Yo.

The Reb has been workin' overtime...capturing all the haps here at Club Amaro. First of all, I'm handing out kudos to Canon for making the absolute best camera battery on the face of the earth. I have not had to charge the battery yet and I'm running this thing like Walter Payton just broke through a tackle and has 90 clear yards ahead. It's amazing. Now since I said that it's going to run out on my next shot, watch.

Anyway - got a few things to bring you up to speed on...so gather 'round.

BIRTHDAY.

First of all, we had a very special occasion here last night - the celebration of GPP's birthday. His real bday is on St. Patricks, so he always has green cupcakes. We certainly did not want to be accused of breaking tradition, so Abby and I got the Yellow & Blue food coloring out and had a little meeting with Betty Crocker.

We wanted to make them extra-special so I decided to try putting a little globule of marshmallows in the center (you know, hoping to create some kind of twinkie filling action). Well, it didn't really work but we did have a fun surprise instead.
The mallows kind of crept back up to the top during cooking and created a crispy little topping that was fabulouso (so I was told - I did not partake!). Most important, Grandpapa enjoyed his cupcake...and birthday gifts which included a homemade treasure box that Abby made.


After the festivities, it was time for a favorite pastime...coloring.



BIRDWATCHIN'

Abby is a fan of birds. She even has her own Bird book, which Aunt Jan gave to her way back when (Aunt Jan is a bird fan herself...). She also has a set of binoculars. This morning while GMama was in the beauty chamber getting ready, Abby was reading to her about the types of birds from her book. Later on, Abby took the binoculars outside to do some watching. We spotted a Robin's nest on the Oak tree in our front yard...YAY! It's a hefty nest too. We are hoping that Mike & GPapa will be able to put our bluebird house up in the next few days...that will give us even more birds to watch.





I thought the picture above would have been much cooler had there not been a big ol honken motor home in the background...maybe I'll have to do a little Photoshoppin' on it.

Oakie Riggin
The man-zone (aka the garage, aka the shop, aka "out there") has been seeing serious action since Gpapa arrived. Because we have a good bit of leftover debris in our backyard from the marathon pruning event that happened last time he was here, Gpapa decided to fashion something for Mike's truck that would allow him to transport more than the standard truck bed. I'm sorry that was such a long sentence...I'll give you a minute to catch your breath. Ok. So Gpapa went to work on what is now affectionately being referred to as the Oakie Camper.



This thing is a work of art...and I'm normally not the carpentry-appreciating type.



It comes apart in pieces - easy to put up, easy to take down.



Impressive...and, it can double as an Oakie tent, too.

Well...this is just too much information. I hope you've been able to take it all in. I'm going to go take a nap in the Oakie tent.

Oakie love,
k