The start of Summer

Little Picassos

Swimming Lessons

Aria just finished Kindergarten and is enjoying summer break.  Tara signed her up for swimming lessons at Park Forest Pool, which Aria really enjoys.

Scott and Annette moving to Boston

My sister Annette and her family came to visit on their way to their new stomping grounds.  Scott just finished up his residency in radiology in Syracuse, NY and is about to begin a fellowship out at Boston Children's Hospital. Since they'll have to downsize their living space for a few years, they dropped off their beloved piano for safe keeping at our place while they're out there. 

 Dwight and Whitney kept Aria and Zade quite entertained for the couple days they were here.  The weather was nice and warm, so the kids played out in the pool in the back and on the slip-in-slide.

U-Pick
In an effort to help the children develop a greater appreciation for where food actually comes from, Tara took the kids out to a U-Pick farm to gather some strawberries. Aria and Zade saw it as a treasure hunt, and had a good time. Ryzen however made things challenging, because after he tried a strawberry, he became insistent that he eat them all, and began gobbling them up recklessly.

First Publication

I got an email yesterday informing me that my politics and taxes paper was just accepted for publication at Strategic Management Journal. I am pretty excited, since I and my co-authors put a lot of work into this paper. It also it represents my first academic publication. 

Niagara

Birthday Boys

Ryzen and I had a joint celebration for our birthdays with Hostess cupcakes and tasty Thai Food, which we both loved.  

Niagara Falls, NY
We decided to drive up and show the kids Niagara Falls.  Tara and I are big fans of waterfalls, and the kids showed some interest, although by the time we finally got up there, it was the late afternoon and the kids were getting tired.  

We took a ride up to Horseshoe Falls and got drenched in all the mist that was coming off.

After the boat ride the kids got pretty whiny, so we headed back to the car to get some treats.  Then a major storm blew in and a huge down pour began.  We'd hoped to scope out the area more, but determined it was probably time to call it a day.

We headed to our hotel and grabbed dinner at the restaurant there. They had live music, so Tara and the kids started dancing.

Letchworth State Park, NY
The next day we headed out to the "grand canyon of the east".  We hiked around some of the overlooks of the waterfalls. Here's the "Middle Falls."

Although we'd planned to do more, Tara started to get Mastitis again, which she had just finished taking medication for only two days ago, so we had to cut the trip short and head home a day early.  :(  She's now on meds again and is doing better.

End of Preschool

Zade just finished up his last day of preschool.  He's had a great time this year with his teachers: Mrs. Sharon and Mrs. Valerie. They had an end of year picnic this week as well, which was a lot of fun, even when a fierce, but brief rain storm came tearing through and we all had to take cover.  

The homeschool group that Tara is hoping to join up with this next year had a fun field trip on Friday to Tamarack farm. Zade got to feed the animals.

He also got to do a felting project, with wool from the sheep, which you rub together with water to make felt.

I spent the last part of the week out at Ohio State University presenting a paper for a conference.  I was pleasantly surprised how nice the campus was out there.  I had a really nice time, and I think the paper was well received.

One of the harder aspects of this week was that at the beginning of the week Tara got sick, and we were asked to give talks at the end of the week (i.e., today).  So with all that and the conference, it was a busy week.  Both of our talks seemed to go well though, so we were grateful.

In Bloom

Rhody

Great weather has finally returned and the forest where we live has come back to life.  The giant Rhody on the side of our house is now in full bloom, which is pretty neat to see:

Garden Party 

 Azure's happy places

Rhody Hike (Mount Tussey: Mid State Trail)

Taxi Driver