Well, August is upon us. The garden is bursting with cucumbers, and tomatoes are hanging from the plants waiting for just the right amount of sunshine to ripen them to fruition. The corn is tasseling and on our travels we found a site to behold, a field with acres of sunflowers in bloom.

It really was an incredible site!

This picture of Nathan in front of the field is a little bit deceiving as the sunflowers stand at least six feet tall. It should be a great year for the grower.

On another note, you might wonder what our back yard and Minute Maid Park, the home field for the Houston Astros, have in common.

As it turns out, there is a flag pole in center field that comes into play at Minute Maid Field.

Well the way that the boundaries fell for our backyard badminton court, our basketball pole comes into play. Above Steve is trying to make a return without knocking himself out on the pole.

We have been playing badminton almost every evening this past week. Nathan is doing his best with his off hand as he gets over his broken hand, and Sean is really getting the hang of it.

The competition got pretty serious between Sean and Steve. Here Steve is getting things rolling with a serve.

A few times Steve managed to get Sean to cross his feet up, sending him to the ground.

We may need to equip the court with instant replay, as Sean tries to make the case that the last shot was clearly out of bounds.

In the end, Steve was victorious. He was heard across the neighborhood saying “Who’s your Daddy!” as he lifted his arms in victory.

These will be a couple of fond memories of the summer of 2008.

This past weekend Sean and Nathan were lucky enough to have another 3 day weekend. This time the occasion was a teachers conference day for Monday. While it was a familiar feeling for the boys, the roles were reversed for the parents as Steve was the lucky one to get the day off, and Stephanie had to head off to work. Over the weekend we had two occasions to play some new board games. The game that we played Saturday night was a version of I Spy.

As you can see below, Nathan won this hand and the game proved to be a fun challenge for family members of all ages.

On Sunday night we broke out the game Bug-opoly, a twist on the classic game Monopoly well suited for the budding entomologists in the family.

We also made considerable progress in Nathan’s room makeover in the past week. Window sash cords were repaired.

The trim got painted, the curtains were returned, and the floor got waxed.  Yes, we repainted the window trim Mardi Gras Orange. Originally all of the room baseboards and trim in the room were that vintage color, undoubtedly from the fabulous Seventies. When we first moved in, we suggested to Nathan that it might be a way for him to express his fondness for Syracuse athletics. He agreed, and when we finally got to restoring his room, he was strongly in favor of retaining some of the Mardi Gras Orange trim.   Go SU!

Not to be lost in the picture above is the little table by the window. There are three generations of history worn into that table. It was originally Stephanie’s mother’s table as a child, although it appears as though her sister Sharon attempted to lay claim to it as her name is inscribed on the underside. Stephanie can neither confirm nor deny whether she was the owner of the piece of chewing gum that is permanently tucked away under the table. It has received a few new coats of paint over the years. Stephanie’s grandfather painted it a sunny yellow color before imparting it to her when she was a young girl. While the table has been in our posession for a while now, it was the perfect time to refresh it with a new coat of paint, brightening it for the latest little soul that graces its seat.