"Kids on the Farm" Portrait Event

Jason Bowers Photography and Buckeye Blooms invite you to take part in this unique opportunity.

Don't miss this chance to have your child or grandchild professionally photographed on a picturesque family farm: in a field of flowers, against a backdrop of golden prairie grasses or down a shady lane lined with towering trees.

When: August 19, 20 & 21
9:00am-noon and 5:00pm-8:00pm all 3 days
Photo sessions will be scheduled for every 45 minutes

Where: The Studer Farm: home of Buckeye Blooms, producer of farm fresh, chemical-free flowers located at 6301 Watkins Road, Elida

Cost: No sitting fee ($50.00 value)
Purchase only the amount of prints you want

Space is limited so call now to reserve your time slot.

Jason Bowers Photography: 419.222.7584

Pictured left: Buckeye Blooms owners Kay & Susan Studer

5 Dogs

Our family is really into day trips. We randomly pick a destination within a couple hours of our home, pack up the children and a few snacks and just let the day play itself out. It's fun and usually results in creating some good family memories. Yesterday we decided to head to Columbus for the day.

We loaded up a cooler full of food, and ended up having a picnic in a park we like to visit in German Village. With a blanket sprawled out, and a nice spread of food, we enjoyed a meal underneath a large oak tree. We were entertained by a middle-aged skateboarder and a peculiar squirrel. The skateboarder repeatedly rolled by our location, apparently in no hurry to actually go anywhere. He continually attempted a lame trick that although didn't look impressive at all, would surely result in me breaking a bone or excessive bleeding if I tried it. Even our kids were a bit puzzled by his behavior.

"What is he doing?" our oldest daughter asked.

"Not sure," I replied. "I think he's trying to impress you guys." Their eyes rolled back into their heads.

"Well, we're not impressed," they informed me.

I love my girls. I hope they keep that same mentality about guys for many years to come.

As the skater continued his "radness", a curious squirrel sat and watched us eat. That in itself wasn't strange, but the small woodland creature repeatedly made a weird noise. We all agreed that this was not a normal squirrel due to its unique sound. Urban park squirrels must be a bit more rough than country squirrels. This thing was not at all intimidated by people and came very close to us emitting his high pitched chirp. I didn't mind the noise as much as I did the smoke from its cigarette. That's just rude.

After eating, we strolled around the park, and the kids fed bread crumbs to the ducks. My wife and I both observed that parks really do attract people from all walks of life. There were young professionals, old retirees, and people fishing (quite possibly for their dinner). I often noticed my kids staring. To be honest, I too was mesmerized by a couple of the park patrons. None more so than the guy carrying around 2 turtles he had evidently caught. Everybody needs a hobby I guess.

My wife and I decided to take the kids to a Columbus Clippers baseball game. This is the first year for the new Huntington Park and it's absolutely beautiful. It's very kid friendly and I strongly recommend it to any family. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the experience, although they could really care less about the game taking place on the field.

By the time we got there, all of the seats had been sold out. The only remaining tickets were "standing room only." So we basically were told that we'd just have to roam around and find an open space to view the game. As it turned out, it worked out perfectly because we paid a minimal amount for admission and then eventually found good seats close to the field.

What contributed to the large attendance last night was that it was "Dime a Dog Night". Yup, hot dogs cost only 10 cents. This apparently brought a lot of people out to the ballpark. Our kids all thought this was wonderful. We managed to get a few dogs prior to the large line that continued throughout the game. We found a bench to sit on while the kids stuffed their faces. I looked over to notice a videographer from a local tv station readying his camera. He evidently was looking for some footage for the newscast later that evening. He gazed over the crowd and inevitably set his sights on our family.

"Don't look now," I said to my wife, "but I think we're about to be videotaped."

Sure enough, the guy started rolling tape on us. As soon as he began, it was like carnival music starting playing and lights spotlighted our traveling circus. First of all, our youngest daughter attempted to shove her half-eaten hot dog up my wife's nose. Not sure why, but she apparently felt this was a good idea. I'm convinced it looked great through the man's camera lens though. Then, my other daughter spilled a full bottle of water over and it soaked part of my pants. This all happened in the matter of 5 seconds.

The newsman finally put down his camera and revealed a large grin on his face. He looked at us as if to say, "This footage is golden. Thank you. Freaks."

In addition to him, we also put on a show for the guy across the way from us. My wife didn't see him, but I looked up to his laughing noticeably at our non-scripted comedic routine.

"Thank you, Columbus! We'll be back again, please tip your waitress," is what I felt like yelling.

We eventually cleaned ourselves up and roamed around the park once more. Due to the large crowd, there really weren't too many areas open that the kids could see the field. I finally just told the other 4 to follow me and I randomly ventured down to some empty seats close to the field. I waited for the usher to be distracted with some actual ticket holders and seized on the opportunity.

My wife is very much a "by the book" sort of person and this was as close to breaking the law that's she's come to in a long time. We took our seats, and my lovely life partner sat nervously for the next 2 innings, obviously hating the fact that we were wanted criminals. The rightful owners never claimed the seats so we enjoyed the rest of the game from that location. Genius.

The game was good, but the real entertainment took place in front of my wife. She kept mouthing something to me, but I couldn't quite make it out. As I soon figured out, she had been saying, "She's had 4 hot dogs." I then noticed a rather burly, muscular lady sitting directly in front of my wife. I don't want to sound judgmental or mean spirited, but I'll just say that undoubtedly this woman could put me in a head lock quite quickly if she so desired.

4 hotdogs? That's kind of gross. But not nearly as gross as when she sucked down her 5th hot dog soon afterward. Come on, I understand 10 cents is an extremely good price for a hot dog, but is the cost alone what keeps people from scarfing down large quantities of them? It's still a hot dog. Have some self control, lady.

I of course would never say that directly to that woman. Not so much because I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings, but rather for my fear of the impending head lock that'd follow.

Our Vacation Part V

Today's the final installment of our vacation recap. On this particular venture, we headed to a horse farm located only a few miles from our house. Our kids love anything that has to do with nature and animals so we figured this destination would suit them well. And it did, but not without excitement however.

We no sooner stepped out of our car when we felt a thunderous vibration emitting up from the ground. The trembling earth was accompanied by a loud repetitive thumping sound heading toward us. We looked up to see 4 riderless horses in a full sprint, galloping outside of the secure fenced area. Although we were still 30 yards away from them, it was very intimidating. I wasn't scared at all and stood my ground in a manly fashion. ( Only because I couldn't get my keys out of my pocket fast enough to jump back inside the minivan)

Something seemed out of the ordinary. For a place visited by families with small children, this was not a safe situation. Our questions were answered when we soon saw 4 people walking from the direction from which the horses came. Apparently something had spooked the animals, causing them to take off. Although a bit unnerving, it was an incredible experience to see those large animals moving like that.



Also on the ranch were a few of these things. Sort of an unusual, dopey looking animal. It actually reminded me of our dog which is a Golden Doodle (Golden Retriever and Standard Poodle mix). Being the clever chap that I am, I coined the term "Cow Doodle". Nobody thought it was funny then when I said it either.



A young woman ran the ranch and I couldn't help but say in a loud enough voice that she could hear, "Hey kids, check out these stupid looking horses." She pretended to not hear me. I think after nearly being ran over by a horse, it sort of made me say weirder things than usual.

The Cow Doodle is much more intimidating from this angle. By the look he was giving me, I think he would have thoroughly loved stepping on my face. Or better yet, sticking one of his horns up a place that a Cow Doodle's horn doesn't belong. Yikes.



We loved watching the kids just sort of roaming around the property, appreciating the large creatures that stood on the other side of the electric fence. Thankfully the only way we knew that the fence wire was live was that a rancher informed us and not due to me seizuring on the ground, eyes rolled back into my head, and urine soaked pants mumbling "it's.....turned.....on."



Our vacation was a huge success again this year. We managed to all get along quite well, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The kids played well with each other and behaved wonderfully in the van ride to and from Michigan. The only incident involving any type of argument occurred the night before we left for home.

We heard arguing going on between all three girls in the back of the minivan. Short on patience involving children bickering about something silly, we put the kibosh on that right away.

"There will be no fighting. Understand? That goes for the remainder of tonight and as well as tomorrow when we leave for home," my wife informed them. "Now what's going on?"

"Nobody wants to sit in the back seat," the oldest one told us.

"Why? That used to be the 'cool seat' to have. What's changed?" my wife inquired.

"The back seat smells like hot dogs," was the response.

As I write that last sentence, I still get the same nauseating feeling that I had at that exact moment. Hot dogs? Our van smells like hot dogs? That's so gross I'm a little embarrassed to even share that.

In denial, and still just hoping that they were making that up, I crawled to the back of the van.

Yep, hot dogs.

It's amazing/embarrassing/discouraging what happens in a minivan with 3 young children over the course of a 10 day vacation. My wife elected me to search for the cause of the odorous stench and the children hopped out of the vehicle. I found several cookies, a partly eaten peanut butter sandwich, many m&m's, a sucker, and some gooey substance that I just convinced myself was a melted candy bar. But no processed meat product was found.

And then I noticed the smell was gone. This could only mean one thing.

It had to be one of the children.

That's something that no parent wants for their offspring.

We checked the girls over and I am proud to report that the mystery smell was not them. We never did quite figure out the source, but it failed to return anyway. Thank you, Jesus.

And so with that we close the book on another great vacation. It's hard to believe it had been a year already since our last one. Crazy. Time certainly does fly by. Although there's often a bit of a sadness at the conclusion of a fun getaway, it's always good to be back home. Especially when I get to live with 4 beautiful ladies, none of whom smell like a hot dog.

Have a great weekend.

Our Vacation Part IV

Being surrounded by nature inspires a person to be outside as much as possible. So one day we found some hiking trails and marched off into the woods by our house. The kids love this sort of thing. They picked up walking sticks and saw this as a huge adventure. Once again, my wife and I saw this as an excellent opportunity to tire out their little bodies.



Along the way, we stopped and nailed a note to a tree. My mother-in-law had the idea to seal up a letter addressed to other passersby. The paper requested that they sign and date the note. Then, next year when we return we'd see who all participated in our little experiment. With our fortune, we'll probably get fined for littering though.



The Chuck Taylors got a work out, and on the return hike back to our house, our 4 year decided that she was too tired to walk so I had to carry her on my shoulders. Funny thing, I didn't realize just how far we had walked until we turned around to go back to the house. My legs started to strain a bit and my shoulders started to burn. That's when she piped up and commented that, "Going on hikes is hard work," and that she was "getting so thirsty from having gone on such a long hiking trip" and of course, "my bottom is hurting from sitting on your shoulders." Oh really? Sorry for the inconvenience that my shoulders are causing you. You have my full sympathy. I'll try to pick up the pace so as to not create any more hardship. Give me a break, man.

I love pointing out certain things to the kids while traipsing through the forest. I try to not only put out the vibe that I'm well-trained in the skills of a survivalist, but I also like to mess with their little heads a bit. They're young and impressionable so it's just a lot of fun. For example, "Those trees over there are Northern Maples and are indigenous to this part of the country,"(they just assume I know what I'm talking about since I used the word "indigenous") or "Those green plants there are poisonous," or "I think I heard a bear," or "Be sure to watch out for quick sand," or "There have been reports of Sasquatch in these parts," or "Oh my word, we're lost! We're lost!". Good times, good times.



As I mentioned earlier in the week, the weather was a bit on the chilly side as well as a little rainy. So, on a couple days we had some extended time inside the house. My 9 year-old daughter seized the opportunity to teach me how to play the game of chess. I've always sort of wanted to learn but never have. I quickly realized that as I get older, the less capable I am of retaining new information like this.

She sees the board quite simplistically it seems. Sort of like this...


However, in my head things are organized more like this...



In a weird fluke, I somehow managed to actually beat her the first game we played. I suspect that she let me because ever since then she absolutely destroys me. Typically, I'm left sitting at the table trying to figure out how she could win so quickly. "That's okay, Daddy," she says with a smug grin, "you tried."

Chess is a great thinking person's game. I love the strategy and gamesmanship involved. I'm glad I finally took time to start learning it. I didn't feel so bad about my late arrival to the chess playing community until I read this on the box...



Age 5? Are you kidding me? I didn't even start playing checkers until I was about 10 years old. I guess I'm a bit "slow".

The last game we played together was extremely close - and long. We actually had to stop play and resume the game later that evening due to the longevity of it. In a disheartening ending, she inevitably captured my king. I'm not a good loser. So I immediately challenged her to another competition. Arm wrestling.

Fortunately for me we agreed to a "best 2 out of 3" match.

As it turns out, she's abnormally strong for a 4th grade girl.

Our Vacation Part III

I think the girls' favorite activity that we did as a family was visiting the beach. You can't really go wrong with a good beach. There's so much to do there for the kids, it's therapeutic for the parents to hear the crashing of the waves, and there's always ample opportunity for good photographs. The downside to it is that we inevitably end up with sand in places that sand just does not belong (on our body and otherwise). And similarly to Easter basket grass, it resurfaces for a long time afterward. We will be sweeping sand from our minivan until Christmas I fear.





On this particular day, we decided to even eat dinner on the beach. So, we just grabbed a bag of tacos and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the shores of Lake Michigan. However, the girls were so excited to explore the waterfront, they elected to only eat a few bites and then scampered off. "We'll eat later," they said.
Well, that didn't exactly happen. Since we left the food unattended, it ended up being scarfed down by this guy...



I don't even want to imagine the disgusting effects that Tex-Mex has on a seagull. Nasty.



Since the temperature was only about 65 degrees this day, they didn't swim at all. Instead they scoured the beach for shells and miscellaneous items that washed up onto shore. They sorted and collected their finds. Sadly, they are not this organized at home.



A true blessing was the discovery of large sand dunes. These seemed like mountains to the kids and they repetitiously ran up and down them. The great thing about the dunes is that they require a lot of energy to navigate them. The burning up of energy yields tired children. Tired children inevitably results into them willingly going to bed early. Awesome.



While on the dunes, I noticed many narrow tracks in the sand. I found one, then another, and then realized they were simply everywhere. What could be making these strange markings? And then it occurred to me. Oh crap. It had to be these things again...



As I've already expressed in an earlier blog, I hate snakes. I hate snakes. I hate snakes. And one more time to drive the point home, I hate snakes.

I called the kids over to me and pointed out the narrow squiggly lines going in all sorts of directions. There must have been dozens of trails. I told the children that these markings were the makings of some sort of small snake. They were impressed by my animal tracking skills. That's one cool thing about having small kids. It doesn't take a whole lot to impress them.

Were we surrounded by water snakes that buried themselves in sand dunes, waiting for prey to come along? I've seen those types of slithering reptiles on Animal Planet before. It did sort of feel like we were being "watched". But my paranoia was relieved when I discovered the creator of the winding paths in the sand...



The girls just sort of looked at me disappointingly. I don't think they were let down in the fact that snakes were not producing the trails, but rather I am pretty sure they were moreso disappointed in themselves for having believed me.

I have a feeling I will see that expression many times throughout the course of their lives.



It was a great day if for no other reason than this image was the last fading glimpse of it.

Our Vacation Part II

One of the yearly favorite destinations of our vacation is Pond Hill Farm. It's got everything that our kids love there: animals, ponds, food, dirt etc. They grow all of their produce and flowers organically. Inside their little retail shop, people can buy anything from organic sodas to home made salsa. It's a cool place to say the least.

The kids especially enjoy getting to feed the animals.




The kids always ask interesting questions when we visit the farm. There's just always a lot of nature going on around us. Some questions that have been raised include: "What are those two sheep doing over there?", "Why does that piggy have so many po po's?" fyi- (po po is my youngest daughter's term for "nipple"), "What's that hanging down from that pig underneath its bottom?". Typically speaking, as any good parents do, we just try to ignore our children in such uncomfortable situations.

Speaking of pigs, it amazes me that this thing...



...can taste so unbelievably good.

Especially when you know it just eats practically anything, as evident by this sign located inside the Pond Hill Farm cafe...



This year's new attraction was a very high tire swing. I wanted to get on it but there were too many children in front me. I hate lines. To compound my frustration, 2 little boys through a huge fit when I tried to cut in front of them.



Pond Hill Farm is a farm that's surrounded by hills, and, well it also has a pond. Go figure.


This pond is loaded with various types of fish, in particular very large trout. They grow to be huge because people can buy food to feed them and as indicated by the sign posted on the dock, no fishing is aloud.



The best investment we made was purchasing the butterfly nets. The kids get a lot of use out of them and ironically, rarely do they end up catching any butterflies.



"Daddy, is it okay if we try to catch a fish with our butterfly nets?"

"Sure, sweetie, you can try to catch one of those huge fish with your tiny little butterfly nets."

How precious. After all, it's not like they'd stand a chance of actually getting one of those things, right?






Wrong.

"Sweet Moses! Kick it back in! Kick it back in!"

Our vacation

Another year, another vacation. Man, time seems to be moving quicker and quicker. I've taken a vacation from the blog posting as well. Some of you have made some disparaging remarks regarding the lack of production on my part. I apologize thoroughly. So, in lieu of my slacking off these past couple weeks, I've decided to dedicate this whole week to summarizing our family's holiday to Northern Michigan. This is truly God's country and our family makes a trek up there every early July. In case anybody would like to know what we did while I was busy not blogging, here you go...

We managed to round up our Bowers 5 long enough in one spot to pose for a picture. You'd think being a photographer we'd have a ton of family pics - not the case. I suppose it's sort of like how the plumber's family always has a leaky faucet. It's crazy how much the kids change from one year to the next. This was taken on the 4th of July on the front porch of our vacation house.


This is the view of Boyne Highlands from the back deck of our house. This is a view we never get tired of. Too bad the weather was mostly horrible the entire time. 2 days we were there the temperatures were in the 50's. It felt like we could have been on a skiing trip.



This is the back yard of the house. At the bottom of the photograph you'll notice a blob that's circled. This is a pile of animal waste that appeared one morning that wasn't there the day before. Although from this vantage point it doesn't look very impressive, in actuality it was quite large. Which, given my keen knowledge of nature means that it probably came from a large animal. Various guesses as to what made this included the following: a deer, a huge raccoon, fox, and several squirrels playing "follow the leader". My fear was that it was some sort of sick joke played on us by the burly, hairy maintenance man working at the house next door.

Our vacation almost turned deadly when we had a near tragic encounter with this threatening creature...


Somehow it managed to get into our garage, undoubtedly stalking us as prey. For anybody who does not know me, I vehemently despise snakes. That is why I react the following way when confronted with a snake: Step 1: scream like a little girl, Step 2: push down my wife and/or small children in order to run past them and away from said snake 3:scream like a little girl once again.

To compound matters even worse, the burly hairy maintenance man working next door decided to come over to see what all the fuss was about. "Is one of your young daughters in danger? he asked.
"Ughhh, that was just me. Sorry," I replied.

He looked the snake over and stated that he never had seen one like that around there before. In his estimation it might quite possibly be a Copperhead he postulated.

Woooonderful.

The first opportunity I had I got my Google on and researched the various species of that particular area. I discovered it was a non-venomous Eastern Garter snake. However, it was still pure evil in my opinion. Just in case, I would not go near it, or least of all try to catch it. That's insanity.

However, my brother's in law girlfriend didn't think it was too big of a deal to grab it.



Show off.



Near our house were 2 ponds like this one. The kids spent hours fishing for trout and using butterfly nets to catch frogs. These ponds occupy most of their time every year. The best part of the pond/frog catching/fishing is that the fact that it's free. Being active like that tires them out which also means they go to sleep at night fairly easily - always a good thing.



And of course there were plenty of opportunities to snap pics of the girls...




Above is an obviously posed photograph. After snapping this one, I instructed my children to "be themselves and act naturally" and to "not be so stiff this time." The following is what they gave me...


I suppose in a sense they were acting normally - which is goofy as usual.

More on our vacation tomorrow.