Happy Birthday Caroline Superstar!

We hope you're having a fun birthday in New York. And Happy Birthday to Uncle Todd, who I can safely bet is not reading this blog.

Anyhow, we've been up to many things since I last posted. We had an excursion to Leesburg, VA in search of good Cajun food. Success! We will be returning to the Cajun Experience probably on a monthly basis. While in Leesburg, we also checked out the Leesburg Animal Park, where Andy fed a tortoise, Lex petted a serval and named a swan Princess, and Noah took a pony ride led by a girl with a Sweeney Todd tattoo. Questionable judgement on my part.

The next weekend, we were off to Gettysburg, PA to tour battlegrounds from the top of a double-decker bus in the blazing heat. Again, questionable judgement on that one. We concluded the trip with a visit to Boyd's Bear Country, where we predictably encountered a (three story) barn full of toy bears. Lex and Noah even put on hard hats and clocked in to the bear factory.

And that brings us to this weekend, during which Lex lost her first tooth and had to be informed that the tooth fairy was not going to bring her the $100 she wanted. We reminisced about Noah losing his first tooth in the Lazy River at Signal Bay Water Park. Noah had, incidentally, been to that water park this week, and one of his fellow campers scraped a leg. Andy figures between the blood and teeth, the Lazy River should be condemned.

Last night, we went to Maryland to see the Medieval Times show. Noah was an expert, having already gone on a group trip through the summer camp. His favorite part, of course, was eating with no utensils. Lex only ate a piece of garlic bread and half an apple pastry, but she was thrilled with receiving a white carnation, kissed and thrown to her by the Red and Yellow Knight.

Until the morrow we next meet, good friends and kin, I bid you farewell from the Roussel Roost.

While Lex finds the secret of the water fall, I'll post.

Well, I'd rather that Lex find secrets of waterfalls as opposed to making up books about getting married. Anybody willing to take her once she hits her teen years?

Anybody?

Lex was beyond thrilled to receive a card congratulating her on her performance in art class. We're not sure how "Art Lover" became a fan, but his handwriting does look suspiciously familiar (I'm winking at you, Grandpa Rick). Lex is convinced her art teacher, Ms. Sohaila, must have told Mr. Art about her. She also believes that Tinker Bell and the Tooth Fairy hang out together, so you can take that with a grain of vodka, as my boss would say.

Not much is going on today, other than a trip with our neighbor, Noah's friend Jakob, to the movies. Andy's been working all day, so I know he's devastated he had to miss Aliens in the Attic.

We ventured out farther, though, last weekend to take a day trip to Great Country Farms. The blackberry fields were closed because they had been overpicked, and the peaches we picked weren't quite ripe. However, the weather and scenery were lovely. And I got to try out my Christmas-in-July present, a Nikon digital SLR camera (I call her Niki). You can't get the full effect because I've reduced the file sizes for the web, but trust me when I say that Niki takes gorgeous photos! Be sure to check them all out at Photobucket.

The Roussel Roost is now brought to you in Technicolor.