My dad always used to tease me...

actually....correction.....I should not have used the past tense....my father continues to tease me. In fact, our whole relationship is predicated thereon. But, anyway, he used to tease me about how I would tend to 'hold on' to things like some of my old toys and such. In particular, I held on to my Smurf figures and my original (not this new Lego crap, etc) Star Wars figures. I used to say that they were going to be worth a lot of money someday. Who knows if I am wrong or right, but, the other day, Callum asked me to get them down from the box in the attic so he could play with them. I have all my old Smurfs from when I was a kid and my dad would take me to Sedell's Pharmacy to buy one each week if I were a good boy...I think they were a dollar each! 

Mixed in there were also some original Star Wars people: Luke Skywalker, a headless Darth Vader (dont know where his head is), Admiral Akbar, R2D2, and some bounty hunter (not Boba Fett...some other guy), Yoda, Chewbacca, and I think someone else too. IN ADDITION, as an extra bonus, I had some original GI JOE dudes in there: One of the CobraTwins and the driver of the hovercraft that I used to have ( by the way, the hovercraft retails on ebay for 256.00 now and the Cobra Twins retail for 30 bucks....Admiral Akbar, however, only sells for five bucks). I had a WhoFramedRogerRabbit Roger action figure in the mix as well, as did I have a vintage Garfield figure.  

KRISTIN, not sure if you read this (Mom doesnt) but do you recognize the thing in the picture below about an inch from Callum's ear?????

Callum packed up all the things and brought them outside to play with them on the picnic table....he was having fun! Maira, for some reason, cannot say the word SMURF to save her life. She pronounces it FUYYRFF or something...

I just get a kick out of the faces this little minion of ours makes....

You dont have to tell me how cool my outfit is, cuz I already know. But, in this picture, let me explain what is happening. The kids had been playing in the 'Frinkrurr' (Mairish for SPRINKLER) for about an hour and were cold, so I built a campfire. Callum asked me to tell him some ghost stories around the fire. Now, it should be noted that Callum is afraid of the most non-scary things in the world. But I did my best. His favorite one...and one that he keeps telling to people, goes something like this: One day, daddy was paddling his canoe out on a big, cold, deep lake all by himself...when, all of the sudden, a HUGE MONSTER pulled up in a canoe right next to him!!!!! The monster paddled right over to Daddy in his canoe when all of the sudden Daddy said, in his loudest voice, 'OH HI UNCLE JON!'"

I think I was telling that story in the picture below...