Piano Power

We finally got around to getting the piano tuned. It has been a "toy" for Jenelle all these years. Jenelle started taking piano lessons in February. She has been using a keyboard to practice, but would often play on the piano. That piano was SO out of tune. I don't have much musical ability, but even my untrained ears could tell the piano needed tuning.

I called some piano place and they sent out their best tuner. The guy was great, but charged a butt load. It was worth every penny. I can't tell you how much I enjoy hearing Jenelle play that piano. It's a beautiful sound. Even when she plays horrible it sounds so pretty.

Bumper crop

The garden is doing great this summer. We're already getting zucchini. Jenelle and I go on a zucchini treasure hunt every day. I don't know how this huge zucchini got missed. I made zucchini bread with it. I need to come up with some new recipes for all this squash.

Curt brought in a ton of rhubarb. I've been making a lot of crisps, but we are getting tired of those. I decided to make a raspberry rhubarb pie. It was fantastic. It was almost too yummy. It was hard to resist. I plan on making some kind of jam with the rhubarb later. Later this summer Jenelle will probably have a lemonade and zucchini stand. I'll have lots of zucchini to give away if anybody wants some.

Hike at Reynold's Park

We did a beautiful hike this weekend. Here are some photos for you.

Wipeout

Jenelle doesn't watch much tv. She does a lot of playing and a fair amount of reading. But at the end of a long summer day she likes to watch a show before bed. I'm getting more and more particular about the shows she watches. She is getting too mature for a lot of the cartoons that she used to like. I don't like her watching Hannah Montana and Icarly. So what is a mom to do?

We caught an episode of Funniest Home Videos. Jenelle really liked it. It's family friendly. I've started taping the old episodes.

One Saturday afternoon, Curt and Jenelle watched an episode of "Man vs. Wild". It's a show where they drop Bear Grylls into the middle of nowhere and he has to survive with just a pocket knife. It's a great show about survival. Jenelle was fascinated!! She even plays Man vs. Wild with her stuffed animal friends. One day I found her roasting a bear over a fire. She told me how she shot the bear and she even had the bear suspended over the fire (with badmintons). We wouldn't want the bear to burn to a crisp now. I wish I had a picture.

Another show I have found to be acceptable is "Wipeout". People have to go through these crazy hard obstacles and they often wipeout. It's a funny show.

Have you noticed a common them with these shows? As a family we laugh at other people's perils, goof ups and misfortunes. Hmmm...maybe I need to reconsider these shows. :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

We are celebrating Curt's birthday this week. Everyone gets a birthday week. Tonight we are having friends over for a BBQ. Curt and I worked around the house most of the day getting yard work done and the house cleaned up. Not much fun, but we'll have fun tonight and tomorrow. Curt wanted only two measly candles on his cake. Jenelle wanted to put them all on. I must say that Jenelle and I made a really yummy moist cake. Happy birthday Curt.