Tropical Storm Fay at the Dirkes House

God was watchin out for us. We got over a foot of rain (yes, that is 3 times what Bakersfield gets all year) in one weekend from Fay. The water control systems worked like a charm so we haven't seen any widespread flooding locally, although there were a few roads covered here and there.

The major issue we saw was wind...here is what our backyard looks like now. We have about 4 trees that were completely blown over and 5 or 6 that had their tops snapped off. What we hear from the locals is that the tops snapping off is a tornado signature...it is very possible that we had a small one that didn't actually touch the ground. Even scarier than that is that we never knew there was one (if there was one).

Gustav doesn't look like it will hit us, but our rescue unit is standing by if we are needed on the Gulf Coast. Nothing for sure there yet, we will just have to see how it plays out.

Bath time...

Daddy has been working with gracie on an Air Force rescue scenario. This is one of their practices. Just in case you can't understand her, here is the run down.

The Jet says: CRASH!!! daddy is a rescue helicopter pilot so something must crash...

The Helicopter says: woo woo woo...demonstrated by whirling finger

The PJ says: ahh ahh...like a real macho man

The survivor says: wee... as they are being rescued

Stay tuned for an updated video when Gracie has mastered it!

The Verdict is in...

Both girls are allergic to cinnamon. Mom thought it would be fun to sprinkle a little cinnamon on some steamed carrots and both girls left the table with red faces. Ellie even had red legs to boot! No long term damage but we will hold off on cinnamon for awhile.

CHEESEBURGERS!!!

Went to McDonalds to meet Daddy for lunch. It just so happend to be tuesday so we were all wearing our Team Ryan gear. People there thought that we were running a local race.

Not sure if she likes cheeseburgers and fry-fries or the slide more! Mom can only hope that the food will win out soon. Public toys...Can we say GROSS?There is not enough sanitizer on the planet to clean up what you see and more importantly what you don't see.

Black Beans and Corn, anyone?

Ellie's amazing talent!

The Harris Boys!

Mr. Joshua...the muscle man!
Last weekend we went to Nashville for cousin Katie's graduation from Belmont University. We had a great time and had an added bonus of having breakfast with Rob( Wayne's best friend) his wife, Sara and their son, Joshua. That was our first time meeting Joshua and he is so cute.Thanks for meeting us guys! We had a great time!

Gracie's 1st timeout!

It's official! Little miss Gracie has received her first time out. We were just sending her to her room for awhile when she would get in trouble but about a week ago she began sending herself and thus we realized that was no longer going to be very effective. So, you are probably asking yourself, "What did precious little Gracie do that would warrant such punishment?"

Exhibit 1a:

Ellie was quietly eating her plastic pepper and reading books when her loving sister came up from behind and ambushed her. Well, not that bad but she definitely pushed her over just for the fun of it. You can tell by the picture what Ellie thought of that. Pushing has now been deemed an automatic time out in this house.

Exhibit 2a:

Gracie responding to her first time out! She actually did really well. She stayed there without too much argument.

One would think she had just received a spanking or something for the amount of tears that were shed.

"Nobody puts Baby in the corner"

Thought this was a better spot than her high chair to finish up dinner time in!

Our beautiful girls!

Ahh, an ouchie before church!

One of her favorite things to chew on! A plastic pepper! mmm!

Dressed for church!
Peace out!

Ga-Mamma & Hot Dog's Visit

Another Dirkes home improvement project! We couldn't stand to look at the disgusting linoleum any longer. I know, you are asking yourself is "Luxury Vinyl Tile" any better? We say YES! It is an inexpensive way to spruce up a floor and make a wife VERY happy. Wayne, Hot Dog, and Gg did a great job.

Gracie had fun laying tile

"Ga-Mamma" Aka: Grandma & "Hot Dog": Aka Grandad with the girlies

Gotta love two year old vernacular!

After a VERY disappointing pumpkin patch experience last year, we decided to grow our own pumpkins and set up our own patch in our yard. We bought halloween pumpkin seeds as well as baby pumpkins and gourds. Ga-Mamma and Gracie worked really hard and planted them together. Great team work, as Gg would say! It has only been a little over a week and they are sprouting. We can't wait to see how many we get.

Grandma and Grandad, thanks for coming and for the help with the floor and everything else! We had a great time!