June 2001

Pam had her baby! Phillip Kevin came into the world at about 12:31 on June 21, he was about 3 weeks early. Pam's doctor decided to induce her because she has been walking around for who know how long at 5 cm and 70% effaced and with her history of fast labors it only made sense when by the next week she was 6 cms. About 20 minutes after the doctor broke her water, Mister Phillip made it here. Baby and mom are doing fine as well as his excited big brothers. Amy's Wedding June 3rd, Amy's 18th birthday, she got married. Since she was my first baby (well really Sherry's baby) it was fitting that I take the photos for her wedding. It was a cold and cloudy day but at least there was no rain like there was the day before and days after. All the girls in the wedding were wearing sleeveless dresses. The wedding was outside at Deep River Park under the gazebo. It was and Amy was beautiful. I took 7 rolls of 36 exposure film. I got a little carried away trying to get all the shots you would need to get when shooting a wedding (I guess). I am not a wedding photographer nor am I really excited about shooting another but I couldn't resist doing this for Amy. Amy officially graduated high school a few days later. Her new husband is joining the Air Force next month. Click here to see photos Here we are at the reception. Thanks to Sherry's brother Scott for thinking to take it for me since I was busy behind the camera. Vacation The vacation started on Thursday May 17th when a couple ladies from the BB at Parentplace (my hang out on the web) came to Chicago. We went to Disney Quest which is a virtual reality theme park. I wasn't really impressed with the VR but it was nice to get together with Stephanie and Jenna. There were more moms due to meet for that weekend but me, RAW and Hollace had other plans. The weekend before Memorial Day seemed like a good weekend to throw a big party/picnic in Fort Wayne. Every time we go down there, we are always trying to figure out how to visit the most people in the short time we have. We decided after we couldn't get down for Christmas that we need to plan something during the spring where we can throw a big party for everyone and since we don't live there what a better place then at a campground for a picnic. This was the first time camping with Hollace. She did real well. The weather couldn't of been more perfect. It rained the day before we got there and there was a big puddle that Hollace really enjoyed splashing in. All of RAW's family (cousins) made it, as well as a couple of friends. My parents also were there, setting up camp a couple spaces down. RAW's cousin Darrel and Debbie were wonderful. This campsite was their stomping ground and got the campsites for us and the party. They are such seasoned campers, they were totally prepared as we were not. Had to borrow more than one thing from them and if not for them the actual picnic/party wouldn't of been as nice. After camping a few nights in our tent it was off to grama & "papa" Ward's for a couple more nights (this time in the house) We went to the zoo. We got home on Thursday, we then went to Kohl's Children Museum. That next weekend was Memorial Day and off to Appleton Wisconsin to see Cindy and family. A pregnant Pam and her brood were also there. Emma was celebrating her 2nd birthday. I have some video from that weekend of Emma and Hollace mugging the camera, and a clip of the two year olds roller blading! Quicktime Movies RAW's Canoe Right now as I write this, RAW should be on the St. Mary river (in Indiana/Ohio) in his home made canoe....so I can't tell you if it is still floating. He bought the plans off the internet and set out to build it. It isn't' fancy but initial tests show that it does float and doesn't leak. It sure beats $1,000 for the canoe he really wants. I am an artisan too! While RAW was busy making his canoe, I was busy learning the fine art of stained glass. I signed up for a 8 week course at the community college. I have only had 3 classes so far but right now am ready to start putting a 11"x17" lead window together after cutting out all my pieces of glass. I designed my window myself and am looking forward to seeing if I can really do this. Playing with broken glass and lead kind of make me nervous. My goal in learning stained glass is to eventually make stained glass kaleidoscopes Another craft I am getting into at the same time is hand made book binding. I realized after going through a gazillion artsy photos I have taken throughout the years that I had no way to showcase them. I didn't have the wall space nor was putting them in albums or boxes really appealling to me. So I am making my own coffee table books! Bookmaking seems like a really arsty cool craft. I have checked out several books on the subject and as soon as I can get a few supplies that I can't find in stores around here I am ready to go. I will post photos of both my books and stain glass creations in the Other page of the ART section of this site so stay tuned.