Family Mellmann

Here is a slide show of some of the pictures taken by my dive instructor in Tahiti. I have put this same slide show on the website, but for those who just watch the blog, I thought I should put it here also.

If you have been waiting for some new pictures, the wait is over. If you check out our beta site you should find three sets of pictures located in the drop-down box called "Latest Happenings". I may change the name of that drop-down box, but this is where you can find the latest pictures. I will list the most current items on top; the further down the list, the older the pictures. We're not quite ready to retire our old site yet, but this new site is up and running and is the place where I keep the current stuff. I still like this blog idea because you can "subscribe" to the blog, which will send you an e-mail whenever there is an update. I haven't figured out how to do that with the website yet. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

This weekend was the International Father & Kid camping weekend. It's an old tradition from back when the International Playgroup was running and Infineon dads (a subset of the Playgroup) would get together for a camping weekend with the kids. We have missed a few over the years, but this year it worked out. Jörg took the kids, the canoe, the bikes, and the camper and went to Lake Carmi. They're still not home, so I thought I would take a minute and share an update on the new website. Oh...you didn't know that there was going to be a new website? That's okay. Until this weekend, I wasn't sure there was going to be one either. Jörg and I have been talking about updating the website. Not just with more pictures, but with a new look. He was really hoping that I would work out a new site that would take the effort out of making updates and get into something a little less maintenance-heavy. I thought we were just getting face-lift. I'm not certain yet

Photos, taken in July 2005, show Marge (Grandma) with Erika, Patrick, Diane (Mom), and Katherine.

Patrick has developed a real interest in fishing, but no one around here knows that much about it. I can put a can put a worm on a hook, and Jörg can put hooks and bobbers on the fishing pole, but no one knows what to do if Patrick actually CATCHES a fish. So, Jörg bit the hook (no bullets here) and joined a fishing clinic with Patrick, hosted by the local Parks and Recreation Department. Sure enough, Patrick caught a fish. He's up to six by now, but fortunately we are strictly catch-and-release in this house. He's going to have to catch much larger fish before I learn how to gut and clean them.

As I was walking by the front door one afternoon, the sight of a snake caught my attention. I took a closer look and realized it was eating a small toad. I figured Patrick would be eager to check it out so I called him. He could hardly contain his excitement.

Patrick takes the plunge...or does he? Katherine gets her river legs. River treasure.

Last summer, before we took our computers down and went into cyber-sleep as we moved into our camper for the duration of our home construction, we set up a blog as a way to keep family and friends up-to-date on the latest construction progress and goings on here on River Cove Road. The blog could be accessed by us from any web-connected computer, whereas the website really required access to a specific machine...mine. Using a blog I could go to Barnes & Noble with a laptop, connect to the internet and make updates. Once we moved into the house and got our computers back up and running we switched back to the regular website and abandon the blog. Now we're working on a new look for www.mellmann.com and we're doing some experiments. This is just one of them. The coming months may reveal several experiments as we look for new ways to spruce up an old site. If you have an opinion we hope you'll share it with us.