Santiago

This is Santiago, our donkey. We got him a couple of weeks ago, and everyone likes him. He is very mild-mannered, and loves kids. He'll play just like a dog. He doesn't run, unlike a horse. He doesn't eat much, either. We told Jessica that he's her ride to seminary, but I don't think she's going for that. All the kids have had turns riding on him. We're hoping to eventually get a cart that he can pull around. We don't have the sheep anymore, so this is a more low-maintenance alternative.

Camping at Mount Blue

Reunions

These first two pictures are at the Atwater reunion. The first one is of most of the youth age kids having a paper airplane throwing contest. The second one is of the tent that we used. You can't really get a sense of how big it was from the picture, but it was about 60 feet long. The floor was made of pallets, boards, and rugs. There were several tables set up during the day, and people laid sleeping bags out at night. It kept the mosquitoes out and let the cool air in. These last three pictures are of the Dow reunion. Uncle Lew will celebrate his 80th birthday in October. Aunt Helen and Aunt Alice are 95 and 98, respectively. The last one here shows Zack and Ruth's garage, which is pretty darn nice inside.

Thomas at 8 Months

Although you can't tell from these pictures, Thomas now has three teeth, with a fourth on its way. He has recently learned to stand up to things. If I remember right, that's a little younger than most of our other kids. He actually learned to sit himself up and pull himself up to standing in about a 10-day period. Whenever there's an open door, he makes a bee-line for it. He's in the process of teaching himself how to climb stairs, but we try to discourage it at this point. He's never gotten past the first stair so far. Daddy is his favorite person, it seems, because he crawls to him with a vengeance when he gets home and cries when he leaves.

Laura kept doing this thing to get Thomas to laugh, and it worked until someone would distract him.

Ethan

Ethan always insists that I take his picture whenever the camera is out. In this second one, he's eating a sandwich at the picnic table and both Major and Rusty were sitting there waiting for him to drop a piece. When I went out, however, Rusty walked away. Major is still interested, though.

From Sad to Happy