Happy Birthday Hazel!

Today is officially Hazel's 1st birthday. I was pretty excited to wake her up this morning. She didn't know any better of course, but I was anxious just to see her today. It seems so long ago for me that she was born, but it went by so quickly. I know that doesn't make sense, but that's how I feel.

Yesterday Meg told me she started using a spoon to feed herself yogurt at breakfast. By lunchtime she was skilled enough to use it to steal food from her friend Marlow's plate!

I didn't find much coin yesterday.

1,120 quarters had just one Canadian, one UK 10 pence and two US nickels.

400 dimes had one Swiss 10 Rappen and one Singapore 10¢.

440 nickels had nothing.

1,650 pennies had twenty-one Wheats and fifteen Canadians.

1910, 1938, 1942(2), 1944(2), 1945(5), 1946, 1946S, 1950, 1952, 1952D, 1955(2), 1956D, 1957, 1958

Found: 6 pennies

Yesterday morning I had a really nice time with Hazel. She got up before Meg and Henry and we had about half an hour together to play and watch birds. Here she is in one of her favorite spots watching birds in our backyard.





Meg had an interesting conversation with Henry that she e-mailed me about:

"We need to get new library books because mine are dead."
"You mean you're done with your library books?"
"Yes, and they dead."
"Your books are dead?"
"Yes, because I read them a lot."

I searched a lot of coin last night, but the results were pretty boring.

8,000 quarters had seven Canadians, one German Mark, one US nickel, one US dime and two US pennies.

2,100 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1950) and four Canadians.

1,400 nickels yielded one War Time (1944P) and one US penny.

5,000 pennies turned up seventeen Wheats, thirty-two Canadians, one UK penny, one Bermuda 10¢ and thirteen US dimes.

1918, 1940(2), 1944, 1949, 1952D, 195392), 1953D, 1955D, 1956D(2), 1957(2), 1957D(3)

Found: 2 pennies

Happy Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated Hazel's first birthday with a big party for family and friends. It was a short kid party, 11AM-2PM (those are her best hours). We ate and played inside and outside. Lots of kids made use of our sandbox and Hazel's new water table. Meg made all of the delicious lunch food and a special birdhouse case (Hazel's into birds these days).



Meg and Hazel.



The cake.



Hazel in her birthday crown.



Hazel enjoying her cake. She was totally covered after this as one can imagine. I bathed her in the sink quickly and put her in a second outfit.



Hazel looking at her gifts. She was really good about this. Henry and the other kids were too.



Hazel at her water table.



Hazel and Henry sharing her baby stroller. They don't like to share this toy too often. It's the one toy they both seem to want to use. Hazel likes to dance a bit to the sounds it makes.



Hazel playing with bubbles at a nearby soccer field.



Henry chasing his helicopter toy.

My coins weren't too exciting this weekend.

66 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars turned up two 90% silver halves (2 x 1964D) and nine 40% silver halves (1966, 4 x 1967, 4 x 1968D).

80 quarters had nothing.

700 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1964) and one Canadian.

160 nickels had nothing.

5,750 pennies rounded up thirty-five Wheats, twenty-six Canadians, two US dimes, one UK penny and one Malta 1¢ (1991). The Maltese coin is a new type for me.



1918, 1929, 1949, 1957D, 1958 (incomplete list)

Found: 4 pennies, 1 quarter, 3 foreign coins (1 Canadian dime, 2 Canadian quarters)

Now That's What I'm Talking About

Yesterday Meg called me at work to say that Hazel just started walking with the play shopping cart we have at home! Here's some video proof.



Here are few pictures we've taken lately.



Henry and I picking strawberries.



The team.



Me and the kids enjoying an awesome Father's Day picnic Meg made in our backyard.



Hazel hanging out, playing with Henry's pajamas.



Henry trying out his new golf bag (he calls it his golf cart). This morning Meg told me that while running around with this he said, "I'm acting crazy again, Mom!"

Last night's coins were really good to me.

600 small dollars and 10 half dollars had nothing.

3,960 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1949), four Canadians, five US nickels and one Bermuda 25¢. That's the first new silver quarter I've found since February. I was quite pleased. It's one of the rarer ones I've found; 9,312,000 were minted.



4,400 dimes produced three silver Rosies (1952D, 1957, 1960D), eight Canadians (including a 1917, 92.5% silver), one US penny and one Bermuda 10¢. The 1917 Canadian dime is the first George V coin I've found in some time. It's the oldest Canadian dime, oldest Canadian coin and 8th oldest foreign coin I've found. Fortunately I can just make out the date if I hold coin at a certain angle close to a lamp.



1,800 nickels had just one War Time (1945P) and two Canadians.

4,850 pennies yielded one proof penny (1963), thirty-one Wheats, thirty-two Canadians and two US dimes.



1929, 1936, 1937, 1940(3), 1942(2), 1942D, 1944(3), 1944D, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950S, 1951D, 1952, 1953, 1955(2), 1956D, 1957(2), 1957D, 1958, 1958D(4)

Found: 2 pennies

2,480 quarters had one Canadian (1963, 80% silver) and one US nickel.

2,400 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1954), one Canadian and two Cayman Islands 5¢.

1,320 nickels rounded up two War Times (1943S, 1945P), three Canadians and one Brazil 10¢.

1,000 pennies yielded six Wheats, ten Canadians and one US dime.

1944, 1946, 1947S, 1953, 1956, 1957D

Yesterday's coin ... searched while enjoying an awesome piece of Meg-made Key Lime Pie!

300 small dollars, 265 half dollars and 1,320 quarter produced nothing.

950 dimes turned up one silver Rosie (1964D) and two Canadians.

1,160 nickels had one dateless Buffalo (it's got a D mint mark) and one War Time (1945S).

8,200 pennies turned up fifty-six Wheats, forty-five Canadians, four US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢. The 1923S I found in this batch is the only the third example of this I've found. It's a pretty rare one, 8.7 million were minted. Darn, I wish this one I needed.

1910, 1923S, 1928, 1937, 1940, 1940S, 1941(2), 1944(5), 1945(2), 1946(4), 1946D, 1947, 1947S, 1948S, 1949, 1951, 1951D, 1952, 1952D, 1953(4), 1953D(2), 1954D, 1954S, 1955D, 1956(4), 1956D(2), 1957(2), 1957D(7), 1958, 1958D(3)

Found: 1 dime

Happy Fathers' Day!

Happy Fathers' Day! This weekend was the best Fathers' Day yet for me. Maybe it is because I'm now a father twice over, who knows?

We had a good time picking strawberries, eating donuts and playing on the playground at my favorite local farm. I took the kids to the toy store to look for something for Hazel. Meg made a great meal for a special backyard picnic that night. After church on Sunday I took Henry with his cousins, my sister and brother-in-law to their town's fireman rally. There were lots of old time firetrucks there to see. Henry wasn't happy at all with the sirens, but otherwise had lots of fun. We then spent time at my sister's for a special Fathers' Day lunch. And in the evening Meg made another special meal for me.

Coincidentally the kids gave us two days of simultaneous weekend napping!

My coins this weekend were pretty lackluster.

32 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars turned up just one 90% silver half (1962) and two 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D).

Found: 2 pennies, 1 quarter