The Krohn Family

This summer, Grandma and Grandpa Tatsapaugh celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary.  As part of our vacation to the Outer Banks, we spent a day in Greensboro with the full family to enjoy and celebrate their anniversary.

Grandma T, as only Grandmas can do, had a box full of bubble toys and the cousins enjoyed playing with each other in the flowering gardens of their back yard.  Matthew and Jonah particularly enjoyed each other and catching each other’s bubbles.

We finished a lovely day with a great meal at a nearby restaurant and ice cream dessert back home on their screen-in deck.  Nothing like Grandma’s ice cream with 10+ toping options.  I wasn’t sure our kids would ever come down from that high…!

Good food, good fun, good time.  Lots more pictures are available here, and a short video of the kids playing with bubbles is available here.

Celebration and counting blessings for our life in USA was the theme of the day.  The kids loved the Carmel parade, especially the candy portion.  The Chinese Community dragon was also a highlight.  Today we have friends over for BBQ – nothing fancy, just brats, salad and drinks.

A tradition that is forming in our house is to all gather in Emily’s bedroom on the second floor of our house around sunset.  Conner Prairie is located just east of our home and Emily’s large bedroom window provides a great vantage point to see the fireworks.

Last night was Benny’s first time to join the family on Emily’s bed as we watch the sky light up and guess when the “big finale” is coming.  Nothing simpler nor more memorable than a family gathered in darkness on a twin bed watching fireworks out the window as the family dog tries to squish through to get the best view.

A few more parade pictures are available on our SmugMug site.

2009-07-06 Update: I have just uploaded a short video of the parade to our family video section.

In the spirit of Indianapolis Memorial Weekend, Prairie Trace Elementary participated in the First Annual Kindy 500.  More than 80 kindergartners prepared their own cars and decorations.  Joshua and dad worked hard on a special car with a Texas flare, complete with a Texas license plate and a “Don’t Mess With Texas” bumber sticker.

Mom video taped the race and the excitement of the day.  Joshua and dad put together a short video of the morning, with Joshua picking the theme for the video.  You can see the special video in our video section.  May the force be with you.

There are also a number of pictures on our SmugMug site.

On Saturday we celebrated Joshua’s and Matthew’s birthdays together at Bounce Planet.  Joshua turned 7 on May 18 and Matthew will turn 5 on June 4.  With a group of friends and cousins Mia and Shane, we enjoyed jumping and playing on the inflatable toys.  The older cousins (Emily, Mia and Shane) took each other on in a mini tournament of bounce jousting.

There are a handful of pictures on our SmugMug site of the morning, and also a fun video of the kids playing in our video section.

Yesterday all of Lilly across the globe paused their work for a day to give back to the communities where we live through the Lilly Day of Service.  Over 9000 Lilly staff in central Indiana participated through gardening, garbage pickup, painting and other projects.   The team I work on, called Semio, spent the morning at White River State Park mulching and pulling weeds.  In the afternoon, we headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Community Day, which includes being able to drive your own car around the track, albeit at no more then 30 mph.

There are a number of pictures on our SmugMug site of our morning, and a video of driving around the track.

We celebrated Joshua’s birthday on the 18th with a low key evening of family fun.  Joshua got to pick his favorite restaurant and we had Cici’s Pizza all-you-can-eat buffet.  Joshua is very excited about having his own real sleeping bag for future camping trips.  He also got a fishing rod and a Diji handheld game.  This Saturday we will celebrate both Joshua’s and Matthew’s birthdays with a number of friends at the Bounce Zone.  They are especially excited as their cousins Mia and Shane Krohn will make it to the party.

You can see more pictures on our SmugMug site.

Spring is in full swing as are spring/summer sports.  Joshua is in his first year of baseball and loving that his team has friends from his kindergarten class.  It is a good group of boys and the coaches do a nice job of fun and instruction.  Nothing too serious here.

For Joshua’s first game, I took a short video of Joshua playing first base.  You can see the clip on our family video section.

This past weekend I took lots of pictures of the whole baseball team.  You can see 60+ photos of almost all of team, coaches and players on our SmugMug Site.

June 15 Update: Joshua just got his team picture.  Click on the thumbnail so see a large version. 

Emily had 10 friends over for a mock sleep over birthday party this past weekend.  We were blessed with beautiful weather and great spirited kids.  They enjoyed a giant twister game in the backyard, homemade pizza, a paper dress modeling show and obstacle course, and then Madagascar 2 movie.  Yes, her little brothers got into the action too!

More pictures are available on our SmugMug site.

Last week our family took a much needed spring break and went to central Tennessee for some down time.  The weather was mixed, from warm and sunny, to a snow storm to tornadoes in the area.  We planned around the weather each day spending the nice days outside in the woods, and the ugly days at the indoor pool, movie theater or a day trip to Gatlinburg.

On a rainy Tuesday we took off to visit the Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies on the edge of the national park.  The aquarium is home to hundreds of species of salt and fresh water animals. We all loved the glass tunnel under the main pool with sharks, stingrays and eels.

The smaller side exhibits were as impressives, especially the “jellies” and exotic fish like the lion fish, piranas and puffer fish.  We all learned lots about the unique characteristics of each.  Did you know an eel has two sets of teeth?  One to initially grab you, and another set that pull you down into its stomach!

Another highlight of the trip was the perfect spring day at Fall Creek State Park in south central Tennessee.  From the park website, Fall Creek State Park is “laced with cascades, gorges, waterfalls, streams, and lush stands of virgin hardwood timber, the park beckons those who enjoy nature at her finest.  Fall Creek Falls, at 256 feet, is the highest waterfall in the eastern United States.”  We took the better part of the day on easy strolls through the woods and gorges of the park.  The gorges, cut by the rivers and streams, are quite impressive as the Cumberland Plateau falls sharply to the lowlands.

To each of us, the quiet time in a nice 2 bedroom apartment provided lots of hightlights as well.  The five of us often gathered around the kitchen table for extended sessions of Uno.  Dad got to relax with some non-work reading and catch a few extra hours of sleep.  The kids liked the large jacuzzi bathtub which made for a wild bubble bath in swimsuits.  The full moon blessed us on a warm evening and we took advantage with a late flashlight walk on the golf course cart paths looking for owls.  Matthew was our chief owl caller, saying “Who!  Who!” every 30 seconds.  “Do you see one yet, Daddy?”  “No, Matthew, not yet.  Keep calling them and we’ll see what happens”.  Simple pleasures.

We have lots of pictures to view on our SmugMug site.  There are also a few videos uploaded to our video section including time at Fall Creek State Park, the Aquarium and some fun on the playground.

Yesterday was a big day for Joshua.  With great determination he and dad took off his training wheels of his bike and gave this biking thing a serious try.   I haven’t seen him grin like this for a long time.  As I write this on a rainy day, Joshua is asking if he can ride his bike in the rain.  Freedom!

You can see a number of pictures on our SmugMug site as well as a short video clip of Joshua’s First Solo Ride in our video section.