That's a GOOD One!

When I was up visiting Shelly, Matt & the boys in early June, Dane wanted to show me how high he can go on his swing. This makes Shelly crazy with worry, but she deals with resigned acceptance since all the Z's are apparently born with a predisposition to extreme sports! Note, Dane is swinging with one of his CD's in hand! Matt's passing and Uncle Todd is receiving.

Pepper's Plight

Pepper was four months old yesterday, 6/18. For her birthday, she got spayed! The cone they put on her at the vet's was almost as big as she is, and kept getting caught on the ground as she tried to walk around!

Finally I cut off more than half of it, and she is much happier. Good thing, as she has to wear it for two weeks until her sutures come out!

Home Front

I was amazed at how the gardens had popped into bloom while I was gone... only five days! They were only budding when I left, and the tomato plant below was about 1/3 the height that it is in this photo (today, 6/19, it's more than a foot taller, by the way). Of course, we've had so much rain... I took these Monday, 6/15, the only sunny day we have had this past week!

Visit to Minnesota

June 10-14 I flew to Minnesota to stay with Shelly & Matt and help out a little with Dane and Baby Erik. In the photo below, Dane gets to hold his baby brother for the first time.

After making nice, he managed to get in a sneaky elbow to the head move!


This was bath time for Little E. Matt doesn't like him much, does he?

Shelly and I took D and E for a walk around the neighborhood and Dane made friends with this little dog on the way. We had a hard time getting him to resume the walk!


Dane's at the age where he examines every twig, rock and bug along the route. He found a prize this day, a green plastic BB!

Here's Nana with her two youngest grandsons.

Shelly and her two boys.

Erik was getting some tummy time on Nana. Notice in the second photo how he's already starting to do push-ups!

Naturally Matt had to do a photo shoot! Shelly is the assistant holding up the backdrop.

As long as E was being cooperative and the light was good, I took a few myself!

Dane Driving... Well... not really!

Dane is obsessed with his CD collection. Matt & Shelly make copies for him to cart around and play in his portable player, and he can only "touch" the originals in the holder in the car. The kid knows which one is which, and is very particular about where they belong. He asks to drive the car, but what he really wants to do is touch the CD's... I would purposely say the name of a CD wrong, just to have him correct me, so cute. Dane's word for "yes" is "Okay," said with varied inflections depending on how strongly he feels about the issue. Note the CD in his left hand - one of his, and he carries one or five around with him at all times! Such a personality!

I SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!!!!!!

When Joe & Sierra brought the kids down for Memorial Day weekend, Abby became enamored with the slide (we bought it when Alex was a baby... probably the best kid-toy investment we've made). She can do it all by herself (with everyone poised to leap at the slightest wobble) and wants to make sure EVERYONE is watching. Are you watching? (Particularly around 1:20 - wait for it)!

Bubbles, Puppies & Little Girls

I'm not sure who had more fun in the back yard while Joe and Robbie fished, Serenity making the bubbles or Abby & Pepp-ah (or sometimes Bep-pah... bubbles are Bub-oh) chasing them! And Abby continues to announce to the entire neighborhood that she is going to SLIIIIIIDE!

Roma, Bella Roma

Finally, I'm getting around to updating the blog! Below are a select few of the photos from our late April/early May trip to Rome, which was beyond wonderful! Since you can see ALL of the pictures on my Facebook page, I've just put a sampling here...

The view from our first room at the hotel.

The statue standing in the courtyard outside our "permanant" room. The hotel was called the Hotel San Pio, and this is him!

The walkway leading to our room.

We were just a few blocks up the hill from the U.N. Building in the Aventino district. The MFO offices are also just down the block from here.

Outside the walls of Palatino Hill (the Emperor's Palace).

In front of Circus Maximus, with Palatino Hill in the background. This is just a few blocks from our hotel.

Bob and me in front of the Coliseum, right before we started our tour.

On the terrace of our room.

At the Roman Forum.

A statue at the Capitol.

Overlooking an island on the Tiber that we were going to explore.

Street outside the Vatican Entrance we used!

Lemons growing in the courtyard outside our room.

HBH taking a rest at the Coliseum.

Inside perimeter of the Coliseum.

Coliseum Arena

I forget what this fort is called, but it's just outside the gates of the Vatican.

Just me hanging out on the Via Vaticana.

At a sidewalk cafe' down the street from the Vatican.

One of the Vatican Guards. "Distance, please," was all they said to the tourists! Hard to believe guys dressed like this are really elite special forces!

Did I take an illegal photo of the Sistine Chapel ceiling? You betcha!

The Spanish Steps from about a block away.

Interesting shot outside a flower shop in Il Centro.

Where's Waldo on the Spanish Steps? Or in this case, Where's Nana? You win a piece of candy if you can find her!

Street scene on the day we were wandering...

Fontana de Trevi, and yes, we threw coins in!

Following are a few shots taken on the beautiful Isle of Capri... where homes cost 50,000 Euros a square meter! Yikes!

Picture of a rainbow taken from the terrace outside our room.

Our last day, we found this wonderful "gastronomia," E. Volpetti & Sons. We sampled some of the best cheeses, meats & wines I've ever tasted, then bought way too much for a picnic lunch in a park down the street. How I wish I could have brought some home... but U.S. Customs would have frowned upon that!

Smart Cars are everywhere in Italy. This one was at a rest area we stopped at near Montecassino, on the way back from Capri. It advertised a casino, Las Vegas at Montecassino.

The Limoncello store at Capri. They sell everything lemon here, all locally made, from cakes, candy and liqueurs to candy, pottery and home fragrances.

Arrivederci, Roma, et Salute'!

Darned Blogspot... not sure how I got these out of order, but here they are anyway...

Bob drinking from one of the several thousand still-working fresh-water fountains throughout Rome, that date back to the Empire. This one was in the Forum.

This was the little park where we had our Volpetti picnic.