Monday, July 27, 2009

Hot Air

Captain Chaos (Eli) and Princess Mayhem (Kjersti) discovered what they think to be the secret source of their super powers... the bicycle pump. Unfortunately, it did not yield the desired effect and has instead left them only with the funny taste of rubber in their mouths.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Tips From Big Sister to Baby Sister

When you burb and spit up, just smile like that afterwards and everyone will TOTALLY adore you!

When I was a baby, I looked just like you. Hey, is that my old onesie?
Wear as much pink as possible at all times. I see you're doing pretty well today!

Never pull dad's finger like this. You'll be forced to leave the room.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Eve Marie Strong

On 13 July 2009 at 1:40 p.m., Eve Marie Strong was born at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY. She weighed in at a healthy 9 lbs 11 oz and is 23 inches long. She has been a great baby! She cries very little and spends a lot of time just looking around as seen here. As you can see, she has a full head of dark hair complete with tipped highlights. I guess that explains why she was five days overdue; she had to get her hair done.


A cute little girl with nice long feet. I'm sure she'll come to love those over the years.

Kjersti couldn't be more excited to be a big sister!

With a little supervision, Eli loved holding his new sister. He's still getting used to the idea that there is a new baby in the house.

Eve had some whopper stories to tell Cody about life in the womb. I think he got the jist of it, but most of it was pretty tough to understand.

The perfect family picture. Heidi is tired, Kjersti is proud to be the new big sister, Eli is just happy to be there and Eve is zonked out.



Friday, July 3, 2009

Eli's Hog

People really do underestimate the possible bike stunts young boys can pull off when they're aided by training wheels. It's crazy wicked!

Kjersti's Wild Bicycle Tricks

Contrary to popular belief, "Danger" is her middle name.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Strong Roots Run Deep in Canada

Paspabiac, Quebec, located in the eastern part of the province on Chaleur Bay, is the town to which my Great, Great, Great Grandfather Lionel Strong immigrated. Originally from West Chinnock, England, he moved his family initially to St Saviour, Jersey Island (a British island located just off the northwest coast of France) sometime between 1841 and 1849 prior to finally settling in Paspabiac sometime between 1851 and 1858. Lionel worked for the Charles Robin Company. Behind me is a cod packaging plant of a rival cod fishery that was located right next to the Charles Robin Company's cod packaging plant in Paspabiac.

Although he doesn't have a headstone anymore, this is where Lionel is buried. It is St. Peter's Cemetery in Paspabiac, Quebec. We were fortunate to have figured this out. It was only because the library (in the background, upper left), which used to be the church, keeps a list of everyone buried there. After struggling through the language barrier (French), they were good enough to let us look through it and we found that this is in fact where he is buried. We are now in the process of collecting funds to pay for a headstone for him here.

This is my dad's second cousin Joan Strong, one of many Strong's still living in Canada. She lives in Cabano, Quebec and French is her native tongue. Fortunately, her English is much better than our French so we were able to communicate easily. On a whim I called her and asked if we could come visit and she agreed and fed us a wonderful dinner to boot. It was a great mini-reunion.

This is my Great, Great Grandfather Francis Strong's headstone. He is buried in Dalhousie, New Brunswick just on the south side of Chaleur Bay. He died at age 56. He was born at St. Saviour, Jersey Island and came to Paspabiac with his father Lionel and mother Mary and at least two other brothers when he was less than 10 years old.

My Great, Great Grandfather Francis' wife (Mary Jane Buckle) is buried here at this cemetery in Portage, Maine. She lived to be 94 years old and was a widow for over 33 years when she finally passed away! As it turns out, four consecutive generations of Strong men married a woman with the first name of Mary. Francis and Mary's daughter Elisabeth, also known as Bella, is also buried here. Mary lived with Bella for quite some time prior to her death. Portage is now a one horse town located about an hour's drive from the Van Buren, Maine Canadian border crossing.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Hand Puppets Gone Bad

Hand puppets are normally cute and fun. That's just not the case here.