Helllllllloooooooo, Autumn.

by Shannon


Photo dump of a hayride from today. Click on the pics to enlarge.

A little bit of Cruncher, as I know you've been Cruncher-starved for months. (Maybe we'll get back to the blogging game. But probably not.)

Gettin' big, no?

Call me car-razy, but I find crying babies so stinkin' cute. Emphasis on the "stinkin'."

Made some friends.

Hayride, y'all!

Some scenery.

Heaven Hill Distillery, on the ride to the farm

I was told by the tractor driver that I missed an eagle in this spot. Daaaang.

Okay, okay. Ya got me. I think corn is pretty. And I'm a Hoosier. Whatevs. 

Why do I let them use me like this? Like father, like ... you know that diddy.

P.S. Selfies should never be taken from beeeeloooow.... Live and learn.

Cruncher Chronicles: How Do You Decide Who to Marry?

by Cruncher


Inspired by this gem, Cruncher answered the following questions:

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?

somebody that does not like yuck stuff ... somebody that has pretty hair.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

21 because you um maybe when your'e 25 you're gonna have children.

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

by how they look. by how they talk sooooo boring, like teenagers talk boring, or like cool people talk boring. [Editor's note: "cool people" = hipsters?]

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

that they look like they are my mommy and daddy and they're not strangers. [Editor's note: So, the only thing we have in common is that he looks like us, and we know each other. Cool.]

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

they do boring stuff like go to shops and read books at home while the kids are at a babysitter or their aunt's. [Editor's note: Sounds like a good time!]

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

you could just drink it and just say "ewwwww, this trip's really sour!"

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

when ... when you marry them.

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

single because priests do that and God did that. [Editor's note: Ryan's THRILLED.]

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN’T GET MARRIED?

you would just sit along the street and nobody would be with you and moms would have to have babies and the dads won't have babies. 

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

you would just say sorry to God and "I'm sorry that I married somebody." [Editor's note: i.e. Go to confession a lot.]

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD?

yeah. read it on my facebook! twitter! 

WE DON'T HAVE TWITTER.

okay. then don't write twitter.

Cruncher Chronicles: Birthday Boy

by Cruncher


for my birthday, i got ninja turtle stuff. and singing in the rain. and wreck it ralph. and a rosary. and some fishing stuff. the end.


Shannon: That's it? That's all you want to say?

Cruncher: mmhmm.

S: Are you sure?

C: mmhmm. ... say "are you positive."

S: Are you positive?

C: mmhmm. ... say "are  you ositive."

S: Are you ositive?

C: mmhmm. ... say "are you lositive."

S: Are you lositive?

C: mmhmm. ... say "are you waldo."

S: Are you Waldo?

C: mmhmm. ... [cackles with laughter]

D.C. Phone Home

by Shannon


We left off in Morgantown. A junior brewer at Morgantown Brewing Company had given us a coffee shop recommendation for the next morning, but we discovered the entire downtown is paid parking. We had no coins, and the coin machines weren't working, so Ryan ended up driving around the block a few times so I could go in and grab us some emergency lattés. The third hotel probably had the nicest rooms out of all three of our stays, but (again!) there was no breakfast included with our stay. Coffee is a must.

Hanging out in the last hotel lobby as Daddy packed the car.

So, we made our way to Charleston, West Virginia. What a lovely place! We had lunch at Pies & Pints, which was absolutely fantastic. Probably top-three pizzas we've ever had.

We walked around their quaint little downtown, enjoying the sights.

DOH! Department of Homer

Before the final trek home, we stopped off at our final destination — Ryan and my alma mater.

Morehead State University, Founded 1887

Ryan and I thought we'd best show Cruncher where his parents fell in love before he gets too angsty and cool to care.

The infamous gargoyle pose, with Cruncher standing in for Paul.

Oh, we actually started out at the Old School House Antique Mall in Farmers, Kentucky, before we headed down the highway to Morehead. Ryan and I spent many Saturday afternoons there back in our courtin' days. While we were there, I picked up Amy's early birthday gift — a vintage purse. Ryan actually found it (he's well-trained). They also had a BEEAAUUTIFUL Our Lady cameo, and I very much regret not making it my own.

Engagement-photo pose reenacted nine years later, shot by Cruncher.

We ate at our favorite Italian restaurant ever, Melini Cucina, where Ryan and I ordered our standard — fettucini alfredo. And then we were fat, happy and ready to go home. (For more Morehead pictures, click here.)

G'bye, Morehead!

And our creepy little guy slept with his eyes open, per usual.

That there ends our D.C. trip recap. It only took me about five weeks to post all six days. Thanks to Jen for the inspiration to write every day this week so I can try and catch up our readers on the summer happenins.

Tomorrow: Cruncher's 6th birthday!!

D.C. Quinque

by Shannon


I've been trying for a couple weeks to figure out how to make a slideshow in Blogger, and I. GIVE. UP. If you want to see pictures of the beautiful Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, go to the Facebook page. You might have noticed I posted all the pretties a few days ago.

I could go on and on and on on on about how beautiful/amazing/gorgeous/inspirational/etc. the basilica was, but you can look at the photos with your own eyes.

If you've not visited, you should. It was certainly the highlight of our trip.

We also ate at the cafeteria at the basilica (food was decent but expensive), and we picked up volumes 2 and 3 of The Baltimore Catechism for Cruncher. He's a mini theology-machine! Ryan's doing a really fantastic job with his formal catechesis.

If you remember way back when I first started posting a review of our D.C. trip, I mentioned we were excited to go and experience a St. Francis of Assisi pilgrimage ... BUUUUUT we didn't get to go. You can't tell much from the few outdoor photos we took, but there was a crazy storm system traveling over D.C. that day. We ended up cutting the day short and heading out of D.C. to our third and final hotel. Unfortunately, the storm system never came to a head, so we could have stayed. But I have to admit I was really happy to start making the trek home.

Traveling back to hotel #2 so we could hop in the car and get to hotel #3.

Driving through Sideling Hill for the second time. We conveniently saw a
display on it at the Natural History Museum. 

The beacon of light at our final overnight stop, Morgantown, West Virginia.
What a sad, sad town. 

Cruncher's best souvenir from D.C. — first-time freckles. 

The restaurant/brewery where we ate in Morgantown, one of the few good things offered. Food was great, beer was good, service was fantastic.  

I may not enjoy the taste of beer (typically), but there's something about
photographing beer that I enjoy. Weird?

A study in an expert at work.

I'm gonna hop on Jen Fulwiler's bandwagon and hang on tight for the Seven Posts in Seven Days challenge. I have sooooo many things we've done this summer that still need to put put on the blog, and summer's almost over! Tomorrow, I'll post the last day of our D.C. trip (if you follow on the Facebook page, you've seen pictures from that day). And maybe we'll even hear from our resident adventure writer and birthday boy this week.

Cruncher Chronicles: Big Tooth Gap

by Shannon


We now interrupt your irregularly scheduled Washington, D.C., recap for breaking news. Cruncher has ... less ability to crunch (rimshot pun courtesy of BFF Ames).

Before, before, before and after. That tooth had to come out before bed,
for I was certain he would swallow it in his sleep.

Amy and The Artist Formerly Known as Cruncher. I'm glad he likes yogurt. 

Two teeth lost in one week. Four total teeth lost before the big 6th birthday. Something something too big too fast something.

D.C. Vier

by Shannon


So, really, I'm not blogging. I'm just watching October Baby, Cruncher is watching the four separate amateur firework displays out the front window since it's too noisy to sleep, and Ryan's over at a friend's house drankin' some biers. While I'm completely distracted by the film, I'll load these pictures in and give them crap captions. What better way to celebrate independence than with pictures of our visit to the nation's capitol? I totally waited weeks to post these pictures FOR THAT VERY REASON. Promise.

Clockwise from top left: On the Metro (no injuries sustained), some building,
one of our destinations by foot (Cap Hill), walkin' with Daddy, and posin' suave.

We got there! It was quite a walk. And Cruncher is quite the trooper.

Very few people will understand this photo. I wish I didn't. 

Air and Space museum. Top left is the docent we evaded. 

Things that fly.

By Cruncher.

Then we went to the National Zoo again, where I took amazing photos.
Or not. These pictures were on display at the Natural History museum.
You can see the florescent lights reflecting off the prints. 

Daddy shows Cruncher how it's done.

Dinosaurs and fossils and stuff.

Water in tow. Obama needs to do something about the grass. Sheesh.

Treasury, White House (where he kept all the good grass for himself),
and the beautiful Eisenhower Executive Office Building