This is a picture that will make Troy and Cody's hearts swell with pride, (and others' stomach wrench with worry at the same time). It is Aaron, triumphantly displaying his "kills" - the remains of two orange clay targets that he annihilated. He is also displaying the "first real gun" that he was allowed to fire. It is Doug's Gamo PT-80 air pistol, an 8-shot revolver.





















Aaron fired 3 loaders (24 rounds) at 25 feet towards 2 small (3 inch!) targets. I was just hoping he wouldn't hurt himself and he was strong enough to pull the trigger. I couldn't believe he hit a target at all, well alone two!!

Shannon got a little daddy time the next day on our monthly date. We went to Eat-N-Park for lunch the last three times, but we couldn't today. So, we went for dessert at Rita's instead. Here she is displaying her chocolate frozen custard.





















Afterward, we went to the dollar store to buy some hair bands and other hair paraphenalia. She got so excited about dressing up that she (gulp) asked for makeup for her next birthday. The excitement must have been contagious because she convinced Christopher to delve into the Mr. Potato Head supplies and dress up with her!

(Warning... this is the second of two blogs today. See below for the first one. Also, check out July 1. I wrote three blogs, but only published two. I accidentally saved the third one as a draft. Tonight, I set the record straight and published the long lost second blog of July 1, 2006.)

Shannon wasn't done. Here are more pics. Not all of them are Shannon, though. See if you can identify who else joins in the fun.

We are trying to sell our house, which means a lot of "showings." That is when a realtor brings people through your home and you gotta be scarce. Oh, and the house has to be spotless, too.

Needless to say, this has made for quite a lot of hard work for Leslie. Recently, when we had to get lost around dinner time, we headed for Chuck E Cheese for a little food and distraction.

Shannon's favorite "ride" was a little car where you get your picture made with Chuck E himself. She pumped a lot of coinage into that ride as these photos attest.

Third and final entry for tonight.

One more story and then I will have Leslie post the key to Aaron's drawings. Shannon came out of her room crying to report that Christopher had thrown a toy kitty at her and hit her in the head. We are trying to get them to resolve their issues with each other, so I instucted her, "Shannon, first go tell your brother how much it hurt you." Dutifully, she turned to him and reported, "300 hours." Apparently, there is a new scale for reporting pain in hours.

Now, finally, here are the answers to picture quiz along with Aaron's explanation of the content.

A - Aaron sailing a pirate ship.
B - Daddy because he likes orange lizards and raspberries.
C - Shannon because she likes swinging, riding roller coasters and drawing on pavement.
D - Christopher because he likes it when Will looks through the front door, and he likes his playset, Aaron's Playmobil and cars. The blue on the bottom left is his drool.
E - Mommy because she likes playing cards with Aaron, eating grapes and bananas, and she looks pretty in a red dress.

(Continued)

Somehow, I managed to squeeze in some home improvement, too. We knew our driveway looked pretty abhorrent. I had never sealed a driveway before and felt a little nervous doing it right in the middle of the first week our house is on the market. Unfortunately, though, getting a pro to do it is nearly impossible right now because the heavy rains have their schedules backed up. We even tried offering an extra fifty bucks to get someone to come Friday but they didn't. So, I headed over to Ace hardware and asked them what I needed. Once I plopped down the first bolus of black sludge on the pavement, I knew there was no going back. So, this may look like just a driveway to you, but it is a work of art to me.
















Christopher just had his second birthday, and he got a gift certificate to Toys R Us. While we were there, we decided to celebrate Shannon and Aaron's half-birthdays. They won't get toys from us at their birthdays, but I think they will hardly notice. Then we went to a family restaurant and celebrated. The kids loved their toys.

A battery-operated train for Christopher.















A ballerina outfit for Shannon (and a princess toy cell phone)




















A lego set for Aaron. Dad was especially excited about this one. He loved Legos when he was a kid.

















We are celebrating the 4th of July with the Groffs up the street. Should be a blast. I hope you all have a safe and happy Independence Day. God bless America!

It is July 1 and I think there may be 3 entries tonight. I have two pages worth, and Leslie has the key to Aaron's drawings.

We were quite busy this week getting and keeping the house ready for market. It went on the market Thursday and we had 3 showings in the first 24 hours. We have another one tomorrow.

Despite all this, I couldn't let a chance to play basketball go by Friday morning. Unfortunately, an innocent but strong and errant elbow broke my nose and caused a laceration requiring 3 stitches. The good news is that it is not any uglier than it was before. The stitches were put in by my partner Chip.



















Friday night was a good night. Aaron had his friend Will spend the night and Shannon had her friend Ellie. They were so happy to have friends. The boys stayed up late watching a movie on Aaron's laptop and spilling popcorn all over the floor. The next day we had chocolate chip pancakes and played and swam in the pool.














Speaking of friends and house preparations, Leslie told a cute story the other day. In cleaning out Aaron's room, she found an old photo of Kaylie, the best friend of Aaron's that recently moved away. So she gave it to him. A fair bit of time later she came back to his room to discover him laying on the floor staring at the picture. Leslie asked him what he was doing. "Looking at my friend," he dreamily replied.

To be continued.