The Songs of Childhood

When I was little we lived on a farm. My mom and I used to hang out A LOT. My mom absolutely loves the song of a Meadowlark. I remember listening to them, in the early morning hours, calling back and forth to each other from the telephone wires along the road. The Meadowlark is the song of my childhood.

Today, Lexie and I were hangin' out at the table, eating breakfast. She was sick yesterday and we took today off to hang out and recover. We heard a bird calling and I said to her; "Well, I know it isn't a meadowlark". It was really cool so we went to check it out.

As I took this video, I realized that the song of Lexie's childhood will be different in many ways and yet, similar too. Her song of childhood will be the Cardinal that sings in our tree each and every day.

I hope to get some good close ups of her very soon!

Easter, Birthdays, and mini-golf

The kids did eggs by themselves this year. It was fun to come home and see their amazing creations. By all accounts there was not fighting, just a major competition for who could create the coolest egg!


Remember the days when he wouldn't touch the eggs or the dye, or anything else for that matter? You should have seen him get into decorating! He even used a crayon to color on the shell--who would have ever imagined.

Alyssa manned the camera so there weren't any pictures of her. She was happy to do a fashion show later though of her new outfit that she bought with her birthday money. Thanks Grandma!



We finally got to check out one of the many local mini golf courses. It wasn't much but it was colder then we thought it would be.

Brady especially loves mini-golf. He and Lexie competed for who could get the highest score!

Brandon is a bit more serious about his golfing!

I need all the pointers I can get. It doesn't help!

But I still smiled for the camera! :-)

Since we arrived at the mini-golf sans jackets of any kind (it looked really nice out!) Alyssa and Branden were kind enough to run home and get coats. We left them in our dust! Somehow I think they weren't too sad to have to golf by themselves!

Brandon was such a gentleman and loaned his beloved hoodie to Lexie. I think she looks like an ewok!

Lexie got a HOLE IN ONE!! This is the hole that she did it on! We were really excited for her and the place put her name on the board of fame!

Easter Sunday was beautiful. The Easter Bunny came while we were at church and hid eggs inside and out. How nice everyone looked while hunting their eggs!

Lexie celebrated everytime she found an egg! The whole neighborhood could hear the Hales'!

Counting to see how many she still needs to find.

Sizing up the chocolate bunny. By the end of the day Lexie had donated hers to him too. Funny how even chocolate bunnies multiply!


She wasn't sure if she wanted the ones that she didn't decorate.

Brady is making sure all the inside eggs (and candy) are present and accounted for!

Even the teenagers are impressed by the Easter Bunnies hiding skills.

In the end all the eggs were present and accounted for--a relief since we had FIVE DOZEN! It's a really good thing that Easter Bunny has a mind like a steal trap and never forgets where he puts the eggs! Maybe next year we can get a picture of him ;-)

Grand Rapids

The Maumee River runs near us. Here are some pictures of it taken at Grand Rapids Ohio.

The little town is so cute. Alyssa and I went up there to take these pictures and I couldn't resist a quick stop at the consignment store. I didn't leave empty handed!

I can hardly wait to go back. When I do, I will take more pictures.

It was a really cloudy day and raining a bit so I didn't want may camera to get wet and the pictures all feel kind of gray and gloomy. I'll go in a week or so when the sun is shining!

Spring Break 2009

After a comedy of errors; I gave up on my weekend of hiking in Hocking Hills. Maybe another time.

We got the week started by making our happy Easter tree! We think it is very cool. I actually was at class and the kids did this by themselves.

The Toledo Zoo is turning out to be a fun family outing. I bought a family pass so we can go as often as we want. I took the kids on Wed. when I got out of class. Afterwards we headed to Chuckie Cheese for food and games. We are saving our tickets to get Lexie the 4000 ticket bear. It was a lot of fun. Brandon has a great time helping her play the games and win tickets.

I managed to get one pic. of Alyssa and Branden before they ditched us for the rest of the time--ditchers!

There were giraffes here. They are still in their winter enclosures so I couldn't get a good picture. I thought this guy was pretty cute though!

Brady and Lexie really like the sea lions, seals, and polar bears; and each other!

This is the skull of a hippopotamus. Brady and I were very impressed!

This sloth bear was so cute--he would put his face up against the glass and sniff at the kids. We stayed by him a long time.