "watch it grow" exeriment for Sam and Lilly. We planted two kinds, about 5 of each. They should get to be an unbelieveable 12' tall!!!

Has every Dad done this??

And every mother screamed??? I have gotten used to it by now and, as the kids LOVE it, I don't scream every time, just most of the time!

More silliness

These are from a few days ago when it was colder. The second one of Sam is Camper giving him a "lick and run".
Yuck!!

I don't think I need to comment on this...

Impromptu trip to Chicago

Ben got two days off so we decided to leave Lilly with Bob and Marsha and head for Chicago with Sam. Here he is, all ready for the trip.

We started at the Shedd Aquarium and it was amazing! For those of you who don't know, Sam is really interested in sharks and sea life so this was really exciting for him. He thought Lake Michigan was great, it's the biggest body of water he has ever seen.

I have over 70 pictures of Sam at the Shedd but most of them are blurry. They don't allow flash photography there and Sam can't sit still so it was a small problem. It took us a long time to convince him to stick his finger in this fishes' mouth. Ben pinching him the first time he got colse didn't help.....

Trip to Chicago part 2

After the Shedd, we checked into the hotel and then walked around Michigan Avenue. We hung out, got a smoothie and then deicide to go to the top of the John Hancock building. What a view! It was cloudy and totally worth the trip, I can't imagine what it would be like on a clear day.

This is the next morning, we had breakfast outside and looked at all the tall buildings again. Sam thought they looked like they were going to fall over. He met another little kid and they chased pidgeons for a while, instant friends.

Trip to Chicago, part 3

On Friday morning we packed up and went to the Museum of Sience and Industry. It was totally incredible! The train in the first picture was Sam's favorite because it looks just like his favorite toy train.

There is a model train exhibit with 3200 feet of track and over 30 trains running all at the same time. It is built to look like a train trip from Chicago to Seattle. It was awesome to watch. Sam really liked this too.

Sam made it about an hour into the trip home before he fell asleep.

Where is Aunt Fish and Uncle Moose??

There has been a lot of talk in the Hartley house lately about Uncle Bret and Aunt Chris going to Australia! Sam has been very interested to learn where they are and what the country is like. This is a picture of Austraila that Sam drew and he is pointing to where Uncle Bret and Aunt Chris' hotel room is....

Aunt Chris was swimming in the 2008 FINA World Masters Championships! This is the big dealio swimming championship where she earned the opportunity to compete with swimmers from all over the world! We are SUPER proud of her and can't wait to hear all the news from the competetion and their 2 weeks of travel afterwards!! GO FISH!!