Acksjay: The Jacks Home Page

I have posted a new album, check out the link on the right hand side.

Nora celebrated her 4th birthday in typical style:

There was the eating of icing
She scraped her leg
There was a great deal of silliness

Combine all of these together and you have the typical Nora birthday. A perfect combination for the girl that hangs like a dolphin! We also discovered (and it was not really a surprise) that Nora is into carnival rides. The bigger and faster, the more she wants to ride them. She wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel and the "Buccaneer" ride at the Creve Coeur days celebration. Logan was much happier on the low to the ground rides. Sadly Nora was just a bit too short for the big rides so we are hoping she will get her chance at one of the celebrations later in the year (perhaps Manchester Homecoming, or as the girls call it "Grumps Days").

On Sunday we took the girls to get their photos taken at The Picture People. I went to give the photographer some bunny ears and Logan says "My Daddy is giving you the 'Meet me in the bathroom naked at 2' sign." Everyone was amused. The photo session started up again a few minutes later after we could control our laughter!

This weekend we celebrate Nora's birthday at Pump It Up. Which was built with Nora in mind. Big inflatable bounce and slide devices and no sharp edges (except for a few finger nails).

While the last weekend of April was packed with injuries to Logan the first weekend of May featured Nora trying to even the score! Over the weekend we went camping Logan took a Frisbee to the eye, got knocked over by the dog, and scraped herself up on the road by our campsite. This last weekend Nora was knocked down by a neighbor's dog while playing leading to her sliding across the concrete and scabbing up her knees. Then on Sunday she was carrying a bottle of lemonade and fell, smashing the bottle and sending small shards of glass into her hand.

The good news is that the wounds were all superficial, once cleaned and the hand was elevated for a while she was right as rain, although she did have me bandage the hand today so that she could show it off to her friends at school. She was very excited about getting a gauze pad taped to her hand!

In April we finally got out camping, and the girls were happy to do so. We went up to Cuivre River State Park and the girls got to play in the water and have fun with friends. The weather was fantastic (with it getting warm on Saturday for swimming and staying cool at night). We did have a little fun with a group of drunk campers and the police late Saturday night but everyone had a good time, or at least said they did!

Yesterday we hit Upper Limits (after repairing Nora's hand) and Logan and Nora spent a few hours climbing the walls. Taking skills they have perfected over the years they quickly scaled up the cliff faces of the indoor climbing gym. Logan climbed to about 30 feet while Nora made it to about 10 feet. Nora's favorite part was hanging from the rope, for about an hour, just dangling there and having fun. She would often tell us "I'm a dolphin!"

We are not sure why she was a dolphin hung from a rope, but whatever works for her I say. Next up for us is Maggie and Nora's birthdays. We are going to party like they are 7 and 4!

Check out this recording from my cell phone, it was a wrong number and the caller just rambles on. Funny stuff! (The file is an MP3 file).

I have posted some more videos to YouTube. Enjoy!

After just a few short (years) the basement is nearing completion. The floor is in for most of the basement and walls are coming along, the ceiling is mostly in and we have moved some furniture in.

Check out this picture taken last weekend:


More coming soon, I am working on the wood for the "entertainment center."

Back on the 6th we took Logan to try out some indoor rock climbing, the result... she dug it! After a quick two hour class that featured a lot of "When do we get to climb?" and "You have to learn how to be safe before you climb!" and "I'm bored of this class, I want to climb!" we were climbing up and down the walls with style!

Along with Logan, Maggie and Julia were there for the climb and they both enjoyed some fun climbing up and down the walls. Logan's favorite part by far was the coming down, since she could just hang out for a few feet while we lowered her down.

Logan also enjoyed lunch at Union Station and was much happier when we got back to climbing on a full stomach (and that the class was over).

As the day went on Logan ventured a little higher on the wall but Maggie out climbed most of us, moving like a spider monkey up the wall!

The next trip to Upper Limits should be even more enjoyable and we may even bring Nora!

[The Biggest Turkey I could find!]

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Logan drew a few pictures for us to enjoy:

I have posted an album of new photos for everyone's enjoyment. Check the link to the right.

The last few weeks have been fun. We went apple picking, we have been hitting the Rec-Plex (since it reopened the pools), and we got in the last camping trip of the year last weekend.

Sure, we had a little rain both nights but most of us stayed dry (at least those of us who had treated our tents).

The kids had a lot of fun picking apples, it was the over an hour wait for lunch that really took it out of them that day. It seems that Eckert's isn't really famous for serving food quickly!



The camping trip was enjoyed by all! We had a short hike, played with the walkie talkies (OVER), and we even got to enjoy a "light show!"


The stress of camping finally got to Nora:


On Sunday we headed over to Elephant Rocks and had some fun climbing and exploring the park. Logan was able to conquer some mighty rocks:


The girls have been having a good time at school and gymnastics, given their flexibility and energy it is no surprise that they like jumping, running, and tumbling!

Next up is October and Halloween!