Prebble Family Tales

Wow, another tooth out! Gareth isn’t going to have anything left in there at this rate. Once again, he initially chose to not pass his tooth onto the designated fairy, but once we explained how the whole process works, he gave up both his newly extracted tooth and the one he had put in storage. With the resultant funds, he purchased a Little Einsteins DVD. MISSION COMPLETION!

October is an exciting month for Gare, what with the pumpkin patching, touring the Baltimore Inner Harbor, biking Baltimore, riding on a firetruck, tooth loss, swimming today with Miss Jorene, and his upcoming turn as a baseball player for Halloween.

While we were in Baltimore, we visited both the National Aquarium and the Science Center. Gareth really got attached to all the turtles in the aquarium, but no… we do not want any turtles as pets. If you were tempted for a second to get Gareth a turtle, you can stop right now. The Science Center had plenty of things with which Gareth could interact, chief among them a laser harp that required only basic hand movement to play.

Speaking of Halloween (I was, just two paragraphs ago), we spent Saturday carving our pumpkins. No photos yet, but Gareth carved a cat pumpkin while I made a Stormtrooper pumpkin. Brandy went the Sharpie route and drew a face on her pumpkin. Every year, we have to face the decision - to Trick or Treat or no? If we do, we end up going to the Nittany Mall as they floors are nice and flat. Combing the streets is difficult in a wheelchair as it is painful to get up onto the crowded porches of our festive neighbors. We haven’t made that call yet, but sometimes we just hang out and enjoy handing out candy.

We took a family trip out to Way Fruit Farm to pick our pumpkins from a pumpkin patch. And to pet rabbits. And to stock up on apples so that Brandy and Gareth can make me an endless supply of apple pies. Sorry, Frannie.

We’re heading to Baltimore for a weekend away primarily to ride in the Tour du Port. Gareth and I will be riding his bike around Baltimore. Wish us courteous drivers.

For the CDT readers in the audience, you might have noticed Gareth’s photo in the Sunday CDT. The staff photographers were asked to come up with their favorite photos from 2007 and one of them chose the photo he took of Gareth at the unveiling of his Make-A-Wish delivery. That kid is everywhere! In the paper, in video promotions, in technical journals, on the radio, and in at least three blogs. I never had that kind of exposure when I was a kid. I’m still deciding whether or not this level of exposure is good for Gareth.