Henry

On Friday, July 12, Henry Roland Washburn was born. He made his appearance at 3:34 pm, and he weighed 9 lbs 10 oz. We've been home for over a week now, and he has been a very sweet baby. 

 We are all very happy.

July 4th

I am very grateful to live in the United States. Whatever flaws we may have, I think it's a pretty darn good country. This year we celebrated in the usual way. We camped out in my parents' backyard, swam in the pool, barbecued, and set off some fireworks. 

The parade is a highlight every year, and this year was no disappointment. These pictures do not do show how very crowded it was along the parade route. We were lucky that my sisters had staked out a spot the night before, and then went out and guarded it starting at 6 am. 

They throw massive amounts of candy at this parade, as well as a few other things. Isaac's one goal for the parade is always to catch a pepperoni stick from the Reser's guys. My sisters have learned to be less embarrassed by his antics. (He kind of has a loud voice and can be very persistent...)

My Super Family

Every year my family spends a weekend up at Silver Falls. I think we all look forward to a couple of days of solid fun. This year, we were sitting around the campground, when something extraordinary happened. All of a sudden, my sister's cell phone rang and she announced, "It's headquarters guys! We have a mission!" My parents and sisters scattered, running into their cabins and leaving the rest of us sitting in bewilderment. When they returned, they confirmed one of my long-held suspicions. I come from a family of super heroes.

Let me introduce them to you. This is my dad, aka ColaMan.

Here is my mom, leading the super cheer. You might also know her as the Gingham Granny. 

My brother, Tactical Man. 

I didn't get a good picture of Tactical Man's wife, the Cajun Crusher, but here she is snapping a picture of her husband. They make a great pair.

My sister: Phosphorus. 

My sister: Methane

My sister: Sulphur.

You really don't want to mess the three of them when they get together.The PhosphorusMethaneSulphur combination is dangerous one.

Also dangerous, my sister Super Caffeinated Girl. She'll definitely give you the jitters.

My sister: Psychic Girl. She may be PG, but watch out bad guys! 

Due to the serious nature of the mission, Isaac, the kids and I were recruited to join the family business. We were provided capes and quickly assigned names. I think Barak decided Isaac should be Speed to the Flight. 

Lizzy is Bug Girl. 

Barak went with the classic title of Batman. 

And here is Super Junior. He may look small, but he is very capable of getting what he wants.

The call from headquarters was in regards to some kidnapped gnomes. Once we were organized, we quickly set out on the trail to find and rescue them.

Bug girl had to consult some of her allies (ants) and ask for directions. 

Silver Falls was pretty crowded that weekend, and we had many people stop and ask us about our quest. We had little time to spare for these conversations, but a certain park ranger confiscated  ColaMan's water gun and asked us a series of question. Bug Girl stepped forward to speak on our behalf and was able to confirm that we are in fact, Beaver fans. That solved the problem, and we were back on our way! (It's a good thing he didn't ask Methane or Psychic Girl. Things might not have been smoothed over so quickly.)

After much searching, we found the first baby gnome!

A little farther up the trail we rescued the second gnome!

At last, all three baby gnomes were located, and our mission was a success!

Rejoicing ensued.

All in all, it was a good day's work. 

Can you tell we had a good time? 

More evidence that Isaac is an awesome dad

We were all in the backyard, when Sebastian started digging around in a big patch of dirt. Isaac noticed, turned on the hose, and proceeded to spend an hour playing in the mud with his kids. I love that man.