Our House (and Baby)

Kindergarten and beyond!

2010-09-05T19:47:00.000-04:00

"Save Dance Foam" Con't

2010-08-12T21:24:00.000-04:00

Actually, these images are from before the previous post's set, but that's OK.

"Save Dance Foam"

2010-08-12T21:19:00.001-04:00

So... We thought we might stop down at the Whitehall sesquicentennial for an evening of sitting on a blanket listening to the local municipal band euthanize a handful of John Philip Sousa marches. About 1/2 of the way through 'The Washington Post,' Declan noticed the local fire company setting up something that involved a big bucket marked "Save Dance Foam." I suspected that Ibeza foam was on its way. I was, astonishingly, correct:

More pics coming...

Declan's Train Disaster

2010-06-16T10:02:00.002-04:00

Declan shot this short film yesterday with his Discovery Kids Camera:

The view from the car seat

2010-06-10T10:01:00.001-04:00

Declan took this video on the way to the Grocery Store:

Faith at the Air & Space Museum

2010-05-16T19:45:00.000-04:00

Faith and Tara with Declan

Flying car!

And Oh Yeah. The Space shuttle.

Declan & Kyla

2010-05-15T19:05:00.001-04:00

On Kyla's last day of school:

Declan's pre-school goodbye ceremony

2010-05-11T10:59:00.003-04:00

In two parts.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Super Sled!

2010-04-15T19:32:00.001-04:00

On the front of one ski, there is a window behind a fire and on top of that window, there is a clear camera and a red camera. This is the infra-red window. On the front of the other ski, there is a blue shield for making it go faster.

On the bottom is a red panel where there is another infra-red camera - it is very hard to see because it's red and blends in with the red panel.

This sky camera is at the top of the tower, at the back, where there is a box with a camera that comes out extending that takes pictures of the sky as the sled zooms.

Above the red panel is where the guy piloting the sled sits. Beside the cabin are two mechanical doors that open and close by button. The front of the cabin has a blue plastic windshield and on top there is a roof that seals the shield to the tower that holds up the sky camera.

The purpose is just that it's just a cool sled - no erase that - it saves lives and goes pretty fast since in winter there are lots of avalanches on snowy mountains.

The station that it launches from is located right on the edge of a mountain where lots of avalanches happen and on the roof of the station there is a radar that connects down by pole to an alarm. When the radar senses avalanches of snow then it mechanically rings the alarm and then a mechanical hand presses a button and opens a door for the sled to go out. And then another mechanical arm pushes the sled out onto the mountain and then it turns on its motor as it sleds down the hill.

Even more floor repair

2010-04-12T09:54:00.001-04:00


After the repair - on the left is the fireplace patch, which you can see below insulated with spray foam. On the right is the 'pet-effected' area, which I forgot to take a 'before' pic of.

More floor repair

2010-04-12T09:49:00.000-04:00


Patch repair in study

Declan's room

Floor - before and after

2010-04-12T09:39:00.002-04:00


Hallway from living room to kitchen

Patch repair in dining room

Magnetic Marble Run

2010-01-03T15:07:00.000-05:00

A BubbleTweet from @pbradl42

This is my magnetic marble run. I love it with all my heart. Da da da da.

K'Nex!

2009-12-31T13:20:00.000-05:00

A lumber factory -notice all the saw blades (gears) in various places.

Mountain Climbing!

2009-12-25T17:30:00.000-05:00

These were both taken with Declan's Xmas pressie - a kid's digital camera.

Sledding on campus

2009-12-20T15:07:00.000-05:00

The good thing about sledding in 19 inches of snow is that the packed down tracks start to form bobsled runs!

Declan's song transcribed!

2009-12-15T20:24:00.002-05:00

Greg Scheer, a friend of my Parents in GR transcribed a version of Declan's song! Here's the PDF. Unfortunately, neither Tara or I have even a modicum of musical talent, so I'm capable of playing it. But I know people who are.

Deer Park with Masha and Maxim

2009-11-15T12:56:00.001-05:00

Declan, Maxim, Masha

Feeding the horse

All three kids with the horse

Halloween '09

2009-11-05T09:49:00.000-05:00

Declan's 1st Song

2009-10-20T18:57:00.001-04:00

Declan wanted to teach us a song tonight at dinner. When he started, I thought it was something he learned at school, but it turns out that he made it up during a 'timeout'. Anyway, here it is, in three movements:

Puddle Jumping!

2009-09-12T16:07:00.000-04:00

'After' pictures to follow...

Puppet owl

2009-07-27T17:24:00.002-04:00

This is puppet owl. And I love him. He is carrying my thumb. He flies high, flies low, and goes everywhere you can go by flying.

Ben Carrying Pickles

2009-07-26T16:45:00.002-04:00

Here is Ben. Look at him. He is carrying pickles, and I love him. He goes fast, he goes slow. He goes everywhere you can go on tracks. Bye!

Weeee!

2009-07-15T21:21:00.000-04:00

Declan admitted that he was a little scared the first time, but then he thought it was fun...

Modal Reasoning

2009-07-13T20:10:00.002-04:00

An argument between Declan and Tara this evening:

Tara: It's time for a bath
Declan: I'm too tired. If I have a bath, I'll have to play with the letters, and I'm too tired to play with the letters.
Tara: Then don't play with the letters.
Declan: But I can't not play with the letters. I must play with the letters if I have a bath.
Tara (switching tactics): If you're so tired, why are you spending so much energy arguing?
Declan: (no comment).

Brilliant. Incidentally, the transition from ~M~P to LP is valid in S4 (if my memory serves, it is the summer...).

Freakin' Awesome, man

2009-06-21T20:02:00.001-04:00

(note: this is not my fault. Blame Matt Bown of Extreme Trains on the History Channel. Declan also said something was 'wicked cool' earlier.)

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck would chuck wood?

2009-06-15T13:58:00.001-04:00

Now you know:

Head-Bonker

2009-06-15T13:49:00.004-04:00

I forgot to add these from my twitter feed, so here they are:

And for the grandparents:

Inductive Skepticism in a 4 year old.

2009-03-08T19:38:00.000-04:00

Tonight, as I was cutting up the pizza for dinner, my 4-year old Declan came up and asked me if he could have a piece of pepperoni. I said "wait for your dinner."

He said "but I need to make sure that it is spicy".
"It is the same pepperoni as always," said I.
"Yes, but how do I know that this is as spicy as the last?" he questioned.
"It comes from the same company," I explained.
"But I can't be sure that it is the same spiciness".
"Yes, but we can suspect that it has the same spiciness with a high degree of probability," I retorted, in a last, desperate attempt.

"But I cannot be sure. The only way to be sure is to taste a piece, and I need to be sure."

I gave him the damn piece of pepperoni.

All of this was followed up with a 15 minute conversation on how to distinguish a Diego episode featuring Dora from a Dora episode featuring Diego. This is, as you may suspect, crucially important, and Swiper the fox - who only appears on Dora episodes - is terrifying to Declan.

We have an odd and wonderful little boy.

The single most embarrassing thing in the world:

2009-02-20T21:43:00.003-05:00

Not only is it a 1984 Mac box. Not only has it been preserved for 25 years in my parent's house. Not only did my heart skip a beat when I uncovered it this afternoon... But it actually contains....

Wait for it...

D&D characters. From when I was 10. (1984) Eeeeep.

So not only was I so geeky that I treasured everything Mac-related to such an extent that I saved the BOX that the manuals came in and squirreled it away somewhere to wait for 25 years, but I filled it with the most valuable thing I could think of: hand-created D&D characters, scenarios, maps, everything.

Declan just doesn't stand a chance, does he?

Declan's latest train line:

2009-02-13T11:11:00.000-05:00

Our Karate Kid!

2009-02-11T17:21:00.000-05:00

Declan went to an introductory Karate class tonight, and loved it!

Snow Play

2009-01-27T16:19:00.000-05:00

Clearing snow with dump truck.

"Excuse me. Why is my hand is cold?" -Declan. "Because you took your glove off, you great pillock" -Mom

Our Grandchildren

2009-01-26T19:35:00.001-05:00

Declan announced yesterday that when he has a kid (he was fairly disappointed to learn that he couldn't grow one in his tummy), he is going to name it 'fusspot'. Today, he added 'crankypants'.
We're looking forward to welcoming 'Crankypants Fusspot Bradley' to the family in, oh, 25-30 years.

Pickle Cake!

2009-01-06T22:11:00.000-05:00

Yes, that is a pickle with candles in it. See:

Fall Fest '08

2009-01-03T15:04:00.001-05:00

Levi, Declan and Masha on the fire truck

Declan and Daddy on the big slide

Levi and Declan on the lady Bugs

Bumper Cars!

These were actually from Fall Fest, but I forgot to post them - sorry!

Glen Rock Train Display

2009-01-03T15:01:00.001-05:00

Declan and Levi at the Glen Rock Train Display. It was seriously impressive.

A Lemon! In a Stocking! Amazing!

2008-12-25T11:10:00.000-05:00

Modeling

2008-12-22T20:48:00.002-05:00

Declan has been playing recently with these battery-powered Thomas the tank engine tracks. Earlier today, I set up a track that ran pretty close to the large plastic box that contained all of the left over track. On the first run, the train hit the edge of the box and fell off, so we moved the box and everything was happy.
Just a few minutes ago, Declan came downstairs into the Kitchen and requested that Tara come upstairs. I suggested that I could help, but Mommy was required. He took us upstairs into his room, where he walked across the room, and gesturing to the box (which was back in its original position) questioned: "Who put this box here?" He continued "See what happens: the train gets stuck if this box is here."
Tara had to confess. Hilarious.

All-Star!

2008-12-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

Updates to the house

2008-08-23T22:28:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't posted anything about the house recently, so here are a few updates to what went on this summer. The main job was to jack up and straighten out the ceilings on the ground floor/floor of the top floor. To do that, the builder had to install a beam, so we just put a 'false' ceiling in the kitchen and dining room. The ceilings are still near 9 feet, so there is no real worry about feeling cramped, and those areas are more 'intimate' anyway.
You'll notice the hard-wired smoke and CO2 detector that is installed in the hallway. The house is not up to code - it has even been inspected by an electrical inspector! Whooo hoo!

In that process, he removed the ceiling in the living room, and pulled out the old wall that had closed up the stairs. The banister is one he built.

From our trip to MI - this sign is in Shelby, MI

2008-08-23T22:23:00.000-04:00

Tricycling!

2008-08-04T13:59:00.000-04:00

You know... When I grow up, I'll be able to cycle on this path with Daddy!

(actual quote).

At the playground in Shelby

2008-08-03T10:10:00.000-04:00

Climbing through 1 of the 2 tunnels

Up the climbing frame

Down the fireman's pole

And in the swing!

Sophie at the goats

2008-08-01T23:32:00.000-04:00

Declan is showing Sophie how to winch the food up to the goats (notice the greedy one with his head through the bars trying to snatch it as it goes by).

Sophie and Dex play with the rocket with their respective Daddies in the background, sippin' coffee. Sometimes it seems like not that much has changed over the years...

Coppersville Train Trip

2008-07-30T15:41:00.000-04:00

Our engine. This is actually taken at the turn-around in Marne, but it is the only really good shot I have, so it will start the images:

Declan on the train.

Declan with the hilarous conductor.

The station and engine at the end of the line in Coopersville.

Vacation '08

2008-07-29T16:03:00.001-04:00

Feeding the Goats at Lewis Farm Market

On the dock at the cabin, throwing stones

This is the view while feeding the goats.

Rock Climbing wall!

Jeffery

2008-07-29T15:55:00.001-04:00

Declan and Jeffery (and Grandma) at Lewis' Orchard in New Era, MI

Dex & Happy

2008-06-30T22:10:00.001-04:00

Happy is Katie's stuffed dog. She (Katie, not Happy) left her (Happy, not Katie) at our house accidentally this afternoon. We'll be returning Happy to Katie on Thursday, but in the meantime, Declan is making sure Happy feels, well, happy.

Cherry Pickin'

2008-06-21T09:47:00.002-04:00

We went to Baugher's outside Westminster to pick cherries with Katie. This is Katie and Declan:

Notice the left arm, free from splint! And Katie and Declan drawing on the chalk board.

The Cherries (10 quarts approx - I put up 11 pints yesterday!).

And Katie, proudly displaying her cherry-stained cheeks:

5th Metacarpal

2008-06-18T10:39:00.001-04:00

Dex broke his hand back on memorial day - he fell down in the park at Iain's Birthday party. Anyway, as the cast is coming off tomorrow, it's high time we post a pic of one of the three (really!) casts he's had. (the other two got wet).

It's a Boy's Life

2008-05-08T15:33:00.000-04:00

The Subjunctive!

2008-04-18T10:02:00.003-04:00

This morning, as we were playing with our very cool new 'aqualand' toy, Declan declared "If I were a duck, I could swim in this." The correct use of the subjunctive form of the verb ('were' instead of 'was' for antecedent conditions known to be false - what we in philosophy call 'counterfactuals') means that his grasp of English grammar surpasses most of my undergraduate students!

A linguist in the making...

2008-03-30T18:41:00.004-04:00

You all know that Dex has a great linguistic ability, but now he's proving Chomsky right (at least the U-shaped curve bit about language development). This evening at dinner, while I was reading "Bus Route to Boston," Declan corrected (he's taken to correcting me when I misread one of his favorite stories) 'cannoli' to 'cannolis' in the sentence "then, of course, we ordered four cannoli." Try explaining the fact that when English speakers adopt words from a different language, we maintain the original plural conjugation to a three-year old!
He did correctly note shortly thereafter that Moma Olga "did have something different like Spanish or something." (she, in fact, speaks Russian)

Spring Break - Chicoteague

2008-03-27T16:07:00.001-04:00

Feeder ponies! (as opposed to 'wild ponies').

On top of the lighthouse (whose 198 steps Declan climbed by himself!)

With Grandma on the Beach

With Daddy on the boardwalk...

Katie!

2008-02-17T15:59:00.000-05:00

Declan and Katie playing with the parking ramp on her last visit.

Declan Dictionary

2008-02-11T20:15:00.001-05:00

Declan has recently demonstrated an remarkable talent for lexicography. Here is a recent sampling of his repertoire:

Proveit (n) [3 syllables: Prove-e-it] a troveit that does move. (and it stops when it sees this (i.e. the printer)).
Troveit (n) [three syllabus: Trove-e-it] a thing that stops and chews over here (by the door).
Scoat (n) Something that goes up in the air.
Lifescoat (n) A balloon that goes up in the air and winches things up.
Stiped (adj) Something 'boyish' (maybe, as it was most recently used to refer to juice!)
Peeger (proper name) a little otter (See 'Peeker')
Peeker (proper name) a little otter who, with his brother Peeger, lives on whoogala (Who-Ga-La) street, which is in the wall behind our bed frame, and they often need rescuing with the winch, because they get stuck up a tree, which is also behind our bed.
Heeger (proper name) daddy otter of Peeger and Peeker
Beaver (proper name) mommy otter of Peeger and Peeker.

Now that's some good-looking footware!

2008-02-05T19:54:00.000-05:00

No kidding!

3rd Brithday

2008-01-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

Notice the cake, made by Momma Renee!

'We're such busy guys'!

Lincoln logs! Hooray!

Frosting X-mas cookies

2007-12-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

That's a green duck, if any of you are interested.

This is so cool!

2007-08-19T20:13:00.000-04:00

...Declan exlaimed as the rocket takes off...

Us, in Springfield...

2007-08-12T22:43:00.000-04:00

We generated these at http://www.simpsonsmovie.com. Thought you might enjoy!

A new record!

2007-08-03T11:28:00.001-04:00

I've been struggling with this loaner laptop that has Vista on it - and I've been telling everyone about the insane number of clicks it takes to create a new folder in, say, C:\Inetpub from, say, Dreamweaver. So I just tested it again:

Vista: 24 clicks (if the permission changes go perfectly - they fail on average of 3 times for me)
Windows XP: 2 clicks

Welcome to planet microsoft.

Big Boy!

2007-07-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

Declan on the wooden train down at our local farm museum.

Antioch...

2007-06-26T14:50:00.001-04:00

Many of you have emailed me with concerns about Antioch's closing, esp. after that fantastic NPR story by John McChesney. It is true. And probably unnecessary. It's all about a mismanagement and the movement away from institutions staffed enfranchised faculty to degree mills staffed by adjuncts.
The alumni board has created a fund to try to save the undergraduate college by removing it from the control of the university board: you can follow the progress at http://antiochians.org/. Please donate to the fund (the US Bank account number is in the upper left of that page). We've raised almost 1/2 million this week, but need to raise something like 39.5 million by this time next year.
Peter Bradley
PS: if you happen to have any openings for a librarian, I know a few that could use a job!

Boo-Yah

2007-04-21T22:26:00.000-04:00

Actually, I hit 49 on that hill once, but I almost don't believe it myself. I took a photo of this one to verify. Did I mention that some idiot tried to skip a stop sign and cross the road as I was descending, so I literally had to thread through two moving cars this speed?

Dapper Dan!

2007-02-22T17:45:00.000-05:00

How's my hair?!?

Grrrrr.

2007-02-18T21:10:00.000-05:00

Tigers need to use the potty too!

Linguistic development

2007-02-11T21:37:00.000-05:00

Most of the time I post photos of Declan on here, but today he did two things that were so impressive (to me, at least) that I have to record them:

He said 'I catched it', after chasing and stopping a run away ball AND
He said 'I losed it', when a car rolled under the couch.

I take these to be instances of the 'over-generalization' of the past tense of English verbs, which means that he has progressed from the first stage of linguistic development (memorizing words as they are heard) to the second (creating words according to grammatical rules).
Chomsky was so right.

Thomas is cool

2007-01-30T21:46:00.000-05:00

'nuff said

2nd B-Day!

2007-01-30T21:44:00.000-05:00

Dex is 2! Happy Horray!

Biker Babes...

2006-12-04T20:58:00.000-05:00

Like, Katie & Dex 4-evr.

Dex and Dad

2006-10-27T20:41:00.000-04:00

Mom-Mom took this one! Happy Horray!

Dex in his Blank-e-let

2006-10-20T22:49:00.000-04:00

With a big shout-out to Tia Amy for the blanket.

Dex in red pants

2006-09-21T22:47:00.000-04:00

with thanks to Claudia and Carsten for the cool threads.

Dex and Granddad

2006-08-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

Dex and Grand-dad reading on the deck.

Bubbles!

2006-07-21T20:34:00.000-04:00

Bubbles! (thanks to the grandfolks for the cute overalls)

Potty Training

2006-07-21T20:32:00.000-04:00

In more ways than one - now I just have to get him reading the sports page!

Dex on the Deck III

2006-06-28T22:02:00.000-04:00

And 'honkin' the horn some more...

Dex on the Deck II

2006-06-28T22:00:00.001-04:00

And 'honkin' the horn...

Dex on the Deck I

2006-06-28T22:00:00.000-04:00

Chillin' in the chair...

Super Stacker

2006-06-28T21:58:00.000-04:00

As you can no doubt tell, Dex stacked all of these himself! (well, honestly, Dad-dad helped out a little by handing him the blocks in order - but he did all the stacking!)

Backyard 'hardscape' complete!

2006-06-28T21:50:00.000-04:00

Mike finished out Deck and set the posts (in the post-holes I dug!) last week, and this is what we've got! Looks pretty good, I must say. Sorry you can't really get a sense of the Deck, but suffice it to say that it is quite comfortable.

Front Porch

2006-04-30T09:17:00.000-04:00

Is being repaired - to put it mildly. The entire thing had rotted away, and the foundation (which was sitting directly on the soil) had crumbled. But look at the new deck - the deck flooring is a trek composite product. It looks exactly like the traditional deck flooring on the house next door.

Dex, keepin' it real

2006-04-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

Now here's the Declan we all know and love:

That's my boy.

And...

2006-04-23T10:52:00.000-04:00

This was our bathroom. It is no more.

Old Construction Pics

2006-04-23T10:50:00.000-04:00

This is the destruction - taken on Aug 6th, upon our return from London.

Yard

2006-04-23T10:43:00.000-04:00

So we haven't said much about the house part of this blog in a while. We finished a major project last fall that involved the destruction and recreation of the end bit of the house (remember that old, poorly built porch - and the stairs). This also required the whole house to be re-plumbed, and the two bathrooms to be rebuilt. After all that (there will be pics following), the backyard is finally starting to look like a back yard. Here it is before:
And after:

Notice: there is actual grass growing on much of the yard! This is a huge step up: the green things in the before pic are primarily dandelion sprouts.

BIG Little

2006-04-23T10:28:00.000-04:00

Dex reading his favorite book: BIG Little. Please excuse the expression - I caught him by surprise!

What a weekend!

2006-03-27T12:32:00.000-05:00

Whew - we're tired. Dex got sick on Saturday afternoon with what we now suspect is the Rotavirus. He was hospitalized for IV fluids at about midnight on Sat (after projectile vomiting his lunch at 3:30 and being unable to keep anything down since), and is still (as of 12:33 PM on Monday) on the IV. His fever has disappeared, however, and we expect him to be discharged at about 2 today.
Thank you all for your support over the next few days, and we're very, very sorry if we passed this on to anyone.

By the way, if you want to read about the virus: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/rotavirus.htm

Walking!

2006-02-17T22:38:00.000-05:00

Yup, that's right. I started walking the other day, just in time for Dad to see me after coming home from Seattle! unforunately no pictures, however ;(
-Dex.

Playground!

2006-02-06T19:25:00.000-05:00

Mum and Dad-dad and me in the park.

David and Declan

2006-02-06T19:24:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that David helped me push this thing around and around and around and around... He's so cool!

A Break from the Baby pics

2006-01-17T14:06:00.000-05:00

One of my Jan Term students photoshopped this from a pic of me on the Inquiry site - rather impressive, I must say:

Here's the original:

We Love Books!

2006-01-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

Except for that German one that doesn't fold the right way...

Happy Birthday!

2006-01-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

Calvin and Diogenes

2005-12-18T22:31:00.000-05:00

I assume you all remember that old cartoon 'Calvin and Hobbes' - well, this just seems to strike a chord... The object of his affection is a stuffed dog courtesy of his great-grandma that we've named 'Diogenes' (it's a philosophy joke).

Why one ought not put frogs in the kitchen sink.

2005-12-18T22:21:00.000-05:00

Dex and Grandma learning why one ought not put frogs in the kitchen sink!

Po!

2005-12-17T19:15:00.000-05:00

Dex and his favorite toy: Po. And yes, he picked it out - Tara is convinced that it is because when he wears his red sweater, he looks a little like Po.

Walkies

2005-12-09T20:15:00.000-05:00

No, he's not walking yet, but he was inspired by Jan (who is 6 months older) to get behind his lawnmower and explore the world. And no, I didn't intervene in any of this. And yes, I did fail to keep the batteries charged in my video camera.