Photo from the Day...

Bucky's!

Leavenworth, WA

I've eaten my brat and 'kraut, sipped moms german beer and hung up my leiderhosen. I'm all yodeled out.

Picnic

Who does this look like?

Hint: Peter

(it's actually Elise, proof that he is, too, her child :)

Uh oh! Look what else someone can do

or, "Grr...that's my ball, punk."

Petey fish readying for his first hike

Pete ready to hike along the shores of Lake Whatcom, outside Bellingham, WA.

eta: like a true man of fashion he always sports seersucker on hikes, not to mention incredibly large socks.

Reading Books, Please

Huckleberry Ice Cream!

While Sam is visiting Ma and Granddad, he tempts me with photos like this one...

...ooh we hate that you're not here :(

Me, too.

A sneak-peek of Pete in Washington on day one of his, Sam and Elise's western get-away.

Family Tree

Our freshly framed and newly hung family tree. A gift from me to all to remember to count our blessings daily. Purchased from my fave place on 'cyber-earth' etsy from the uber talented cozyblue.

A million and one ways to get your toddler into the tub.

He insisted on not having his hair washed this evening, I obliged by letting him wear my shower cap ('funny hattie') and assured him that dad could not wash his hair with this on. And so there was peace at bath time tonight.

Baby Yoga

Downward Facing Dog

Warrior 1

The Pigeon

Thomas. A little boys dream.

I've been a little overwhelmed with the resposibility of taking all the family photos, editing all the family photos, organizing all the family photos, sharing all the family photos and making sure they are all perfect and reflect my artistic style and preserve these most precious gems of days gone by for our family. Until..... I recently nearly had a 'Toddler Style' meltown trying to do everything perfectly. So I'm leaving perfection to my business for now and posting photos that I know you all want to see in their raw and most perfect state. From now on I'll select a few to apply my custom edits to and showcase here and the rest, I'll post a link to my flickr for your viewing pleasure.

To see the long awaited photos of our trip to Six Flags over somewhere in Maryland/DC/Virginia to see Thomas (and not any of the other crap to spend money on and overdose on adrenaline and see a lot of crazy folk)... please press here.

Great Country Farm

This post is in words, but the words will hardly do justice. Not that the place is visually stunning. Don't get me wrong. It was beautiful country. But it is just the kind of place that needs to be seen, smelled and tasted.

Saturday morning, we, as Elise said, put the city in our rearview mirror. We took a long, windy road through the country called Snickersville Pike. Sam fell asleep. There were one-land bridges along the way that really were only one lane. Our car barely fit through them. And low walls of stacked stone lined both sides of the road. Civil war-era barns and silos dotted the hills. Oak branches made a tree tunnel for us to wind through. We drive by a country store. Three old men were perched on the wooden porch in front. Too perfect.

We arrived mid-morning. The heat was just starting to settle in. We first saw ostriches, then chickens and bunny rabbits. Sam and Elise tried bouncing on a giant, inflatible dome, but the plastic was already too hot from the day's heat. Sam sat on tractors both real and frabricated and both boys played in a sand box made from dried corn kernals. Pete sat on his first tractor (albeit, tiny as it was).

We ate lunch and had hand-cranked peach ice cream. Sam rode solo on the cow train ("Mooooo!" Elise and I yelled as the train pulled away, "Not moooooove!" (quoted from a Thomas the Train book we had recently borrowed from the library). I choked up as he pulled away by himself. "I can't imagine what it's going to be like when he goes off to college," I told Elise. A guy on an electric acoustic started twanging from a stage in the background.

The highlight of the day, by far, was riding the hay ride to the peach orchard. There, we picked a basket full of peaches (more than 4 lbs worth!). Everyone helped. Even Pete. We climbed back on the hay ride and rode back to our car. Weighed and paid for our peaches. Elise is going to make a peach cobbler this week, a Turbeville family speciality.

I, personally, can't wait.

mini paul

Goodbyes and Fast Cars

Last Friday, I took the train down to Clarendon to meet a friend for a beer on his last night in DC. I am still getting used to the summer air in Virginia. So far, it has been much different than the summer air in Florida. It is hotter and the streets feel like the bottom rack in an oven. It is the kind of heat that seers your nostrils, makes your eyeballs tingle and touches the bottom of your lungs.

The station was surprisingly cool, and the train was filled with young women in black dresses, heading downtown for a night on the town. We met at a Mexican restaurant, apropos in that he was departing for Guadalajara in a week. I feel extremely honored that I got to share beers with him on his last night here and that he had one more with me though he had to return to a completely empty apartment, alone, and catch a flight before dawn the next morning. We shook hands, hugged and bid each other good luck. I walked back to the train station. It was almost eleven. I felt sad. I had only known the guy and his family for a few short, hectic, absurd yet fascinating months, and, yet, like Elise and his wife, felt like I had known him forever. I boarded the crowded train car, filled with baseball fasn returning from the Nats game and slinked into our dark and cool apartment and into bed next to Elise, careful not to wake her, though she asked me, nonetheless, and I told her, "Good," and we fell asleep.

Also, this week, Elise's parents made the long trek all the way from Washington State to visit. Sam accompanied us to Kabobs and Bread on Saturday where we picked up a fine sampling of regional cuisine: the kebob. I had heard from someone that as Baltimore has crabs, New Orleans has beignets and Philly has the cheesesteaks, DC has kebobs...of which I am greatly appreciative. Sam and I watched them make the authentic Syrian bread, slapping the wet dough on the inside of a 700 degree kiln. It stuck, then bubbled, then, finally, crisped to perfection. We then stopped at a Peruvian buffet for the best baklava in Falls Church (go figure!).

We took advantage of a cool Sunday morning to go to the Aquarium downtown. I wore Pete in the baby bjorn. Both boys loved the aquarium even though it was one circular corridor of small tanks populated with nothing more exotic than a clownfish and a few piranha. We went through security to find lunch, a Subway, beneath the Ronald Regan building.

Later, we walked to our favorite burger joint where Sam watched his first Nascar race from my lap. Though I have always detested Nascar, I watched it from his perspective, with his eyes and awe. Yeah, a bunch of brightly-colored cars tearing around in circles making smoke was pretty cool. For a two-year old. :)