Wednesday, July 09, 2008

New pics, from 2008

Here are some photos of Jae, mostly from March–Jun 2008. These aren't necessarily in chronological order, but I have tried to group similar pictures together.
My parents' dog, Chance. These two used to be mortal enemies. But two things have brought these two together. (a) Chance's arthritis has gotten to the point where he can't get up and run from her very quickly; and (b) Janelle can walk. So he's resigned to his fate as Jae's buddy. Poor dog.
Janelle and her cousin, Toni Beth, sitting in Kim's lap. Toni is about 16 mos. older than Jae, so naturally she looks up to her big cousin and loves playing with her.

Janelle in her pretty dress; I'm not exactly sure why she's so dressed up. This is at her Abuelo and Grandma Ché's house, almost certainly from around Easter, but this isn't the dress she wore on Easter (see below).
Our family on Easter. Jae looks happy, but if memory serves, this was temporary. After an Easter sermon Janelle was ready to get home and bite the ears off of all the chocolate bunnies. (And, now that I've looked a bit closer, it seems this was the dress Janelle wore on Easter. Silly me.)
Jae and her mama. You can see why all my family and friends still tell me I married above myself. At my height, that was always going to be likely.
Her Highness, Janelle I, self-proclaimed "Queen of the Mountain" and unchallenged stander-upon-the rock (at the Knoxville Zoo, perhaps not inappropriately!).
Still at the Knoxville Zoo. Besides lions, tigers, and bears (and elephants and zebras . . .), we find to fine specimens of homo adorabilius. The blonde on the left is Jae's friend, Abby, the twenty-first century's improvement on Shirley Temple.
Janelle, sitting in my seat. I don't remember exactly what she was saying as Andrea snapped this pic, but from the look on her face it must have been something like, "I'm a very safe driver, Papa; very safe . . ."
In mid-June we had a mini-family reunion at Andrea's cousin's house in Cincinnati. They have a pool. After Andrea and I put all the safety flotation devices on her that we could find, she could almost walk on the water!
Thankfully I didn't have to get into the pool, since Andrea was already there. The goggles complete the outfit, I think.
If they make a sequel to Little Rascals, and if they're willing to admit a girl into the club, I nominate this one in the role of Alfalfa.
Here's my girl, the next Mia Hamm! She kicks the ball like Favre throws it. Unfortunately, professional soccer players (especially females) don't make enough for me to count on her as my retirement plan. I guess I'll still have to steer her into law or medical school.
Even the sun conspires to shine upon my daughter and make plain for all to see the beauty that she inherited from her mother's end of the gene pool. (My end of said pool, by the way, is the genetic equivalent of the kiddie pool: shallow and a bit too yellow.)
I'm the luckiest man in the world, in part because this girl loves me and smiles at me.
These dandelions will be the most beautiful weeds on campus.