Talking Macaw

Tune Up on the Van

 

  It’s hard to believe it’s already time for an oil change on the van, but we’ve put a lot of miles on it in the last few weeks.

I guess that the main reason for doing the tune up was because the check engine light came on and cylinder 3 was misfiring.  We went ahead and purchased plugs and wires for all of the cylinders.

Our van is a Ford Freestar (formerly Windstar) and they’re famous for the difficulty it takes to reach their plugs.

It’s impossible to ever see a spark plug, but to even feel it you have to lay on top of the engine and reach your arm down the backside of the engine as far as possible.  In that position it’s difficult to get enough torque to unscrew the spark plug.

Benjamin and Noah did the oil change with no problem, but after Mom and I worked on replacing just one of the plugs for hours we decided to have a mechanic do it.  Mom’s arm was very bruised and I was bleeding because it was so difficult to get to the plug.

 

It worked out that our Grandpa knew a guy who replaced the sparkplugs very inexpensively and in less than an hour and a half (that includes waiting for the engine to cool down after driving it to the shop.)

Anyways, the van now has much more pep and cylinder 3 is no longer misfiring!

Lancer’s Quadrille

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Cicada Molting

You’ve probably seen the shell of a cicada before, but this picture is one with the cicada still inside of it.

Beginning to crawl out of his skin

 

 

 

Wings being pumped until he’s able to fly.

Benjamin found 6 of these little guys on our deck tonight and took these photos.

Lancier’s Quadrille-Figure 5

Mother’s Day 2011

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

    These photos from Mother’s Day 2008 shows the magnolia tree we planted for her in the front yard.

Wow, we all look quite a bit different even just 3 years ago.

is it big enough?

Mr. Photo-Genic

Mom may kill me for posting photos from the time when she tried having long hair!  It’s Mother’s Day, but I hope someone will stand up for me!

I return to my weed eating….oh no!  Shorts and rubber boots?

Six Flags!

   This evening we went to the Six Flag amusement park here in St. Louis!  The last time I’d been there I was Noah’s age, so Noah especially had a great time riding about 4 roller coasters he’d never ridden before.  His new favorite roller coaster is the Boss which is in the top 5 of the best wooden roller coasters in the United States.

 

The Joker…a swinging ship ride.

The Boss with two 150 foot drops, top speed of 66mph and length of over 5000 feet.

                            Big Smiles                                                        We  all rode (excluding Mom, who we could not induce to join us) a new ride called American Thunder.  It’s pretty much just a shrunk-down version of the Boss which is why we were hoping Mom would ride.

 

Kate purchased passes for this year, so we’re looking forward to coming back throughout the summer.