Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
The Pike Kids Having Fun at the Park
A very serious looking Jocie stands with her hand on the school wall. Moments earlier she had been laughing while she touched the bricks.
The trio! This was as close to a pose as I could get the three to do for me.
Jessamyn specifically requested this shot of her as she descended a slide.
Joey is in dire need of a haircut, but loved playing with some friends this morning.
Jocie walked most of the way to the park on her own, and you can see the pride in her eyes!
jp
Monday, August 25, 2008
The Pike Girls
"Elegant Jessamyn" - I just loved her hand positioning in this photo!
"Antique Jocie" - A little film grain added to this image and makes it feel like a retrospective memory. Again, another wonderful subject to photograph
"Beautiful Jessamyn" - She was in the middle of casting a 'bibbity bobbity boo' spell on the, and I just loved the facial expression in the capture!
"The Love of Two Sisters" - Jocie and Jess share a moment
"Jocie in the Sun" - Looking like a little angel, this is Jocie soaking up some sun beams
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Our Bodyless Son
I couldn't resist this shot. Just a head in our back hard.... (we dug a 5' deep hole for the drain tube that leads from various drains around the pool, and while measuring the depth, Joey got in to help dig.... a great shot)Friday, August 15, 2008
Pictures from Jessamyn's 4th Birthday - Part 2
The whole gang of Jess's friends (that's Cameron in the foreground showing off his strawberry eating skills)
Jenny had come up with a slew of games for the kids to play before going into the pool. This was the first one: "Pin the Crown on Ariel". (Note: The theme of this particular birthday party was 'Under the Sea' as Jessamyn loves "The Little Mermaid")
A quick candid of our birthday girl... man is she starting to grow up fast.
Brooke and my sister Jessica (who will be starting at Western in the fall - Go Broncos!) were gracious enough to volunteer to "fish" candy and jewelry out of the Treasure Trunk filled with cooked shell and green linguine pasta meant to be like sea shells and seaweed...
Mother Nature conspired to assist Jess in blowing out her candles... she just wasn't nice enough to wait 'till Jenny had them lit to start her blowing. All in all, I think Jenny had to re-light the candles about 5 times before Jess finally got a quick blow in to extinguish them
Jess and Avery admire the cake they are about to eat. Jenny had it decorated with the theme of the party: The Little Mermaid
About to take her first bite....
Jocie enjoyed the pool portion of the party as she returns from a plunge off the diving board in this photo (she really is a "Pike Fish")
I had forgotten to take a "Mother-Son" of Jamie and Ryan at his 4th birthday party the week prior... here is your makeup Jamie.... :)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Jessamyn's Fourth Birthday (Phase 1)
Sunday was Jessamyn's official 4th birthday, and since we were up in Traverse City for Jim and Joan's wedding, we celebrated it with Mimi and Grandpa.
jp
Sailing
I have no picture for this, though I'm sure Mimi did.
Sunday, while JL was asleep (more "pregnancy card" plays), I opted to take my son on his first sail. Years ago, my parents had bought a used Sunfish and have kept it at their cottage for all to use, though I think I'm the sole taker in this realm. It has been great fun over the years, and very reminiscent of my teen angst years where I'd spend many hours a day out on West Bay in an Laser all by myself.
JL took her sole ride with me in our first year of dating, and vows to never again ride with me after my initial "training". My first teacher had done this with me, and I've opted to inflict it upon each new green sailor on my vessel as well... first things first: capsize and turtle the boat. This is the worst possible outcome of any sailing event, so, if you can correct your way out of this, anything else should be "smooth sailing", right?
Well, during the capsize with JL, she somehow "claims" that I kicked her in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her... really, she has to learn that as captain, I'm always in the right (probably another quiet reason why she'll never attend one of my sailing experiences again... she's not the one in control).
Being Joey's first sail in light wind (Jenny had 20+ mph winds for her first sail, while Joey was blessed with 4mph to none), I didn't want to capsize the boat, but I did want him to feel comfortable.
On the first tack, he says to me "Daddy, is it ok if I jump in the water?" Mind you, we're out past the drop-off at this point and in 100+ feet of water.
"Sure, if you really want to."
Not believing that he'd actually do it, I answered his question in my typical whimsical lax-parenting style.
Splosh!
Over he went. Immediately I realized that the 4mph winds that were filling our sail were actually moving us along at a pretty good rate... at least a walking speed.
"Daddy, slow down!" Joey tells me as he laughs and giggles his swimming body towards the port side of the sunfish. He had been enjoying the afternoon in his USCG approved PFD (personal flotation device) since we had taken a ride on a far less elegant and much more noisier watercraft an hour earlier: a jet ski.
Coming back aboard, we continued our lesson in sailing as we talked about tacking, wind direction, windward, leeward, "prepare to come about", "hard to lee", and other sailor critical terms. Taking the tiller in hand, we worked on navigation using site points on shore and gauging wind direction based on wave motion and the lull in the sail when you are running too tight towards it.
After a while, he opted to lay on the mid ship deck just forward of the cockpit as I used to so often as a child too.
"Daddy, I really don't want to grow up and have to go to work and all that. I really just want to stay little and be a kid and have fun all the time."
"Well, Joey, I think your mother would tell you that Daddy has never really grown up either."
"Really?"
"Yeah, think about it. I have tons of toys: cameras, radios, drums, computers... and I love to play all the time and never like acting serious. I'm still not convinced I've found a career yet and am waiting to grow up and get a real job too."
"But, you're Daddy and you have to work."
"True, but deep down, I'm just a kid that is still busy playing all the time and only doing the things I really like to do."
"Do you have to eat big person food and like it though?"
"Well, I really only eat the things I like (ask Mimi), and in time, I suspect your likings will change too."
"But, you're so big, I don't want to have to get big, I want to stay small."
"Hmm... I really can't argue with that logic. I don't feel big, though."
At this point, he opted to slip off the leeward side of the boat and grab the halyard as he went to have it drag him behind the boat....
Man, I wish I could still do that.
jp
Sunday, while JL was asleep (more "pregnancy card" plays), I opted to take my son on his first sail. Years ago, my parents had bought a used Sunfish and have kept it at their cottage for all to use, though I think I'm the sole taker in this realm. It has been great fun over the years, and very reminiscent of my teen angst years where I'd spend many hours a day out on West Bay in an Laser all by myself.
JL took her sole ride with me in our first year of dating, and vows to never again ride with me after my initial "training". My first teacher had done this with me, and I've opted to inflict it upon each new green sailor on my vessel as well... first things first: capsize and turtle the boat. This is the worst possible outcome of any sailing event, so, if you can correct your way out of this, anything else should be "smooth sailing", right?
Well, during the capsize with JL, she somehow "claims" that I kicked her in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her... really, she has to learn that as captain, I'm always in the right (probably another quiet reason why she'll never attend one of my sailing experiences again... she's not the one in control).
Being Joey's first sail in light wind (Jenny had 20+ mph winds for her first sail, while Joey was blessed with 4mph to none), I didn't want to capsize the boat, but I did want him to feel comfortable.
On the first tack, he says to me "Daddy, is it ok if I jump in the water?" Mind you, we're out past the drop-off at this point and in 100+ feet of water.
"Sure, if you really want to."
Not believing that he'd actually do it, I answered his question in my typical whimsical lax-parenting style.
Splosh!
Over he went. Immediately I realized that the 4mph winds that were filling our sail were actually moving us along at a pretty good rate... at least a walking speed.
"Daddy, slow down!" Joey tells me as he laughs and giggles his swimming body towards the port side of the sunfish. He had been enjoying the afternoon in his USCG approved PFD (personal flotation device) since we had taken a ride on a far less elegant and much more noisier watercraft an hour earlier: a jet ski.
Coming back aboard, we continued our lesson in sailing as we talked about tacking, wind direction, windward, leeward, "prepare to come about", "hard to lee", and other sailor critical terms. Taking the tiller in hand, we worked on navigation using site points on shore and gauging wind direction based on wave motion and the lull in the sail when you are running too tight towards it.
After a while, he opted to lay on the mid ship deck just forward of the cockpit as I used to so often as a child too.
"Daddy, I really don't want to grow up and have to go to work and all that. I really just want to stay little and be a kid and have fun all the time."
"Well, Joey, I think your mother would tell you that Daddy has never really grown up either."
"Really?"
"Yeah, think about it. I have tons of toys: cameras, radios, drums, computers... and I love to play all the time and never like acting serious. I'm still not convinced I've found a career yet and am waiting to grow up and get a real job too."
"But, you're Daddy and you have to work."
"True, but deep down, I'm just a kid that is still busy playing all the time and only doing the things I really like to do."
"Do you have to eat big person food and like it though?"
"Well, I really only eat the things I like (ask Mimi), and in time, I suspect your likings will change too."
"But, you're so big, I don't want to have to get big, I want to stay small."
"Hmm... I really can't argue with that logic. I don't feel big, though."
At this point, he opted to slip off the leeward side of the boat and grab the halyard as he went to have it drag him behind the boat....
Man, I wish I could still do that.
jp
A Beautiful Jessamyn Cuddle Shot
I'm immensely terrified by how drastically adult she is becoming. Thoughts of "prom" and "college" seem now to be not as distant as I try to convince myself they are. Every day, more compassion and more human she seems to wax towards. This... this is my eldest daughter, the one I know I'm going to have the hardest time parting with, since she is my first. She'll break my heart a thousand times, and in the end, I can only hope that she and her two sisters will choose to live close to me when they start their own families in an effort to try and mend my brokenness...
Love you, yes I will.... always.
jp
Jocie Gets into Trouble
Every parent undoubtedly encounters a time when they realize that their offspring have been out of their purview for a brief period. A time of shear internal panic ensues as that little voice deep inside seeds our conscious mind with "worst case scenarios" about what may have come to our little ones. Most of the time, though, we find them harmlessly doing childlike activities and all goes back to normal.
Well, such was the case on another one of these moments that seem to happen to me all too often... JL asks "Where's Jocie?" Implying that the chore of toddler tracking was last left in the Jay position on our mental responsibility chart, I begrudgingly amble off to try and locate an innocuous 18 month old baby in the grandparent's house.
Upon entering the master bedroom, I was rewarded by the sight you'll see below. Fortunately, Mimi (Jocie's grandmother) was already peering through the viewfinder on her camera as she snapped some shots of her own (and obfuscating me of guilt and blame for the actions taken by my daughter).
"I didn't know she could open zippers" Mimi exclaimed. "Oh, yes, she's gotten good at just about everything you'd hope she couldn't do at her age" I muttered.
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