Just A Note...

Just so you guys know, if you enter a contest and forget your name, just rewrite your entry and add your name. I can delete the comment without the name. The same goes for if you post something twice. Don't worry about it; I will just delete it. Thanks!

And here is a purty picture to cheer you up (I like it so much that I added it to the sidebar!):

Howdy from North Carolina!

Hello everybody!

I hope you are having fun with the contest. I turns out I have internet access here, so I can post and you can e-mail me. But I am not going to post about what I have done here until we get back so I can upload pictures to go with the post.

By the way, I wrote a list of some good books I have read on the right side bar, so if you are looking for summer reading, you can read one of those. Right now I am working on The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. She also wrote Because of Winn-Dixie. I really like it!

I miss you all and I can't wait to see you. Good luck on the contest!

The June Give That Photo A Name Contest: Enter Now!

If you read the Hobbes post, you probably guessed that this month's contest photo would have to be one of Hobbes. Well, you were right! The picture that you have to name for this month's contest is:

Come on, I know you can do it. Give this photo a name by posting it in the comments section, and you could win a... a... well, I haven't actually decided yet, but it will be better than any of the prizes we have had before. Which have only been a candy bar and a hug, but this prize will still be good! So you really want to win! So enter enter enter! You may have three entries, and this contest will go on the entire time I am on vacation. That means no entries after Sunday, July 6. So, you have a long time to think of a clever name. Have fun!

P.S. I will miss you guys while I am on vacation!

Bye!

Rachel

Hobbes: Our Two Year Old Ball of Fun

I don't think I have ever written a post completely about Hobbes, so I am doing one now. Hobbes is our two year old miniature schnauzer. He has tons of personality and spunk, and he is so much fun. These are almost all of the pictures we have of him.

This is Hobbes now. This picture was taken right before his 2nd birthday, which was April 26.

This is Hobbes when we first got him, which was in October of 2006. Look how small he is compared to the first picture!

These pictures were all taken the day after we got him.

His neck looks very long in this picture. :-)

Awwww!

My grandpa especially loves Hobbes.

Hobbes really likes sitting on pillows.
He also likes crawling under my parents' bed.

He gets very fuzzy if he hasn't been shaved in a while!

All of this cuteness is hard work. I'm pooped!

I, for one, think Hobbes is scary! He has a loud bark too. Even though I have never met him.

Yes, Ashley, I know.

Man, he is fuzzy!
Hobbes is very loyal to lie beside us if we are reading on the floor.

I like Hobbes.

Okay...?

I love how his ear looks in this picture.

This is where Hobbes watches squirrels and birds and lizards and everything else outside. Mrs, it is just like Jack's Landing!

Speaking of Jack, he and Hobbes get to spend a lot of time with each other when we go on vacation or when the W family goes on vacation because we usually baby-sit Jack and the Ws baby-sit Hobbes. Jack is very fuzzy in this picture. :-)

My other grandpa likes Hobbes, too.

And so does Josh. And Joel. And everyone else in our family. He is a very lovable dog!

When he is tired, he just sprawls out on the floor.

When he is bored, he grabs (literally, grabs! He got into this position himself!) his pillow and bites it.

Hobbes is a very strange dog, but we love him!!!

Hooray for you, Hobbes!

Spring Happenings

I was looking through the other pictures that my mom uploaded, and I realized that a lot has happened that I didn't tell you guys about. So, here are a few pictures (that have nothing to do with eachother) of the happenings of this spring.

Acacia and I hosted a table for the Mother-Daughter Spring Tea at church last year, and we decided to do it again this year. It turned out very well.

This is our lovely gardenia tree. It blooms for a few weeks every spring, and we always have a few in a bowl at the table when it does because it smells so nice.
This is Josh's flag football team. They recently won the tournament.

One day, there was a turkey outside our house! It just walking on the sidewalk.

It was very lost. Poor thing.

Many jokes were made about how he was going to be our dinner. :-)

Well, that's it for now. Be sure to tune in later today and tomorrow for a Hobbes post and the June contest!!

The Space Shuttle!

Hello! I am very sorry that it took so long for me to post this, but I did it as soon as the pictures were uploaded onto the computer. And sorry that it says I posted it on June 11. That is when I started writing it and saved it as a draft. Apparently Blogger uses that date when you actually publish it. Anyhoo, well, I don't know how long ago the space shuttle took off, but that day we went to a park about an hour or so away from our house to watch it go off. We had a very fun and interesting time. To start us off, here is a random picture that I took while in a tree that you will see below:

The only reason it is here is because I accidentally skipped it when uploading pictures to this post, and I found it after everything was in order. So there. Ha. It's very nice, don't you think?

The spot we picked to sit was next to a canal thingy were boats push off, I think. Before we even set up our chairs, we went over there because there was a line of people looking at something. It turned out to be a mother and two baby manatees!

Over the canal in front of us there was a big red truck trying to park. All it succeeded in was hitting its front on a post and a rock and backing up into a tree.

Here is our camp. We were pretty bored at first because we got there 45 minutes before the shuttle was supposed to go off, so I took my mom's camera and snapped a few pictures.

This is the palm tree we were sitting under. I took this picture lying down looking up at it.

These are clouds. Did you guess?

This was the view through the rails in front of us and to the left.

This picture would be perfect if it weren't for the car hood in the bottom right hand corner.

As I was taking pictures of our surroundings, I spotted this tree behind the palm tree we were under. Of course, I quickly put the camera down and went over to climb it. It was soooo cool!

There were all sorts of branches to climb on and swing off of. I stayed over there for a while.

Here we are waiting to see the space shuttle launch. It was very windy, as you can see from my hair.

There it goes!
This is the smoke it left behind.

And guess what? The video my mom took loaded! Hurray! Make sure to turn your sound on so you can hear the rumbling.

Ta da!

Well, that is pretty much it. Be sure to check in more this week because there will be another post plus the June contest!

About the Shuttle Post...

So sorry it is taking me so long to post about when we went to see the space shuttle. I have to upload the pictures and I don't know how so I have to do it with my mom and I keep forgetting to ask her. I will do it as soon as possible!

Hey...

Sorry about the weird thing going on with the header in the left hand corner. It did that by itself and I can't fix it. But I see it happening on other people's blogs too, so maybe it is just my computer. Do you guys see the thing that is wrong with it? On my computer it is way at the top and kind of separated from the other things on the side. When I go to set up those pics and stuff, I can drag them places and remove them and stuff, but this one won't move and doesn't have an option of removing it. I don't know what is going on. Maybe it will fix itself.

Table Conversations...

Today at the dinner table, there were some pretty interesting conversations going on.

Joel- Dad, can eat the rest with my hands? (referring to chicken he had to pull off of the bone)

PAUSE

Dad- Um, yeah.

PAUSE

Dad- I had to look up when you said that because I thought you said "Can I eat the rice with my hands." I thought that sounded pretty weird, so I had to look up to see what the heck you were talking about. Then I saw you didn't have any rice, and I was very confused. But then I saw you were holding a chicken bone, so it finally occured to me that you said rest, not rice. That's why I paused.

Mom- All of that went through your head in a second?

Dad- Yup.

END OF CONVERSATION

Dad- Well, Josh and I played outside today.

Rachel- Oh yeah- Josh, were you throwing golf balls at the skylights?

Dad- No, he was throwing tennis balls.

Rachel- Oh. Josh, were you throwing tennis balls at the skylights?

Josh- Didn't Dad just answer your question?

Rachel- So that's what the thumping was.

Dad- We were having fun until Josh MAIMED me.

(Laughs from all kids)

Rachel- (in between laughs) What did YOU do?

Dad- Nothing! I was just minding my own business, and he MAIMED me!

(more laughs)

Rachel- Josh, what did he do?

Dad- Nothing!!! I was just standing there! Then he threw the ball at me like a maniac! (Josh is laughing so hard he begins to drool) Look at him! He's a maniac!!!

Mom- Josh, here, use a napkin.

(It took us about 2 minutes to stop laughing hysterically.)

Josh- Dad, don't make me laugh while I'm drinking!

PAUSE

Josh- You know, some people say "Yay big." (guesturing)

Rachel- That was random.

Dad- Yeah Josh, that was really random.

END OF COMVERSATION

True story, I tell you! You never know what will go on at the dinner table at the L house...

Up next: The Space Shuttle! (with pictures!)