July/August 2012

Dear Reader,

July and August brought many exciting travels where we apparently forgot to bring our camera!  Whoops!  Trust us, they were exciting.  But not all is lost.  We have some exciting photos of Julian's 5th birthday party and random pictures from destinations that range from Aspen to Northwest Michigan to Budapest!

However, I am sure that the grandparental units out there will be most interesting in the 5th birthday photos.  One spectacular benefit in being born during warm months (and this is coming from two Christmas-time babies here) is the ability to have a party outdoors.  The possibilities are endless.  Barbeque, beach, pool party, playground, soccer, football, basketball, bocce ball, basically anything with the world ball in it can be played during one's party.  Of course out of all of these choices, our son chose bowling (ball).  sigh.  Nothing is better on a warm 76 degree sunny day (gentle breeze) than hiding inside a dark and slightly musty building with 14 screaming children.  All that said, Julian had a wonderful time.  It was everything he dreamed.  We may just have to alter his dreams next year!

Please click on the photo below for the webalbum:

May/June 2012

Dear Reader,

May and June saw two significant graduations from the lives of the Rasoul clan.  The first was Teresa finishing up Veterinary school at MSU.  An exceptional accomplishment that was accentuated by being away from her family for a majority of that time and still ending up with the highest GPA in her graduating class.  She will be cross with me for mentioning this, but I am extremely proud of her!

The second graduation goes hand-in-hand with the first as it was Julian's graduation from Midland Montessori School.  Julian entered MMS only just walking at the age of 13 months.  Over the course of four years, he has developed into quite a little clone... errr... I mean big boy.  During the graduation all of the students came up and said what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Most of the children stated admirable (for an adult) careers such as Teacher, Doctor, Lawyer, Firefighter, etc...  Julian went up and said that he wanted to be a pirate when he grew up.  I was genuinely proud of my guy at that very moment.

Please click on the picture below for the web album:

April 2012

Dear Reader,

In April we took the obligatory family pilgrimage to the land of Mickey Mouse.  Our first stop in our florida vacation was the Magic Kingdom and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  More savvy parents out there are certainly thinking, 'oh my that is too scary of a ride for a 4 year old' and 'that Reza is so irresponsible'.  Well I should inform you that Julian loves pirates.  He had been talking about pirates for months!  Building pirate legos, telling his teachers he wanted to be a pirate when he grew up!  So, I'll thank you not to judge me... even as my 4 year old son curled up in the fetal position with his eyes shut and hands clapped over his ears within eight seconds of going on the ride!  oops...  my bad.

You will be pleased to see from the rest of our photos that he had a wonderful time.  However, it is worth noting that as we departed Disney World and asked Julian what his favorite ride of the trip was, he responded, "Pirates of the Caribbean!  Daddy was scared, but I wasn't scared at all!!".  That's my boy, nice a tough... perhaps tough through revisionist history, but tough nonetheless.

Please click on the picture below to enjoy the photo album:

Winter 2012

Dear Reader,
Julian and James had tons of fun this past Winter. Much to his mother's chagrin, Jamesy had his first birthday and subsequent first hair cut.  With this hair cut, he went from baby to toddler in a matter of minutes.  Screaming, twisting, 'oh my god are you really going to use clippers again trust me it is fine the way it is just stop', minutes.

Julian has also trained James in the ways of the force.  Ironically he dresses James up as Yoda during these training sessions.  Apparently I have failed to teach the child about the order of power in the Star Wars universe.  Me thinks he just likes the light sabers.  I can't blame him really.

You'll notice at the end of the photo deck, we are wandering through the woods.  This was to visit our maple sap bucket at Chippewa Nature Center, which was a lovely Christmas gift from one of our friends.  Julian had a good time dumping the sap, twigs, leaves, bugs, and other things into the main collection bucket.  We tried to convince him that this is boiled down to make maple syrup... but I am fairly sure he things we were pulling his leg.

Please click on the photos below for more!

December 2011

Dear Reader,
As I sit outside during the summer solstice and contemplate where the past six months went it occurred to me... Christmas is pretty awesome.  If you would like photographic documented proof of this assertion, please click on the photo below.

November 2011 - the tree

Dear Reader,
The boys had a great time in November.  The highlight for them was, of course, trimming the tree for Christmas.  We got a lot of cute photos of brotherly love during that time.  Amazing how the power of Santa watching turns Julian into a perfect angel!

Please click on the photo below for the web album.

Sept-Oct 2011 - From Traverse City to Jedi Knights

Dear Reader,
For the non-michiganders out there, you don't know what you're missing.  In particular, the North-Western part of the state is simply remarkable.  Sure the winter is (typically) an exercise in positive attitude - "Look it is 16 degrees and cloudy for the 83rd day in a row and I haven't seen anything green in three months, but I'm sure it'll warm up this weekend" - but summer and fall are unbelievable.

In September, the Midland-Rasoulpours traveled to Traverse City for a weekend adventure.  We climbed up sand dunes, had some exceptionally tasty seafood, and hung out on the 45th parallel.  The fall started with our weekend getaway with lighthouses and ended with driveway halloween battles with light sabers.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been around Julian in 2011 that he was Luke Skywalker for halloween.  Complete with blue light saber that made authentic sounds.  Perhaps his daddy went a little overboard, but we are talking Star Wars here!  James made a very convincing Jedi Master Yoda.  You can imagine how the evening ended when we combine a sugar high, 4 year olds, large sword-like weapons, and the responsible party being a 30-something man-child.  Well, see for yourself.

Please click on the photo below for more pictures!

August 2011 - Team Rasoul on the Move

Dear Reader,
The Rasoul clan went to visit family in New England in August.  As you can tell from the photos, we had a wonderful time filled with laughter, food, and fire.  Ok, lots of fire.  Apparently wicker baskets create the ideal combination of fuel and air flow to require fire department intervention.  Who knew?

Julian had a wonderful time with his cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents.  Luckily they were better influences on him than his daddy.

Click on the photo below for all of the pictures.