Things have been pretty busy around here with a dozen people living under our roof, so I haven’t gotten around to posting much lately. A few recent highlights in the family news department:

• Have been enjoying time with The Adams Family (snap, snap) immensely. I’ve tried to drag them around Texas in high speed tourist mode, but they’ve been content to relax and enjoy time of leisure and communion (as much as possible with 8 kiddos running around the house). It’s been great to have the time together.
• I took the three eldest kids to the beach this past weekend to camp on the sands of Port Aransas, where we met up with [Meara->], and to enjoy Sandfest 2006. We had a great time; there were some super sculptures, and the beach is always a treat for us — one of the places where we can stop being in a hurry and worrying about what needs doing and just play. Bliss! (You can see some of the photos on Flickr.)
• Jeff, my buddy [Jason->] and I yesterday build a water rocket based on these plans. While we didn’t get it finished until 9:30pm or so, the project was a huge success — we estimated our best launches at about 150 feet into the air. Plus, as an added bonus, we didn’t get arrested! Between this, the trebuchet, and the cannon, I’ve got a pretty good arsenal going now.

  Check out Jason’s typically better and more thorough writeup here.