Our next-door neighbors, the Lambsons, are in Germany now. Before they left we had a farewell party (one of my kids called it a "go away" party, but I think it was a mistake). Here's a song we sang to celebrate Carrol's time among us:

Lyrics:
Carrol.
You set the bar for righteousness
Within the Newnan Ward.
But let's not fool ourselves,
Prob'ly more like the whole wide world.
Thanks Carrol

Carrol
Can you play basketball tonight?
Do you think you'll be too tired?
You were in at 8:15
But now it's 8:19
And we know how things can change
For Carrol.

Carrol
We would split them evenly
That was the deal between you and me.
But when counselor meetings came around
You were nowhere to be found
You just happened to be out of town
Freakin' Carrol

Carrol
Please tell me it ain't so,
Someone told me long ago
You bought a chainsaw so you'd fit in,
But you have to plug it in.
Poor Carrol.

Now, people listening to this song
Might find it kind of strange.
But help us, won't you sing along?
As we sing about the boy with the girl's name.
About Carrol.

Carrol
Now you're going away,
We don't know what to say.
Goodbye auf Wiedersehen
To Carrol.

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed up to Unicoi State Park with some family and friends for three nights of camping in the rain. Here's a little video:

Alexander and his grandpa made a pond last year. (Here's a clip of update 1.)

An elusive leak in the waterfall led me to redo the liner and rocks this week. Alexander was ecstatic. I took him to the rock store and he didn't want to leave the place. They had two ponds and he kept telling me, "Why didn't you tell me before now that this place had ponds? How long have you known they have ponds?"

The waterfall now features flat rocks and Alexander says it's now the way he told Grandpa to make it in the first place (you'll hear him describe that in the video).

Here's a message he sent last week -

Dear Grandpa,

There is a little more pond stuff to do in my pond. I want to hook up a river and put some rocks in it and I want to do a little rocks in it. And there is going to be a nother pond with, instead of a waterfall, there's going to be a fountain that shoots out water and goes back in and there's going to be a long and wide pipe tube that's going to go into the pump and it's going to go over and by the river and it's going to be plugged in.

And that's all. I love you Grandpa and Grandma Hill.

Love,
Alexander

And here's his sketch of what it needs to look like - two ponds connected by a river filled with stones.

Big plans.

Here's a little clip of the self-proclaimed Mayor of Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Weird dude, but some of the information is interesting. We were there with Bart, Kirsten, and Jeffrey, and this guy appeared when a group of high school students gathered around the Imagine mosaic, a memorial to John Lennon.

Elisabeth presents her peanut butter kabob in this clip -

July 2008 - the video starts with Genny getting in trouble for trying to touch a turtle. "No touching! Aloha! Aloha!" It's a favorite memory of the trip. This is at Turtle Beach (Honulani) at Laniakea, Oahu, Hawaii. The song is Tortues (Turtles) from Saint-Saens' Le Carnaval des Animaux.

July 2008. The Eiffel Tower was illuminated in blue to celebrate the French presidency of the EU. This was taken from atop the Arc de Triomphe. You can hear everyone gasp as the lights come on. The photos at the end were taken from Trocadero a couple of nights earlier.

Street performers in Les Halles area of Paris, July 2008. The song is catchy. The police made them leave right after this performance. Can anyone name that tune?

It's amazing what 12 years living outside of Utah and Idaho will do for one's excitement about white stuff falling from the sky. It started snowing in Georgia today as church got out and we had a few inches by the end of the day. Here are some photos and video clips of sledding and snowman attempts.

I vaguely remember going to a Star-Wars-themed birthday party at my cousin's friend's house when I was a kid. They had hired people in Chewbacca and Darth Vader costumes. Now, all these years later, my kids are new Star Wars fans who can keep track of the characters better than I can. Here are some photos and video clips from our 6-year-old's birthday party today -