Smoky in Here

After I roasted a chicken and smoke filled the house, Eric came in and
said, "It's smoky in here." Grace looked up and answered, "It's not
smoky in my ear."

Pumpkin

Here is Grace's pumpkin. She was very excited while we carved the pumpkin and is very proud of this rather worried pumpkin. She didn't want to touch the guts of the pumpkin.

The Recharging Generation

With Eric, Aimee and I living in he same house we have 3 laptops, 3
cellphones, and one Playstation Portable System - all of which require
recharging. I was noticing today as I vacuumed that all our power
outlets seem to have been converted to batter recharging centers. We
are now the recharging generation.

Dead Squirrel

We ran across a dead squirrel today. Grace was impressed - 3 years are impressed with death, not knowing precisely what it means. She wanted to know why it was dead. I speculated that a car ran over it. But that didn't explain how the body ended up on the sidewalk. Grace had her own explanation: "Maybe a mad squirrel pushed him."

Is it always wrong to generalize?

GrrrLillas and Grandma

While Aimee went to an appointment, Grace and I took an hour or so and
went to the zoo. She kept talking about the GrrrLillas, which I
thought was hilarious. Later in the evening, we told Grace that
tomorrow we're going to Grandma's house for my birthday celebration.
Grace announced, "I'm not going to talk to Grandma. I'm going to be
shy to her."

Ferry Pictures

I like how Grace thinks. She wanted to draw a picture of the Ferry
Boat. Then draw the people in the ferry boat... and on the ferry
boat... and then we needed to draw the people falling of the ferry
boat and splashing in the water.

37

Nelson turns 37 years old today. Nelson trivia: 37 years ago he was named after White Sox ballplayer Nelson Fox. He was born in Paris. Another woman came into the hospital to have her baby at the same time. She was dropped off, had the baby (her umpteenth one) and then her husband picked her up in a combine tractor no less to give them a ride home. If it weren't for baseball distracting his Father, he might have been named John Deere Appell or Farmhall Appell.

Canada Dry

Aimee is drinking Canada Dry Ginger Ale today. She is sick. Grace and I had been sick this last week; now it's Aimee's turn. Grace has spent much of today pretending that I am a horse and insisting that she tether to the living room end table - and then I have to sit there and go "neeeeeeeiiiiigh!" over and over and over. She is obsessed with leashes and tying people and stuffed animals to chair legs.

Goodbye Elmo Balloon

Grace came racing in the back door panicked - "Daddy, I need Elmo back, I need Elmo back."  At which point I realized she had taken her Elmo birthday balloon from the family birthday part into the back yard - and let it go.  So she has had her first lesson in letting balloons go - only it hasn't sunk in.  She kept asking, "Is Eric looking for Elmo?" whenever Eric stepped outside.

Fruits of the Garden update

The canning went very well and until Aimee realized we forgot to add the Lemon juice.  The lemon juice's acidity is essential to long term storage of the tomatoes, so now we have a lot of canned tomatoes that we need to use soon.  The sure look pretty.

Fruits of the Garden

We didn't pick any tomatoes for a week - and look at our bounty! We used a laundry basket to pick the juicy little red devils before we canned them over devilishly high heat.

Spider Glacier

Aimee and Nelson standing before Spider Glacier in the pass over Holden Village. Unfortunately, Spider Glacier has melted so much that the trail was unpassable over the pass. This picture was taken an hour or so before that discovery - otherwise we wouldn't be so darned happy. So Jami, Micah, Aimee and I turned around and hiked back out 10 miles and down 4,000 feet, arriving back at the truck at 10pm at night and then driving to Field's Pt. Landing to catch the boat to Holden.

Scone Chicken

Grace called me a "scone chicken" this morning - which is what a person is "after when you take a bath."  Mommy, however, is not a scone chicken - although there seems to be some hope that she could eventually attain that status.

Dinosaurs and Falling Suns

At Holden Village, Grace and I (Nelson) were watching deer graze in the center of the village.  Grace told me, "Daddy, the deer are afraid of the dinosaurs."  Later, at sunset, Grace said, "Daddy, the sun is going down to the mountains?"  "It is?" I said.  "It's going to break all the houses.  It's going to break all the castles."

President Past

Aimee is now a Past President at Gift of Grace. Her two years of service are up - now it's off to Grad School. No rest for the weary.

Browser

After Loren asked Eric a question about Eric's computer, Eric gave him a lengthy answer about opening a browser and typing information in and where to go, etc. etc.  After Eric was finished, Loren returned to the beginning principle and asked, "What's a browser?"

Idiots vs. Dummies

We were debating among ourselves which series of books was better: the Dummies guides or the Idiots guides.  Eric said he liked the Idiots series better "because they have much more pictures."

Brushing Teeth

Bill and Isable left yesterday at 8:30am, Loren arrived yesterday at 8:00pm.  This morning he woke up and grabbed what he thought was his travel-size toothpaste and proceeded to brush his teeth with Tinactin.  He says it was the worst-tasting toothpaste he has ever tried.

Ave Atque Vale

(Hail and Farewell)
Isabel and Bill have left the state on this Friday morning. Here is a Isabel in repose - do not be fooled by this peaceful reflection... this moment of motionlessness lasted all of 10 seconds. She and Grace did not stop moving the entire 5 days - except when they collapsed to sleep in the evenings.