Justin and Cassidy - The Blog

Justin came home!

2009-07-29T10:59:00.009-04:00

Ok, so I know we have been awful at blogging...but what can I say...it's been crazy around here!
We are down to just one puppy now, Sayid, and he's not going anywhere...unless it's on a car ride, he loves those!
I thought it would be best to start updates from where I left off, so here are a couple pictures and a video of when Justin got home on the 17th. I'll share pictures of all the puppies with their new owners soon!

This is the first time they have seen each other in two weeks!

*it's so crazy to watch these videos now that we've only got one here...wow, that was a lot of puppies. We sure do miss them!!!

we crossed a line today.

2009-07-15T10:20:00.005-04:00

Miss Cassidy officially can't handle our crazy little personalities and rambunctious tendencies by herself anymore...but give her a break...there are a lot of us. She's done great, but we know she's excited for Justin to come home after being gone for 2 weeks - we've changed *a lot*. We expect to see a lot of him when he gets back.
love, the puppies

Just imagine what happens when she comes into the pin...

Peach needs a home!

2009-07-14T21:01:00.002-04:00

Ok, so the last post wasn't comptely correct. We now need a home for Peach...so if you are interested, or know of someone who is...please email me (cassidy {at} cassidydawn.com)
Thanks!!!
*She's super sweet & super lovable!!!

We have homes!!!

2009-07-13T09:42:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to post a quick update to say that all the puppies now have homes! I am so excited!!!
Thank you to everyone who is taking them in...they are going to love their new homes!

I will post more photos & videos soon, just super busy!
Oh, and I hope to get a photo of each pup with their new family, so I'll be sure to update with those too :)

2 new videos!

2009-07-08T22:16:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to share a couple videos that I took today. They are all doing so well...and growing fast! I think they entered the "play phase" in full force today - they're soo cute!
We only have 3 more that haven't been placed with homes just yet...so if you want on the list, please let me know...blog readers get priority :)
(we are finding homes for Lemon, Not Josh & Bruno...)

we miss you Justin! from Justin & Cassidy on Vimeo.

we travel in packs from Justin & Cassidy on Vimeo.

Introducing...

2009-07-04T11:22:00.000-04:00

lemon

peachbruno

not josh

clancy

magellan

josh

sayid

lime

violet

pinky

Cassidy here. I just wanted to update you all with a formal meeting of each of our pups. We've posted the names and why they have them, videos, and random pictures...but it's time to meet each one.
I've been wanting to get portraits of each puppy for a while, so yesterday Justin, Whitney & I put these little guys into a kiddy pool for the first time and cleaned them up so they would be ready for their first professional photo shoot...they all did so well.

Also, today marks a very important day for these little ones...they are officially 1 month old! We have had the very best time taking care of them and playing with them...I can't believe it's been a month!
Justin is leaving on Sunday for 2 weeks for a Journalism Fellowship...he has also been the primary care-taker of them. Needless to say, I don't know what I am going to do without him here. He goes out multiple times a day (while I am working away in the office) and holds them, cleans up and makes sure they are all fed. So the next two weeks are going to be quite a challenge for me, I mean, come on...there are 11 of them! More so, I am sad that when he gets back they will be about ready to head off to their new homes. He loves playing with them, and it's going to be sad when they all head off, especially since he'll be missing 2 weeks with them.
That brings me to my next point...
If anyone wants to be put on the list for a possible home, please email me...we have some great homes lined up, but they all don't have places just yet. They will be ready to head out the last week of July...so if you are puppy ready...let me know!
*you can email your preference, but we can't guarantee that's who you will get...but trust me, they are all absolutely wonderful!

Hope you have a wonderful 4th of July...and I promise to *try* and update often!

Puppy Palace

2009-07-04T11:06:00.005-04:00

We wanted to show a picture of the new home of these little pups...it's like a puppy palace (compared to what they were used to).
Special thanks to Macy for helping make this possible...we couldn't have done it without you!

They now have a sleeping area, play area, and another (obvious) area. We are working on getting down which is which...but a few are doing very, very well...considering we are on day 3!

Oh, and I just thought this was too cute...

Time Flies...

2009-07-03T15:13:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my niece, Maddie's, 7th birthday. Cassidy and I went out to lunch with her and her parents yesterday, so that's were the picture came from.

Her party is tonight. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would share my favorite picture of the two of us, taken when she was really young.

Happy Birthday, Maddie Grace.

Love, Uncle P

Pup-Date: Pics & Vids

2009-07-02T22:51:00.003-04:00

Here are some more pictures of the pups in their new exercise pen while we worked on building them a new puppy palace (more pics of that tomorrow).

In this pic above, you have Bruno (orange) standing in the middle. I can't tell who the others are (sorry Macy).

This one is just a big group of all eleven of them looking at the camera.

Here you little Pinky pushing her head out trying to escape.

In this one, Lemon is licking the pen while the others crowd around.

Here you have another close up with Violet in the center, but because I can't see their collars, I don't know who the others are.

Now, for some videos:

Pinky & Violet both want to see how the pen tastes. They both might be going to good homes in Kentucky.

Here, Pinky looks so sweet, and then she attacks!

Here's a quiet video of them all playing.

These last two are from last weekend when our friend Meg was visiting. You'll hear her in the background of the first video.

Josh is warming up his howling voice...he's going to make a great city dog that all the neighbors will love...Good luck Matt & Chelsea. ;)

This is by far my favorite video. I wanted to capture the growling, and then show you how playful she was being. Oh, and by the way, I think this was Pinky before we got the collar on her. Just remember Macy, she was playing. ;)

Enjoy, and I promise to post some pictures and video from their new pen tomorrow.

Don't be too hasty...

2009-07-01T18:49:00.002-04:00

Like I was. I moved every thing a little too early. I am still trying to figure out some of the kinks over on wordpress, so I am still going to update here on this blog. Sorry.

Blog Shifting

2009-07-01T17:47:00.002-04:00

For my fellowship next week, we have to blog. The group blog is on wordpress, so I decided to move the blog over there because I had to create a new blog. You can find the promised video post over there. Please forgive the fact that the video embedding didn't work, but there are links to each video.

Enjoy: http://jdrummond.wordpress.com/

Pup-date: They Have Collars

2009-07-01T10:33:00.004-04:00

After three weeks of the insane game of "which puppy are you?" we finally put 'collars' on the pups. We were very lucky to find eleven different colors of ribbon, and they are now color coded. The pic above shows our list that we use to keep track of what color goes with what gender. The collars also provided a good way for us to refer to them, so we now a list of names that we use. We have tried to keep it as generic as possible so that we don't fall even more in love with them all, but we also wanted to be somewhat creative. Here's the list (color - name - brief description):

Light Blue - Sayid - This black male is ours. We picked him out almost right after he came out of the womb. He has a big head and a big wrinkly face, which we hope foreshadows a big dog to help watch over our little cabin.
Red - Josh - This little yellow male is special to us. He's the one that she buried (i.e. the runt). If you haven't heard Josh's story, I'll give you more details later. He's being adopted by Cassidy's sister, Chelsea, to go try and mellow out their other dog, Cooper.
Explorer (dark) Green - Magellan - This little black male got his name from the famous explorer. Since he learned to walk, he has been all over the garage. For a few days it was a game to see where he would be sleeping when we went out in the morning.
Pink - Pinky - She is the sweetest little yellow female. She is quiet, but she loves to play with her brothers and sisters. She also likes to lick toes and the gates on the pen.
Blue - Not Josh - This is the other small yellow male. For the longest time (before the collars) we had to look really close to find the differences between him and Josh, so we started calling them Josh and Not Josh. I know - real original. He is very sweet and likes to be held.
Yellow - Yellow or Lemon - We haven't really come up with a temporary name for this yellow female. She is big and loves to romp. Call her Lemon when she is with the lime green girl, who I call Lime.
Lime Green - Lime - She is another playful yellow female. She likes to roll other puppies and then pounce on them. She also likes to block out her siblings when she is at the food bowl.
Purple - Violet - A sweet big yellow female. She likes to explore with Magellan recently, and she found out that if mom is eating, she's now big enough to reach her "food" on mom's belly.
Peach - Georgia Peach - What's not to like about this big yellow girl? She hangs out with Bruno (orange), and likes to charge at her siblings or your feet and then hope backwards. She also likes to eat.
White - Clancy - This black male is the baby. He is the last pup that was born and survived. He is super sweet, and loves to sleep in the corner created by the cabinet in the garage. He got his name from Cassidy's mom, who really wants to take him home but can't.
Orange - Bruno - This is the BIG boy. He's yellow male who sleeps with his head between his paws, which causes his face to wrinkle up. Although his is big, he is not overly aggressive. He likes to nibble and chew, but he snuggles when he is held.

There's the update for now. I'll probably post more updates today because I leave for a 2 week journalism fellowship on Sunday. The other posts will have more pictures, but here's a few to tide you over (Macy-wink wink).

Pup-date

2009-06-22T17:59:00.004-04:00

After much consideration, Cassidy and I have decided to post the majority of future puppy updates (or pup-dates) on our blog rather than on the CDP Blog. This is mainly spurred on by the fact that the puppies are changing daily, and we have so much that we can post, we would over power the main intent of the CassidyDawn Blog.

So, since her last update, the pups have had their first and second adventures outside to the grass (we'll have some video of it the next time) and have begun to really get the hang of walking. We go out in the morning and usually find one or two who have ventured out into the garage to find a nice cool place on the cement to sleep. They are much more vocal and responsive because their ears are opening up. This means that we have to be quieter with things like opening the garage door and starting until they can see and hear better so that they don't develop fears of loud noises.

They will be three weeks old on Thursday, which means we will begin to introduce some water and moistened puppy chow to begin the weaning process. Hopefully they will be fully weaned by the end of 6 weeks. They will also be getting their first "collars" this week in the form of ribbon. We have eleven different colors so that we can begin to track weight and behaviors and ensure that we spend enough quality 1-on-1 time with each of the puppies. So stay tuned for more videos - they're wrestling and wagging their tails now!

Here are a few from last Friday that show them learning to howl, bark, and otherwise be noisy.

This first one is Cassidy's favorite:

Snuggling Puppies:

Mama wakes them for lunch & they start barking:

NPM - Day 15

2009-04-15T06:55:00.004-04:00

Funeral Blues

by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.

Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

----------------------------------------

I love this poem. A group in one of my college classes set it to music, and it was very moving. Here is a link to a clip from the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral that uses the poem quite affectively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_a-eXIoyYA

NPM - Day 11

2009-04-11T13:48:00.001-04:00

Spring is like a perhaps hand
by E. E. Cummings

III Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while people stare arranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and changing everything carefully spring is like a perhaps Hand in a window (carefully to and fro moving New and Old things,while people stare carefully moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)and without breaking anything.

NPM - Day 10

2009-04-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

I know we are past Christmas, but for Good Friday I thought it might be nice to look at a Christmas poem to bring things full circle.

A Christmas Carol

by Christina Rossetti

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man
I would do my part, -
Yet what I can, I give Him,
Give my heart.

I'm featured...

2009-04-09T19:33:00.003-04:00

So for the past few months I been checking out Bonobos pants, which look awesome. Sadly, they are also way out of my budget, or so I thought. They have an amazing program for men who work in public service fields (like teachers, firefighters, police, etc.) who they are aware might not have the funds to procure their products.

In order to qualify, you have to send them a brief bio and a pic, and in turn, they give you a discount code. My bio was featured on Monday, and you can read it here. I haven't purchased any pants yet, but when I do, I'll let you know how they are.

NPM - Day 8

2009-04-08T20:58:00.001-04:00

How to Read a Poem: Beginner's Manual
by Pamela Spiro Wagner

First, forget everything you have learned,
that poetry is difficult,
that it cannot be appreciated by the likes of you,
with your high school equivalency diploma,
your steel-tipped boots,
or your white-collar misunderstandings.

Do not assume meanings hidden from you:
the best poems mean what they say and say it.

To read poetry requires only courage
enough to leap from the edge
and trust.

Treat a poem like dirt,
humus rich and heavy from the garden.
Later it will become the fat tomatoes
and golden squash piled high upon your kitchen table.

Poetry demands surrender,
language saying what is true,
doing holy things to the ordinary.

Read just one poem a day.
Someday a book of poems may open in your hands
like a daffodil offering its cup
to the sun.

When you can name five poets
without including Bob Dylan,
when you exceed your quota
and don't even notice,
close this manual.

NPM - Day 4

2009-04-04T08:00:00.001-04:00

Today's poem is dedicated to Mama (Cassidy's grandmother). If you know her, you should know why.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Daffodils
by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

NPM - Day 3

2009-04-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Pied Beauty

by Gerard Manely Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things--

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced--fold, fallow, and plough;

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise Him

NPM - Day 2

2009-04-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

My City

By James Weldon Johnson

When I come down to sleep death's endless night,
The threshold of the unknown dark to cross,
What to me then will be the keenest loss,
When this bright world blurs on my fading sight?
Will it be that no more I shall see the trees
Or smell the flowers or hear the singing birds
Or watch the flashing streams or patient herds?
No, I am sure it will be none of these.

But, ah! Manhattan's sights and sounds, her smells,
Her crowds, her throbbing force, the thrill that comes
From being of her a part, her subtle spells,
Her shining towers, her avenues, her slums--
O God! the stark, unutterable pity,
To be dead, and never again behold my city!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I taught this poem for the first time last year, and I fell in love with it. If you've been to New York (and enjoyed it) then you might be able to empathize with the poem.

National Poetry Month

2009-04-01T16:46:00.004-04:00

That's right people, after a close to 6 month absence from blogging, National Poetry Month has brought me out of my lack of inspiration.

I HATED poetry in high school, for the most part. But my senior year, I came to love the works of John Donne, including his Holy Sonnets. In college, I found more that I liked about poetry than I disliked, and now as a high school teacher, I love poetry.

Now, not all poems are equal, and i do like some poems that are slightly odd, but I like what I like. In honor of this month long celebration, I will periodically post some poems that I enjoy.

This first one is dedicated to my students, and anyone else who struggles with poetry. I've learned that sometimes it is best just to try not to figure a poem out, but instead, just read and enjoy.

Introduction to Poetry
by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find our what it really means.

I Can't Wait...

2008-10-22T23:17:00.003-04:00

Busy week - end of the nine weeks on Friday. I took a break from grading tonight and found this on one of my blogs I read regularly. Although there are many reasons why I do not want the end of this year to fly, this is by far my top reason for wanting 2009 to hurry up and get here.

Just so you know, I may have peed a little after watching this, that's how excited I am for LOST season 5 to start. If you don't watch the show, take the time between now and January to catch up, I have seasons 1-3 on DVD if you want them, or you can watch them online here and click the "LAUNCH" button.

Good things at the end of the week

2008-09-27T18:30:00.002-04:00

So some great things happened on Thursday and Friday this week.

#1. The Office Season Premiere - if you missed it, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

Watch the clip...

#2. The Warrior Word

I'm teaching journalism this year, and my class of 8 students and I decided to restart the school newspaper. We had a contest to name the paper, which went over well. After we had the name, we worked for 2 weeks, and the first edition of The Warrior Word went to print on Friday. The paper was distributed to the students for free during lunch study halls, and it was a hit. I got compliments from both students and teachers on the quality of both the writing and the layout, the but all of the credit goes to the students. They worked hard, and I am very proud of them. There is both a print and an online edition, so if you'd like to see it, go check it out here. If you want to see the print edition, there is a link at the bottom of the front page that will allow you to download a PDF version. Please excuse the picture quality in the PDF; I don't know why they look like that, they were fine when it was printed.

Price Increases

2008-09-09T22:21:00.002-04:00

So I know I haven't posted in a long time, so I'll give you a quick update on my teaching job. I love it. Things are going much better than last year; I don't feel like a Mac truck has plowed me over at the end of the day for starters. I've also taken a lot from the hellacious year I had in Maysville, so my class runs much more smoothly. I guess it's true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Anyways, moving on to the Pepsi logo to the left of the text. I went to a convenience store today to buy a pop, and had my $1.50 ready when I pulled up to the drive-thru. I the clerk then informed me that the price had gone up to $1.60. Now, I'm not upset, I was just shocked because I remember when you could get if for a dollar. The other thing that shocked was the fact that I hadn't thought that the price had gone up to $1.50 all that long ago. I think I was paying around $1.20 to $1.30 last spring in Maysville. Anyways, have your dimes ready the next time you go to buy a Pepsi product.

*Sidebar - if you like Coke products, they haven't gone up -- yet

Back to School

2008-08-19T21:55:00.002-04:00

Well, if you've been reading Cassidy's blog, you know that we have not had internet until yesterday at our new place. While she's been dealing with that, I've been in final preparation mode for another year of teaching, in a new school.

I've returned home to teach at my Alma Mater. The vast majority of the staff is the same, so it is very interesting to be on this side of the school. Every where I go, someone is very excited to see me and talks about things I did in school. Hopefully that will all die down by the end of the week.

I'm very excited because I get to teach English II, Journalism, Creative Writing, Speech, and Reading. It will be crazy with all those electives, but they only last for a nine weeks.

Anyways, I have some prep left to do tonight before bed, but I will give an update tomorrow after day 1 with students.

See Some More Pics!

2008-07-31T21:52:00.003-04:00

As you know, I'm married to an amazing photographer (and that's not biased at all). For those of you who read her blog, you get to see the wonderful pictures that she takes of kids, families, seniors, couples, and queens (that last one will be coming soon - you'll have to check it out). With her being a photographer, you would assume that we have pictures of everything we do. Well, you know the old adage about assuming, and I have to tell you that we don't have a ton of pictures, but we have some of some pretty cool things that don't always make it onto Cassidy's blog. To solve the problem of people wanting pictures from the camping trip, graduations, and parties we took pictures at, we set up a gallery on Picasa, and the link is located in the side bar to the right. The current hot item over there that you will want to see is pictures from the farm house we will be renting starting tomorrow. We have been in there cleaning the past couple of days, and we are slowly going to be moving things in over the next week. Go check out the pictures of the house and other events that have taken place recently.

In other news, I finally found out what I will be teaching in the fall - Sophomore English. This means I will have my cousin Megan in class. Yep, that's what I thought until Megan called me tonight to tell me that she got her schedule, and I am not listed as teaching sophomores. Oh well, I guess I'll have to go to the school tomorrow and get the information once and for all, or until it changes again. Either way, I'm excited to get back in the classroom.

Finally, my college roommate Seth is coming for a visit this weekend. He arrives sometime tomorrow and will leave whenever. I'm excited he's coming, and this means he can help us move ;). Anyways, things seem to be shaping up for a great weekend.

LOST Obsession

2008-07-26T21:29:00.010-04:00

So if you don't know, Cassidy and I are extremely obsessed with the tv show LOST. It all started back in college when my roommate Seth got me addicted during season 3, and this past winter/spring, I got Cassidy addicted during season 4. I wanted to get caught up on the previous seasons that I had missed, so I started watching the HD streaming feeds of season 1 at ABC.com, but that got difficult and tedious for both of us to watch from the laptop. When my birthday came around in June, Cassidy's parents bought me season 1, and we have since purchased seasons 2 and 3 because we found good prices for them.

We started watching season 1 back in June before we moved and finished the season around the end of the month. Around the first of July, we began watching season 2, and have since flown through it, finishing up last night. The reason we have gone through them so fast is that we only have antenna reception on the tv here at Swartz Farm, so we got in the habit of watching anywhere a few episodes a night. We have decided to cut back as we watch season 3 so that we can fully digest what is going on in the show. We'll probably start watching the next season tomorrow because season 4 is released on DVD on October 28.

Anyways, if you like LOST, let us know-and if you have any theories, I'd like to hear them.

Camping Trip Highlights

2008-07-25T12:44:00.000-04:00

So I know Cassidy sent you over here for from her blog promising that I would post some more information about the camping trip last weekend, but I feel like she did a great job already, so I'll just give you some of the highlights.

If you own a bike and aren't happy with you seat, go to you local sports shop and buy the Lazyboy brand bike seats. We did this before the trip, and they are amazing. They are made wider to help distribute the pressure along your whole seat rather than creating those oh-so-uncomfortable pressure points that are associated with most standard bike seats.

Cassidy's bike is the blue one leaning against the tree. Notice the nice bike seat.
When Whitney and Damon got married, they were presented with the problem of each of them owning a bike rack. Since they only need one, Cassidy and I inherited Whit's, and we finally tested it out last weekend. After some trial & error in our attempts to attach it to the car, we finally found out the straps are labeled (Whit tried to explain this to me, but I was a little dense) and got the bikes on the rack on the car, and we were off to Deer Creek State Park.
The campground at Deer Creek is very nice. It is set up in a giant circle (which is excellent for bike riding, if you haven't caught on to my bike theme yet), and has very spacious camping sites. We had three spots right beside each other (Matt, Nathan and Dad each brought their campers) that were located very close to a "Comfort Station" - a good euphemism for latrine. But, we had hot showers with great water pressure that we didn't have to clean within 10 yards of the camper, which was a definite plus. (If you want to visit Deer Creek but don't want to camp, check out the resort and cabins here. I've stayed at both, and they are all great places for a get-away trip.)
We also weren't that far of a small access point on the lake. While we didn't go swimming, that didn't stop Matt and Theresa from taking their "son" Tate out for some swims and a little stick fetching to cool him off. He would jump out after the stick and make his way back with a gurgling sound similar to that of a motor boat taking on water in the engine.
The best part of the weekend for me was watching Maddie learn to ride her bike without training wheels. Cassidy got some great shots of Nathan helping Maddie get her confidence while riding in the grass between the three campsites, and by Saturday afternoon, she was going out riding with the rest of us.
Finally, I know Cassidy talked about the chairs Mom and Dad bought at Sam's Club, but I can't resist raving about the truly amazing chairs. They have to be some of the most comfortable lawn chairs I have ever sat in, and we've owned quite a few lawn chairs in my life. If you can find them at your local Sam's, buy them, you will not regret the purchase. Just make sure you watch your seat when you get up, or someone else might be occupying it when you get back.

Yes, I was asleep behind those shades, but I didn't want anyone to know.

iPods, iMacs, & Minis - oh my!

2008-07-16T11:47:00.003-04:00

So cassidy and I are currently sitting in the most amazing Kroger we have ever seen. Not only does it have its own stand alone Starbucks, but it also has big comfy leather chairs in the magazine aisle so that you can sit and read, watch tv, or email from you wireless device using their free wifi. Where is this wonderous grocery store , equiped with its own wine cellar and copious amonts of free samples? Well, look no further than Dublin, Ohio. We're up here getting Chelsea's Mini Cooper its regular tune up. We have a 2 hour wait, so we thought we'd hang out here.

If you've read Cassidy's blog (http://www.cassidydawn.com/) recently, you know that we have been gearing up to buy an iMac to replace our dead laptops from our college years. Well, we bit the bullet last Friday and bought it. Because we used my education discount, we also got a free iPod touch and printer. The printer and iPod arrived yesterday, and so I have am able to post this from the afor mentioned Kroger. The iMac will arrive this weekend, and then we'll be really rolling.

Well, I think we're going to move on now. Maybe we'll get more free bread before we leave - it's really good!

Sent from iPod on behalf of Justin Drummond.

What do we have here?

2008-07-15T13:20:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, Cassidy has her photography blog, and as very few of you know, I have a blog set up for my classroom. Between these two professional blogs, we decided that we need a personal blog to just share our random (and I mean extremely random) view of life from our piece of the sky and the pictures that document it all. We aren't making any claims to be the most entertaining blog on the web, but we'll do our best to give you a glimpse at our life. Heck, we might even make you laugh, even if it's at our own expense.

Hope you enjoy,

Justin & Cassidy