It's Been a While

I feel like I haven't been blogging in a looong while. Yet when I look at the date of my last blog, I realized that it has only been a little over a month. Not bad. I guess it shows that we have been really busy lately!

We went to WI to visit with family. Always fun! Anna loved seeing the rest of her family. She got to visit w/ 2 Grandmas, 1 Nanny, 1 Nana, 3 Papas (It got to the point where Anna would ask "Which Papa?"), 2 Aunts, 1 Uncle, 1 Great-Aunt and 1 Great Uncle!!! *Whew* And she did a pretty good job keeping them all straight!

Anna and Papa Baker

While we were in WI, we were able to participate in an activity that Jon and I sorely missed - canoeing. (Background info) When Jon and I lived in WI, we owned our own canoe and traversed many rivers in WI. It was great! Jon got to search for mussels and I got to get lots of reading time in; all in a very peaceful, fun environment. Unfortunately some jerk stole our canoe when we moved to TN. Thus we had not been canoeing in quite some time.

The day was incredible. We were with family and friends and the river was peaceful. It was all going so well until the log came along. It looked like a harmless log and probably would have continued to be a peaceful log had I been paying close attention. The front of the canoe went over the log w/ no problem but at some point, the log hit our canoe at a very unfortunate angle, thus TIPPING the canoe and all it's contents. Yep, we all went over. All our things went under and floated away. One of the items that went under included my camera! I was taking pictures minutes before, had turned it off, swung it on my back, and was feeding Anna at the time of the tip.

After Jon and I got done yelling at each other (which was relatively quick), we quickly disassembled the camera. Out came the battery, the SD card, and off came the lens. During this time, Anna is distraught (not because she was dunked under water by the log but because her "La La" was floating down the river.). I hand the camera to my dad, who proceeded to gently shake the water out for the next hour or so, and ran to our friends who grab our floating gear to pacify Anna.

I was horrified and sick to my stomach. This is the camera that I saved about 1 1/2 yrs for. The camera that takes fantastic pictures with little trouble and opened my eyes to photography. I couldn't even talk about it.

We decided that the camera should be left in a sunny, dry location to dry out for about a week. Why a week? I have no idea, it seemed like a good number. I resisted all urges to turn it on. I tried not to even look at the camera for the entire week. It was agony!

Finally, Jon calls me (before the week was up) and tells me THE CAMERA WORKS!!! WOOO WHOOO!! There are a few little glitches, but I can still take great pictures!! Yeah!

Playing with friends at Market Square (downtown Knoxville)

Father's Day 2009

Another busy week here at the Baker household. I kept myself busy by making Anna a tutu. It’s not bad for my first attempt. I did buy enough material to make her another if I become so inclined.

One day, after a morning spent at the library, we wandered downtown to the farmer’s market. Anna got a pint of blueberries. I think blueberries are her favorite fruit, hands down.

It was nice and had lunch at Tomato Head. MMmmm... Those sandwiches are amazing!

Saturday we took the girls to a beach near us. As hot as it was that day, it wasn’t very crowded and Anna had a blast. She kept pushing the limits and going out farther and farther. She would turn and say “I tip toe, I tip-toe!” with her little head bobbing in the water. Both Veronica and Anna were buried in the sand and several attempts were made to build a sandcastle, with little results. I think we will go back soon!

Father’s Day was spent leisurely at home. We were planning to go hiking but we figured the Smoky Mts would be waaay to crowded so we planned on Monday (rain pushed off those plans). Instead we made panco pecan crusted trout, mediterranean salad, mozzarella and tomato salad, and asparagus. Dinner was topped off with a cake from MagPies - mocha. Yummy!