Cassie and Dylan Frankovis

During the recent visit with the Frankovis family, Cassie had the opportunity to have some quality time with her "God brother" Dylan (if that is even a term -- I am Dylan's Godfather). The video is priceless. At the end of "Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes," Cassie sings "Dylan is so cute to me." Credits go to Meg Frankovis.

Deacon Tom

It is official -- Cari's dad, Tom Burns, was ordained as a Roman Catholic Deacon over the weekend during a beautiful Mass in Springfield, IL. We are very proud of Tom, who has worked over five years for this accomplishment. (I had no idea how much academic and spiritual work goes into becoming a Deacon; Tom earned as Master's degree and then some.)

Many friends and family members attended the events of the weekend. On Sunday, Tom celebrated his first Mass as a Deacon and had the honor of delivering the Gospel reading and homily. He did a great job and told the story of his personal journey to ordination in relation to Job's own struggles with faith and decision-making. Congratulations Tom!

Visit with the Frankovis Family

We were visited by Matt, Meg, and Dylan Frankovis last weekend (June 12-14) and had a wonderful time. Dylan is getting so big and is a happy, mobile baby. We explored the Springboro area and had plenty of hot tub time.

Sky Fort Under Construction

Cari and I spend the weekend working on constructing a play system (the Sky Fort) for Cassie and Tommy. We finished approximately 60% of the project, as you can see in the pictures. I believe that if a marriage can survive Sky Fort construction it can survive almost anything (and we came through with flying colors so far). We hope to complete it over the next couple of weeks. We need to add the monkey bars to the left, a swing bar to the right, a slide and rock wall to the front, and a "crow's nest" lookout area above the swing bar.

Follow our progress in pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/SkyFortConstruction#

Backyard Projects Near Completion!

After weeks of work, our backyard projects are near completion. The garden is in and growing, the paver patio looks great, and side beds are mulched. We put together our patio set, fire pit, and anti-gravity chairs. The irrigation system is done and calibrated (controlled by a panel in our garage and includes a rain sensor).

Pictures of the project from start to today may be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/YardProject2009#.

Our last significant step is to construct Cassie and Tommy's play system. An area bound by timbers has been created for it (see below). We plan to construct the sky fort, which is currently in our garage, this weekend.

Early June Updates

We are really enjoying the start to summer, including fun times with neighborhood friends (including Elizabeth and Jenna, pictured above with Cassie and Tommy). Both Cassie and Tommy have been enjoying swimming lessons at the YMCA. Tommy is enjoying a summer science program at the Bombeck Center and also starts t-ball next month. Cassie finishes kindergarten this Friday and starts summer camp (also at the YMCA) next Monday. We have also been enjoying weekend trips to Kings Island, which has both an amusement and a water park.