The Krohn Family

Fall is a beautiful time of year on our cul-de-sac, especially our backyard.  Our lot is surrounded by 100 foot hickory trees that tower over maples.   Each year the maples get bigger and reach their branches higher and wider to get more sun.

This time of the year our yard turns miriad of colors ranging from the deep green all the way to brilliant red.  It is a favorite time of mine to take pictures of the kids and the fun happening in the neighborhood cul-de-sac.

I’ve selected a few of the photos here from last weekend.  You can see the boys having a great time with Bennie, then joining the rest of the neighborhood kids in roller blading and general fun outside.

For more pictures, check out our SmugMug site.

This past weekend Joshua and and I enjoyed a 2-night family campout with Cub Scout Pack 197.  Our whole family didn’t make it due to some flu in the house.  It was a Joshua and Dad weekend.  We traveled south to the trees and hills of southern Indiana and the Spring Mill State Park.  The first night of the campout was tough: 45 degrees and raining most of the evening and early morning.  Fortunately dad’s old Eureka tent and warm sleeping bags served us well.  We stayed warm and dry, though getting out of the sleeping bag was tough.

Saturday was a full day starting with a robust breakfast of eggs and bacon. There is something about camping food.  Mmm, mmm.    A common comment throughout the weekend was how great it was to see the dads cooking and serving the families.  A number of other scouts and their families arrived Saturday morning and soon we had a full 50 or so in the group.  We split up by scout age and spread out throughout the park to clean up trails and public areas.  Surprising how much a motivated group can do.  Joshua’s group took a trail that led us by the old Hammer Cemetery about the time that the sky cleared and the colors of fall fully emerged.  Beautiful site.

The scouts enjoyed the campfire the most, especially “helping build” it by piling on more sticks and stuff they found that would burn.  The fire pit became the central gathering place – for food, heat, and just relaxing conversation.

Saturday evening was the highlight for me and many of the scouts.  The sky remained clear and the Cub Master set up his telescope.  The scouts learned about the stars in the sky, constellations and then got a good look at Jupiter and its 4 moons.  At one point Joshua look at me and said, “Dad, we are really small, aren’t we?”  “Yes, Josh, and God is really big and cares about you”.

There are a number of pictures on our SmugMug site of the campout, and even a short video available as well.  I believe this is the first of many campouts and we are both looking forward to more.

For Matthew’s class he had to put together a group of pictures that introduces himself to the class. 

So Dad and Matthew used Lightroom to look through literally thousands of photos and narrowed them down to the few that Matthew thought best represented who he is.  I have to admit, he did a nice job selecting pictures of himself and his family.  His personality of joy, curiosity and intensity come through the images.  You can click on the thumbnail of the collage we put together to see a large image.

For Grandma and Grandpas who want a high resolution version for printing, you can download a PDF version here.  It is a 27mb file so it will take a bit to download.

Emily has written another special piece.  Similar to her imaginative journal writing from last year, she let her creativity come through on this 5th grade poetry assignment.  Yes, we are proud parents!

The Five Senses of Autumn

The Smell……

The crispy air that is stained with apple,
That stings the nerves that smell it,
A smile crosses the face,
For sweetness touches the soul in autumn.

The Touch……

From the sticky hand from pumpkin pleasure,
To  the crisp of leaves that wind in your hair,
The things that you  feel during fall,
Have a touch that creates a moment.

The Sight……

Even with the trees all bare ,
And leaves in the air,
The sight takes no fright,
To be stored in your mind.

The Sound……

The crunching leaves,
Give off quite a ease ,
That shares a please,
To be carried with the breeze.

The Taste……

It’s the candy corn that crunches,
That spoils your lunches,
The pumpkin pie that destroys,
The veggies joys,
The gravy that makes you desire,
More on your plates tower.

Though it is over, the fun won’t go lower. For there will be snow, with mint and hot cocoa……………..

Emily Krohn, October 2009

School is in full swing with Emily and Joshua getting their fall 2009 pictures taken this past week.  My how they grow up quickly.  Matthew hasn’t had his picture taken yet, but I’ll add it when we get it.

Yes, we did talk Joshua into wearing his favorite souvenir shirt from the Outer Banks.  How can you not adore a first grade picture like that.

Higher resolution photos are available on our SmugMug site.

The weather was perfect today, almost 80 degrees. This morning Dad cut the grass, then Emily had a soccer game.  Church had a great message and the boys (including Dad) played in the yard. The three of us set up the golf net and then worked on our games. Both Joshua and Matthew are starting to get into golf and their swings improve each time we practice. “Did you see that one go in the air, Dad?!” Not too many days left of summer, nor of small boys. I’m loving each one.

My little girl is growing up. She will always be my little sunshine. It has been 2 or more years since Emily has talked about painting her room.  Patiently she waited as other projects took priority.  Now it was her turn.  After 3 or 4 trips to Home Depot for color swatches, she picked out her 2 colors: lime green and light blue.  They matched her new bedspread and would give the room her own unique, young-girl look.  We worked together most of the time, from painting to removing the carpet to setting up the new loft bed.

Her brothers helped a bit too and are already thinking about their room makeover…!   There are a number of pictures of before and after on our SmugMug site.   I’ve also put together a short video as we worked through the stages of the “extreme makeover”.

(The pic on the left of little brother, Josh, peaking in on his big sister’s new room is a common view at our house these days).

Mia Krohn, Uncle Kelly’s daughter, turned 11 a few weeks ago. We decided to make it a weekend road-trip to Pittsburgh leaving Friday afternoon and coming home late Sunday.  We were blessed with beautiful weather which made for a great time at the pool and riding our bikes.  The cousins – our 3 plus Mia and Shane – get along so well.  Mia and Emily are less than a year apart and very similar in personality.  Both are bright, artistic and enjoy the simplicity of the moment.  The boys….well, they’re just boys.  Within minutes of visiting Shane’s room we had battles and swords clashing around the house.  The girls were more interested in comparing rooms and ideas for Emily’s new loft bed.

Saturday morning we started the day off with homemade pancakes by Uncle Kelly – just like our tradition back home.  After a slow and relaxing start, we headed to the neighborhood pool and enjoyed the perfect weather and cool water.  The kids had a great time with Mia leading the “pirate” game similar to “Simon Says”. On the way back to Uncle Kelly’s home we took some time to enjoy the playground and watch the kids show their personalities.

The evening closed with a party for Mia, and Aunt Melissa (she recently celebrated her BIG birthday too).  The kids bounced around off the cake and ice cream high until late into the evening.  A special moment of family prayer time included rounds and rounds of “highs” for the day.

Sunday morning Dad and Uncle Kelly worked on some minor repairs and corrections to the electrical wiring in the house. We also got Grandpa Krohn’s (as in Grandpa Bill Krohn) old International pickup up and running.  Mia whispered to me that her favorite thing about that pickup was that it was good for picking up ice cream.  We closed out the morning with a family bike ride of the whole group with Matthew proudest of us all since he no longer needed his training wheels.  The long drive back to Indy passed quickly with some DVD movie help and PBS podcasts for Mom and Dad.

Lots of pictures can be seen on our SmugMug site and a short video is available in our video section.  We can’t wait until the next Pittsburgh trip.

A few weeks back, Matthew decided it was time to be big like his brother. Dad took off the training wheels and we headed to the nearby bike path.  Full of determination, Matthew took off on his bike without training wheels and soon was racing his brother around the cul-de-sac.  For a short video of Matthew’s early rides, check out our video section.  Apologies in advance for a shaky video…but the commentary is worth it!

This summer we traveled to North Carolina for vacation.  The kids thought we were just going to Grandma and Grandpa Tatsapaugh’s 50th Wedding Anniversary and some site-seeing.  We surprised them by taking a long site-seeing trip and landed at the same beach house we rented last year.  They thought we were joking until we said, “Get out and help unpack the car!”   “This is awesome!” was the unanimous response.  I have never seen them get out of the car so fast.  One of the pictures in the beach house shows a satellite view of the North Carolina Outer Banks (OBX).  The red dot (my addition) on the picture to the right indicates where Kitty Hawk is located on the OBX.  Click the photo for a higher resolution view.

Our first full day in Kitty Hawk was highlighted with a trip to the Wright Brothers Memorial for the 31st Annual Kitty Hawk Kite Festival.  What a great place to fly a kite on the historic grounds where the Wright brothers experienced the first powered flight.  There were professional kite flyers with giant kites and stunt kites.  There were also kites for the kids to color and fly on their own.  Here is a short video of our afternoon at the festival.   We all became so enthralled by kites that day that kite flying became a theme of the week on the beach.  Lots more pictures of the Kite Festival are here.

The bulk of our time in Kitty Hawk was time at the beach.  With a simple shovel and some imagination, we spent hours each day building sand castles and “hot tubs”.  We also had lots of practice and fun with the boogie boards.  All of us gave it a try in some way or another.  Emily was the main surfer of the family with Mom and Dad often at her side.  Joshua picked it up in the final couple of days, loving the feeling of riding a wave.  Matthew wasn’t quite big enough so he often stood on the shore watching and pretending he caught a big one.  I’ve pulled together a 10 minute video of highlights from the beach.  MANY more pics of beach time can be seen here in our SmugMug gallery.

Another theme of the week was our new pet, “Crabby”.  We found a horseshoe crab on the first day and adopted him (or his shell) for the rest of week.  We took lots of silly pictures of Crabby including this shot of Joshua ready to have some crab dinner.  You can see more Crabby pics here.

For a distraction from the beach and to enjoy some of the regional character, we spent a day on Roanoake Island.  We enjoyed the peaceful harbor town of Manteo including spending the better part of the day in the Roanoake Island Festival Park, a historical center with a combination of museum and education center and living Adventure Museum, similar to Conner Prairie near home.  We walked through the grounds and met people in full costume and character from the time of the first settlers over 400 years ago.  The kids especially liked getting to go on a real replica ship and meet the sailors and learn how the shipped sailed in its day.  Another highlight was the community area where blacksmiths, wood workers and security guards taught us about the tools and ways of the time. The kids loved putting on the shields of armour and pretending to be brave.  Lots of pics of our time in Manteo and the Festival Park are available here.

On the north of Roanoake Island is the Elizabethan Gardens.  What a beautiful way to spend a sunny July day.  We walked all around the gardens, climbed trees and did a scavenger hunt for hidden articles throughout the gardens.  We finished the day with a family picture taken by self timer on the garden’s lawn.

Lots more pictures of the time in the gardens can be seen here.

I took lots of pictures throughout the vacation.  You can see the whole gallery on SmugMug here.  Don’t miss the beach video highlights as you can see why we went back…and why we hope to visit OBX again.