Gordon as Arthur Weasley, Daniel as a Dementor, and Karen as Molly Weasley, part of our Harry Potter theme at the Romp.
Our contribution to the Halloween decorations at the Romp.
Karen makes breakfast, with help from Danny, for the gang at our annual last-of-the-season camping trip down in Massachusetts, called the "Romp In the Swamp."
William pours plaster into a metal bucket. He's making a foundry for melting aluminum cans for use in later castings. He learned how to do it by watching videos on YouTube.
Gordon found this replacement bread maker to replace one that broke down (we use them to death), and while it's waiting for a home on our counter (it's bigger than the old one), Sukkie and Ambush have both decided that it's a great place to perch and look out of the sliding door.
Karen shows her latest Halloween decorations: plastic bag spiders she assembled with Daniel.
Daniel helps Karen assemble some Halloween spiders made from printed plastic bags, stuffed with grocery bags.
This amazing hot rod, based on a 1915 Model T, was parked only two spaces away from us. It goes perfectly with the black teardrop camper it towed to the site.
Karen looks over a Cox pop-up tent trailer very much like the one she used to camp in with her family. This one was right next to our campsite.
Gordon practices with his camp guitar in front of our little trailer in its canopy at the beach campground in Salisbury, Massachusetts. Gordon isn't much on camping, but he is big on singing and meeting up with good friends.
Karen emerges from the Atlantic Ocean after a polar bear swim with some other crazy folk from our camping group. She said the water wasn't so bad, but getting out made her toes numb.
Karen enjoys brunch at the tents set up for the camping trip that she and Gordon took without the kids. It was our usual teardrop trailer group together with a group that owns vintage trailers.
Karen tries out one of our crockpot experiments, a macaroni and cheese recipe she found online. It wasn't one of our more successful experiments; the pasta got a little broken up.
Daniel tastes the last batch of banana muffins made with blueberries that he picked near the pond. We freeze these as batter and bake them up fresh weeks later.
William prepares to slide an omelette out onto a plate for Gordon. William learned to make omelettes in his Culinary Arts class.
William and his friend Nathan play a video game at our room at the Windrifter.
Danny takes a big bite of one of our latest concoctions: an elongated burger patty mixed with marina and mozzarella, served on a sub roll with extra sauce.
Karen discovers an interesting storage cabinet at the local hobby/craft store, but wants to build one herself so that she can decorate it just as she pleases.
Gordon stands by the fallen remains of our temporary (yeah, temporary—for seven years) back deck, which has to make way for the remainder of the new deck.
Thomas had abandoned this gray blanket. We washed it and set it aside to give away, when Sukkie decided that it belonged to her, and a new cat bed was born.
William runs in to defend at a home game. William put in a good second half, but the Knights still lost 6-2.
William and Daniel getting ready to get to the bus on a rainy day. It cleared up enough later in the day to allow for soccer practice, though.
While the rest of the family plays Uno, Gordon brushes up his guitar playing.
William, Thomas, Karen, Erin, and Danny (in the foreground) play Uno with Alec, who is one of the regulars in our camping group and loves to spend time with Danny and William.
Thomas, William, and Karen play Uno with Thomas' girlfriend Erin; Tom and Erin joined us the first night while we were camping.
Gordon tries one of the snickerdoodles mixed by William and baked by Karen for the campout. Good stuff.
Gordon whips up some hummus for our weekend camping trip.
A rainbow greeted us from over the house as we were waiting for the bus.
Daniel with his lime green backpack, ready for his first Friday hike of the season. The program he's in in middle school goes out on hikes most Fridays, rain or shine (or snow).
William and Daniel get ready to board the bus on their first day back at school. William's a high-school sophomore, and Daniel is starting the eighth grade.
Thomas prepares some salad to go with our pork Adobo dinner.
Some white fluffy clouds and their shadows during our flight from Salt Lake City to Detroit.
William looking handsome in his new suit.
William tries in vain to hear the "Doctor Who" episodes he loaded onto his tablet in the noisy jetliner. His Uncle Andy bought him some better headphones that helped for the trip back.
William looks out of the window at the Great Salt Lake. He was fascinated by the terrain in that part of the country; we've never flown into Salt Lake City before.
Gordon grabs a quick selfie aboard the first leg of his and William's flight to Fresno.
William waits at Logan for the long two-leg flight to Fresno.
Karen and William shop for a suit for the trip to Fresno.
Daniel plays a game at the GameStop near Karen's store. We had to take Karen to work to get Daniel to a medical appointment, so we made an afternoon of it.
Karen's fancy new nail polish. I think the color is called "pecan."
Gordon is building this doorjamb in the basement. It's the first time he's done anything like this, but pre-hung doors are expensive, and we got the door slab free from a friend who's downsizing.
Karen sprucing up the cabinets in the basement. We're setting the kitchen back up.
William cuddles with Sukkie, who's doing much better, though she still needs a lot of medication, much to her annoyance.
When Karen and Gordon were out at the gallery checking out a friend's showing, this amazing truck bed caught Karen's eye. Turns out that its owner/built is a teacher at the local private school.
