In advance of our trip to Bolivia, I decided to get a new camera: An Olympus E-PL5. It’s a mirrorless DSLR, which means it is capable of taking much better photos than a point and shoot, and it uses fancy lenses.
Jadzia: newspaper publisher
This week the girls are on spring break, and Wednesday was a big day for the Renaud Empire.
All the kids went with Yoli to Friendship International, where Jadzia and Ludi enjoyed a reunion with their former teachers there.
After Friendship, we high-tailed it to the Botanical Garden, hoping to arrive before noon (while it’s still free to get in). The children’s garden was closed, but we had fun visiting the Japanese Garden, seeing the cherry trees in bloom, feeding the koi, running through the maze, and eating snacks on the grass. At one point Jadzia told me something felt strange on her teeth and wanted to show me, but I was indisposed, chasing the other kids. A while later, she came running up with Yoli to tell me some big news. “My new tooth is coming in!” she exclaimed. I look inside her mouth, and sure enough, a new tooth is starting to poke through. I suppose now would be a good time for the baby teeth to start falling out.
Anyway, this afternoon Jadzia decided to publish her own newspaper announcing this big news. It is surprisingly well-done, with a “photo” and some layout. Click the image below to see the whole thing (two pages).
Maybe she’ll go into the family business! (Assuming the business survives the next decade or so)
Unhappy one minute …
!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2009-03/IMG_1494.jpg!
And then happy the next …
!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2009-03/IMG_1495.jpg!
These photos are from a trip to the Botanical Garden.
!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2009-03/IMG_1503.jpg!
Pay no attention to the baby behind the curtain!
!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2009-03/IMG_1506.jpg!
Yoli and Jadzia are putting together a flower arrangement. It actually has lasted quite a while and is still up on our mantle.
Birthday crush
We had a mini-celebration for Ludi’s first birthday earlier this week. She turned one on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, late July and so far in August has been a time of hustle and bustle. We were in Houston the two days before Wednesday, staying overnight with our friends the Zanders so that we could do a bunch of paperwork at the Bolivian consulate in that city. Fortunately we completed everything we needed to, and now we are set for our trip to Bolivia at the end of August.
So Wednesday arrived and we knew we wanted to do something for Ludi, since it was her day. We had already settled on a trip to the Whistle Stop, but I thought it would also be fun to go to the Botanical Garden first.
It had been raining, so that scared away a lot people and we got a great parking spot. (This accords well with my “Six Flags Strategy”: Plan your trips to Six Flags on rainy days, that way the lines are short and you get to ride the rides more times.)
Back to the Botanical Garden
We took advantage of a rare Saturday off last week to take Jadzia to the Botanical Garden. It was a beautiful day and we got some nice photos.
Jadzia and Yoli in one of my favorite spots near the lake at the Japanese Garden.
Garden visit
This past week we took Jadzia to the Missouri Botanical Garden for the first time. It was a lot of fun for us. Jadzia got bored with it after a while, but we brought some food and got her to eat and later to sleep. Check out these photos…