I, too, have fallen victim to the ease of the short form in deference to the longer, detailed format of the blog. Who knows? You may find that preferential anyway. When unleashed, I can tend to be a little more gusty than long-winded. To get the most recent of updates on the Lennard family, please seek me out on one or all of the social media sites. You are guaranteed to get much more frequent updates whether you want them or not. Follow @WordlessBob on Twitter or friend me on Facebook.

I’m not updating the photo galleries here locally any longer. You can find all the latest photo sets by adding Mute Robert as a contact on Flickr. By just looking me up, you’ll be able to see my public galleries. To see all the family photos – particularly ones with lots of photos of the kids – please take the time to add me as a contact so I can properly set up the security. I know it is a bit of a hassle to setup an account if you don’t have one, but I figure that it is a good precaution rather than making lots of pictures of the kids publicly available. I’d rather ere on the side of being overly cautious.

And, for the final source of possible postings, please look for muterobert on YouTube. If you have a Google account, it works with YouTube as well. Once again, please establish a connection here, too. I may want to use it for some privacy settings in the future. Enough of the boring
“connect to me” talk.

2011 has been a great year for the family. Work has gone well for both Becky and I. Things are always busy, and we never run out of things to do. We are both fortunate enough to enjoy our jobs though. So things are good on that front. Plus, we just returned from a Disney World vacation. It was fantastic; everything looks good after that nice break from the real world.

Ben, Rachel, and I have all been taking Taekwondo over the last year and have really enjoyed it. The kids have much better form and flexibility than I do, but it has definitely been more needed by me. It has been a real energy boost for me this year.

Rachel finished her first formal dance recital this summer as well. She has become quite the little dancer and goes on about it. She talked about it so much, her brother decided he wanted to try it this year. He started this summer. So far he really seems to like it as well. He is the prince at the ball, too. They have so few boys enroll for class, the teachers treat them royally – pun intended.

Ben is your typical 4 year old boy. Into everything, constantly wanting to wrestle, run, jump, or climb. Bumps and bruises are part of his daily wardrobe. Recently, he has decided to start trying
“science experiments” by mixing the bath products in the sink. I’m sure he’ll be dissembling electronics as soon as he is dextrous enough for a screwdriver. Time to start locking up anything we don’t want damaged.

Rachel had a successful kindergarten year and is looking forward to starting 1st grade next week. She has really picked up reading and trying to read anything she can get her hands on. It is amazing to watch how quickly her reading improves at this early stage. I hope her enjoyment of school is a great this year as it was last.

The big family event of the year had to be the aforementioned Disney vacation. We surprised the kids with a trip to the “happiest place on earth” last week. It was by far the biggest family undertaking yet. Even with the alternating heavy rains and breathtaking hot and humid days, we had an unbelievably good time. The kids were a perfect age for their initial exposure. They were big enough to be able to handle the unavoidable mileage from exploring all the parks. Ben and Rachel kept those little legs pumping and did a great job of lasting all day. Even better, they were young enough to be completely captured by the magic. It was heart-warming and unforgettable to get to witness the pure joy. The folks at Disney really are masters of their art.

It is back to work and the real world tomorrow. It has been a wonderful break, and I’m feeling energized again. We’ve got a busy fall with friends and family this year, so it should be a nice close to the year as well. We’ve been blessed this year and are so thankful to be so fortuitous as to have had a good year in a time when so many families didn’t. Here’s to hoping things are looking up for everyone very soon!

We took the kids fishing a couple of the days, and they were both successful anglers (with the help of dad and grandma.) They really got a kick out of catching the fish. Before she started, Rachel confirmed we were on a catch and release program. Since we’d had to have caught 30 or 40 of the fish in order to get a fish sandwich, it was easy to go along. The little perch they were catching were 3 inches at best. Catching is where all the fun is anyway. So, all our “giants” lived on to see another day.

We also did several hikes through the forest. Until we visited, we had no idea how large a pine forest there was in the area. The trails throughout the park are well maintained and well marked (in the majority of cases.) We took a few shorter hikes with the kids and a couple of multi-mile day hikes while the kids were hanging out with the grandparents. We saw deer several times on the hikes and really enjoyed all the natural beauty around us. If we’d had one request, it would be for April temperatures instead of August. Even in the shade on the trail under the trees, it was still cooking hot. Regardless, we had a great time.

On one of the last days there, we took the kids horseback riding. They always seem to enjoy it. Rachel was especially excited this time because it was her first opportunity to ride by herself. Lil’ Bit looked like a speck on top of the big horse. She did a great job on the ride though. I think we’ll wind up back at the park. Hopefully in a month that is bit cooler!

Photo Updates:
• Rachel’s 2nd dance recital photos – follow up to earlier video
• Danny and his kids visited on the 4th of July
• Photos from Rachel’s preschool graduation
• Our August 2010 vacation to Beavers Bend State Park

Rachel turned 5 back in March.  It is hard to believe.  Neither Becky nor I can quite believe she’ll be starting school in the fall.  Seems like yesterday we were bringing her home for the first time.  Cliche but true – they grow up too fast.

You’ll find the video for Rachel’s 2nd dance recital at Children’s Courtyard below.  I used two cameras this time to try can get varying angles and perspectives.  Unfortunately, due to a window behind the stage, one of the camera angles is over exposed.  Still there is no reduction in the cute factor.

We took a vacation to the Hill Country back in April.  We stayed in lake house on Lake LBJ and explored all around the area.  It was a beautiful time to visit as the countryside and along all the highways are blanketed with native wildflowers this time of year.  We found ourselves making excuses to take long drives just to enjoy the sites.  The entire area is dotted with state and national parks, so it offered plenty of activities for us and the kids.  Phyllis and Gary came down for the first few days as well.

The weather was nice enough we were able to spend lots of time outdoors.  We visited three state parks: Enchanted Rock, Pedernales Falls, and Longhorn Caverns.  As I mentioned earlier, the drives were so nice we also went in to the San Antonio Zoo one day and Fredericksburg another.  We also took the kids to Sweet Berry Farm one day to pick strawberries.  We got a ton of really good strawberries, and the kids really enjoyed getting to pick their own.  (I think they liked the mud in the rows, too.)  We also visited the largest wildflower farm in the world, Wildseed Farms.  It was much commercial than Sweet Berry, so we didn’t end up staying very long.  While there was plenty of great shopping for all kinds of flower seeds and gardening related products as well as things like jams and jellies, there weren’t many activities to keep the kids occupied.

We took a side trip to Fall Creek Vineyard for Mom, Dad, and Grandma to enjoy.  We had a great tasting of some Texas wines.  We even ended up in coming home with some. You knew it was a Texas vineyard by the bluebonnets that were dotted among the rows of vines.  This time of years, the wildflowers really are everywhere.

It was a great family vacation, and I can see us doing something similar again in the future.  We’ll have to go later into the summer next time though.  It was still just a little too cool to fully enjoy the lake.  If you enjoy the outdoor activities, being a off the beaten path, and relaxing evenings outdoors where you can stare at a million stars, Texas Hill Country is a perfect choice.

Latest Videos:

Photo Updates:
• At the Park with Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Gary
• Egg hunt at Children’s Courtyard
• Our baby girl is 5!
• Visiting Longhorn Caverns
• The day at Sweet Berry Farm and Fall Creek Vineyard
• Enchanted Rock
• San Antonio Zoo
• Deer by the lake house
• Wildseed Farms and Pedernales Falls State Park

Prompted by the snowfall about 3 weeks ago, I’ve put up several sets of recent photos. I haven’t seen snow like this since I was about 10 years old and living in Wichita Falls. And, frankly, I’m not sure how much of that is exaggerated by the span of time. Needless to say, the kids were excited and had a great time playing in the rare Texas snow.

This set also includes all of the photo sets from the holidays until now.  As always, it has been several months since my last update, so there are many new photos.  And, since I’ve acquired the DSLR, I tend to take too many photos anyway.  If I were paying to develop film, I’d have to hold down a second job to support my habit.  Instead, you are subjected to an endless stream of pictures.  And, most of those are ones of a gushing parent no less!

If you are feeling particularly adventurous and want to take it to the next level of family video, you can find a link at the bottom of the photo gallery section on the main page.  As part of a rewards program, I just received a free bloggie. Since that will make transfer even easier, I’m sure you will be able to subject yourself to new sleep-inducing family videos more often. Aren’t you lucky?

Photo Updates:
• Thanksgiving 2009
• Trip to the Fort Worth Zoo with the kids
• Skip’s Birthday Party
• Jason’s 40th Birthday
• Supply Chain Systems Holiday Party
• Hanukkah 2009
• Christmas 2009
• The kids are involved in preschool gymnastics as their daycare. They held a “Mini-Olympics” toward the end of January.
• Playing in the snow during the record breaking snow on February 11th. This set also includes a few photos from following morning showing the final result.