Xterra relay

R participated in the Xterra relay. It was a triathlon where everyone did a different leg of the race. R did the swimming part.

Here he is before the race with his running teammate. (Couldn't ever get the biking teammate in a picture).


Taking the plunge. He's the one in the orange swimming cap. ;)


Check out that awesome swim stroke.


Here's the after picture:


We're all proud of you. Great job!

The race was held at Oak Mountain State Park, which made the job of entertaining the kids during the race quite easy. There are a lot of fun things to do, and we look forward to going there again, if the rain ever stops.

Here we are at the picnic area, playing with sticks and eating breakfast while R swam the lake:


We took the kids the the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center where we took a little hike and saw some of the local wildlife.


This is the petting zoo located at the park. I've never been to a place quite like this. It was a big field with a barn and you and the animals just roamed around together.



They had some corn you could buy to feed the animals. The goats went crazy for it, they would crowd in and jump up on you to get a bite.


V liked the goats the best. Even when they chased him around for more food.






C did not like the petting zoo. He had me carry him the entire time and would start whining when I went near an animal. This was his constant face of distress.


Towards the end, he did get a bit more comfortable and tried to walk around a little; until a goat tried to eat his shirt.

This was a strangely variegated peacock:


C was much happier when we finally left and went somewhere where he could play with rocks.

A bit of Birmingham

My niece sent me a package with a "Flat Stanley" asking me to take it around Birmingham so she could learn a little about the city. I figured I could show y'all a bit of Birmingham too.

Birmingham was established as an industrial city, named after the great industrial city of England. A statue of Vulcun, the Roman god of the forge and fire, was erected in honor of that history. This is the world's largest cast iron statue and is considered the symbol of Birmingham.


Birmingham was also a major player during the civil rights movement. The following are some pictures of Kelly Ingram park. I'm being lazy today, so this is what Wikipedia says about the park:

Kelly Ingram park, just outside the doors of the 16th Street Baptist Church, served as a central staging ground for large-scale demonstrations during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Reverends Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference directed the organized boycotts and protests of 1963 which centered on Kelly Ingram Park. It was here, during the first week of May 1963, that Birmingham police and firemen, under orders from Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor, confronted demonstrators, many of them children, first with mass arrests and then with police dogs and firehoses. Images from those confrontations, broadcast nationwide, spurred a public outcry which turned the nation's attention to the struggle for racial equality. The demonstrations in Birmingham brought city leaders to agree to an end of public segregation. In addition, they helped ensure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Civil Rights laws.

"Peace Be Still" statue with accompanying plaque:



R and C, with the 16th street Baptist Church in the background:


Another statue:

Statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.:


The 16th Street Baptist Church was the first colored Baptist Church in Birmingham. Here's another Wikipedia article about the church:

During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church served as an organizational headquarters, site of mass meetings and rallying point for blacks protesting widespread institutionalized racism in Birmingham, Alabama and the South. The reverends Fred Shuttlesworth, who was the chief local organizer, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were frequent speakers at the church and led the movement.

On Sunday, September 15, 1963, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the church. At 10:22 a.m., they exploded, killing four young girls–Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair–and injuring 22 others. They were there preparing for the church's "Youth Day". A funeral for three of the four victims was attended by more than 8,000 mourners, white and black, but no city officials.

Here are some pictures showing how many trees they have here:

My little superheroes

C was always wearing V's superhero cape, so I finally got around to making C one of his own. It's a bit big, but I figure he'll grow into it.


His superpower is finding his bellybutton.


The Stapley Duo, working together to save the day!

Visms

As V has gotten older, he has started to pick up some slang. It's surprising and often amusing when he tries out his new phrases. Here are few recent Visms:

"I'm cool because I have a new shirt."

"Look at me, I'm a rock star!"

"Mom, you're gorgeous!" (I didn't prompt on this, I promise!)

"Mom, this isn't good." (Said when something bad happens, not necessarily a result of my cooking)


Thanks to V we have also become victims to commercialism. He repeats every television ad to me, word for word, and when we go shopping he shows me every toy he has seen.

"Mom, this is the toy I saw on T.V. and the T.V. told me I had to buy it."

First words

I can't believe my baby is already a year and half! Here's a list of his first words:

• me me --Mom
• da da --Dad
• tickle tickle --self explanatory
• dah -dog
• woo woo woo --what the dog says
• bah --ball
• moo! --what the cow says
• bo --more
• no! --want to go to bed?
• yeah yeah yeah --want a strawberry? (Usually accompanied with his happy dance).
  
• shoe --shoe
• vroom --what the car says

Other strange facts:

• If he wants your attention, he comes and puts his finger in your mouth.
• If he wants you to wake up, he puts his finger in your eye.
• He knows where his nose and belly button are. That's as far as we've got.
• If he wants to go outside, he has you put on his shoes.
• When he throws temper tantrums, he squeals like a pig. Kinda disturbing really.
• When he's finished walking, he just flops down on the floor until you pick him up.
• Finally waves bye - bye.
• Climbs on top of everything. I have had to rearrange furniture because of this.
• When he needs a stool, anything is fair game.
  
• Went straight to the time out spot the first time I told him to.
• Is officially weaned from the pacifier. (Lost the last one, not buying more).
• Hides toys and food in small spaces. I guess he's storing them for winter.
• Curls his lips back and breaths heavily through his teeth when upset.
• Thinks things taste better off of the floor.
• Has the biggest grin that just melts your heart.

Here are some videos of him talking:

Do you want to go to bed?



What does the dog say?



What does the cow say?

Family pics

Yes, I know, C is 19 months old already. And yes, I should have done these a long time ago. All I can say is that we finally had Ryan at home while there was still daylight and it wasn't raining, so we ran out and finally did family photos that have C in them.


Unfortunately, it was also prom night. I've never seen so many gussied up teenagers in my life. We had to dodge the other photographers to find a corner of our own. It definitely made things more interesting.


I tried to take some pictures of the kids, but they were pretty much done for the night. I like this one of V since this is how we usually see him: a bit disheveled with a crooked grin.


Ryan humored me and let me take this shot.


V even took a picture of Ryan and I together. We'll have him trained as a photographer soon enough.


Of course we ended with a romp in the water fountain.

Soccer season's over

V had his last game today. He's had a lot of fun playing all season and is sad that it's over. They had a big hot dog party tonight and he received a medal, which he was very excited about. Here are some pictures of the game because he wants all his grandmas and grandpas to see them. (I'm sure that other friends and relatives are welcome to view them too).






Good job V!!

Empty nesters

The nest in our aquarium wasn't abandoned and we ended up having three baby chicks on our porch. I couldn't get any good pictures of them when they were tiny brown blobs, but here they are almost grown:


Vance didn't like looking at them until they got bigger because he said their mouths were scary. This was what they looked like yesterday:


I'm pretty sure that they are Carolina Wrens, though I never got a picture of the parents. (Too small and too quick). I went to check on them today, and they were gone. I guess that it's time to clean the aquarium.