Where's Bam-Bam?

Sarah is sporting her "Pebbles" hairstyle, courtesy of her mom. Erin did her hair up like this, and the boys laughed and laughed, and Sarah giggled right along.

Sarah attended her first Twins game on Sept. 27, when Rich took her and the boys to the Metrodome ... alas, the Twins lost to Kansas City, 6-4. Sarah cried a bit during the first two innings whenever the crowd cheered, but later she got used to it and even took a little nap in the fifth and sixth innings.

A little Letcher reunion

Roger and Gloria held a mini-Letcher reunion at Bowstring last weekend, attended by Bud and Anne, Loren and Diane, Norma, Marie and Dick, Stuart, Sigrid and Thea and Stephanie, Festus and Riley. It rained a lot, but Sunday turned out to be a nice fall day, as you can see from this photo.

Sarah and her mommy!

Our little cutie enjoying her first-ever swing on a hammock.

More reunion pix

Rich and Ellaina's cousin Stuart with his wife, Sigrid, and their five-month-old baby, Thea, who was born about five weeks after little Sarah!

Aunt Marie with two of her kids, Stephanie and Stuart.

Stuart with Thea and Rich with Sarah.

Cutie patootie

Sarah-bear really likes her cloth book, "Counting Colors."

Sarah can't wait until she's old enough to try Lucas's Game-boy video game.

Six months old

Sarah's six months old (and a day) in this picture. She sits up by herself (although she falls over a lot) and likes to say "Da da da da da da da da blooh oooooh aaaaaah!" Lately she just can't get enough of her Gerber pears and applesauce! But she won't eat vegetables, just like her daddy!

Such a big girl

Mom and Dad are sure amazed at how big Sarah is on her six-month birthday! Eighteen pounds and 28 inches long ... she's going to tower over her brothers!

Rub a dub dub

Here's Sarah with Lucas and Caleb in her first bath in the big bathtub. What a bunch of stinkers!

Back to school!

The boys are back in school! Noah and Lucas are in second grade this year, and Noah is in fifth grade. They all like their new teachers.

The second photo was taken last weekend at a 40th birthday party for Erin's cousin Lynnette. Erin is holding Sarah, her sister Libby is holding Peyton and Brian is holding Zane.

Oshkosh 2006

On July 25 Rich, Roger and Noah took their first-ever trip to the EAA fly-in at Oshkosh, Wis. We saw hundreds if not thousands of aircraft, and had a great time!



From the top are Noah and Grandpa in front of a P-40 Warhawk, Noah sitting in the cockpit of a Vietnam-era OV-10 Mohawk, and Rich and Noah in front of a P-51 Mustang.

Noah's dream car

Roush Racing had a bunch of their souped-up cars at the airshow, and Rich and Noah kinda liked this blue Mustang with about 500 horsepower...

Our own magazine cover

Looks like Noah's taking Rich for a wild ride!

Our future airplane?

Rich is a member of AOPA, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Each year they refurbish an older aircraft into like-new condition and give it away to one of their members. Here, we're pictured in front of this year's giveaway airplane, a 1967 Cherokee Six 260. They've already put in a new engine, propeller and glass panel, and they're getting ready to do the paint and interior next.

Hmmm, let's see ... six seats in the airplane, for (1) Rich, (2) Erin, (3) Noah, (4) Lucas, (5) Caleb and (6) Sarah. Yep, that's about right!

B1 bomber

One of the more impressive military planes we saw at Oshkosh was the B1 Lancer. Here, Noah is standing by its landing gear.

Future Blue Angel

Noah hopes to be sitting in the cockpit of one of these in another 15 or 20 years. Blue Angel No. 7 was at the fly-in, and during the afternoon airshow we saw him give a ride to actor Harrison Ford, who was in the backseat! They pulled up so hard after takeoff, we're pretty sure ol' Harrison was nearly puking his guts out! He got about an hourlong ride before they returned. Harrison Ford is a pilot himself, in both fixed-wing and rotorcraft.

End of an era

It was a bittersweet day Wednesday, Aug. 16 ... I helped mom and dad move their belongings out of the old Gordon family home in Richfield, and we drove away for the last time. The house where we lived for some 27 years will be razed to make way for a new Super Target. Still, mom and dad are now freed from having two houses and can focus on their retirement home on Bowstring.

Here's how the house looked on that last day. Dad removed many of the windows from the house so he could install them in his workshop up north. So we had to board up the house so nobody could get inside.

Bouncing baby girl

Look how excited Sarah was to get her new bouncy baby play station. Lately she's not been too happy with reclining a lot, so we got her this so she could be upright more without us having to hang on to her.

She passed her four-month checkup at the doctor's office last week with flying colors! She's almost 16 pounds (90th percentile), is 26 inches tall (95th percentile) but still has a smaller head circumference (50th percentile).

Dr. Manney told Erin, "She's perfect. You should have five more just like her!"

Mmmmm ... no. Four's plenty!

Tender loving care

Lucas likes to hold Sarah while he sits on the couch! She gets lots of kisses from Lucas, and he's always one of the first to help try to calm Sarah down when she's fussy!

Little green thumb

Here's Caleb with just a few of the many plants he's nurtured lately. If there's mud on the deck or grass seed scattered in the garage, we know Caleb's been at it again!

Cute bald guys

Four of the best-looking cats at the Gordon reunion!

Rich, Arthur, Bill and Paul...

Mary Ellen and Dick's clan

Thanks to Paul for this picture he took of Mary Ellen and Dick's brood. Only Amy and Sonja are missing. They'd better show up next time!