We Went on a Vacation - Part 1

We went on a vacation about a month ago. I am finally posting the pictures. The stories will have to wait for another post, but we can put up some pictures. I have a disclaimer. We are good at taking our camera with us when we go on trips. We are good at finding fun activities to do. We are bad at bringing our camera to those activities.

We visited Dan and Rebecca first. We saw amazing gardens, went to a minor league baseball game, the kids played non-stop, and the adults sat in the kitchen talking, laughing and cooking together. How many pictures did we take outside of Rebecca's gorgeous shots? Two. Before we rolled out of town, we gathered by their doorstep. Here are all the pictures from this leg of the trip.

Take 1: Take 2: We may not have a lot of photographic proof from our trip, but trust me we had a great time. Thanks Dan and Rebecca! It is always great to spend time with you.

Church with Joshua

Joshua never wore shoes or sandals at church this week. He did not wear them on the way there. He did not wear them on the way home. He cannot talk but I know he is very happy about this accomplishment. Joshua hates shoes. The first thing he does when you put anything on his feet is pull them off.

Joshua is starting to be more apprehensive. He used to go anywhere with no fear. Now he recognizes whom he should be with and who he is around. I told him to go find Mom at the end of church this week. Normally he goes upstairs and finds Mom. He knows where the Primary meets and knows that is where he will find her. But not this week. He would not go without me.

These are things that all kids learn.

Family Night

Last night we were doing an activity from The Friend about numbers in the gospel. Among other topics, we talked about Jesus' betrayal by Judas. The children know the story but had forgotten some of the details. Mary told them that Judas received 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus.

A couple of minutes later Grace asked, "Judas betraded Jesus for how many pieces of silver?"

Wall-E Review

We saw the 2:50 showing of Wall-E on Friday. It was a great time to see the movie. The theater was not too crowded which helped with our crowd. Joshua could wander up and down our row without disturbing too many people. We had great seats in the middle of the theater. Also, Grace and Caleb got free Wall-E watches because we were there opening weekend. Gotta love a perk!

There were tons of previews and not a single one stood out. (That is not a good sign if you are in the movie business.) Then the short started. It was wonderful. The premise was crazy and the animation beautiful. The laughs were straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon from my youth. You have to love when they pull you in with the subconscious connections.

The first 30 minutes of Wall-E are incredible. There is little to no dialogue, but I did not hear a complaint from our children. The pictures and movement was so memorable that the kids were transfixed. I thought they would want us to leave, but they loved the growth of the relationship between Wall-E and EVE. When they leave Earth, the pace of the movie really increases. The difficulty of watching a show like this is you know that Pixar has packed in the details. I know I missed these details while trying to get a drink for Joshua or popcorn to the kids. I think this is a movie that you see more with each subsequent viewing.

After the Earth segment, the pace picks up and there is no slowing down until the end. I won't spoil the movie, but I do want to say something about the tone. I have read that what Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is to children's books, Pixar's Wall-E is to children's movies. The environmental message is not as strong, though it is a component of the movie.

So to recap, you might like this movie if you like movies:

• About post-apocalyptic life
• With incredible visuals
• Preaching a save the earth theme
• Depicting robot love stories
• Jabbing us for the over commercialization of America
• Showing kids playing in space
• That mock the movie-going public (and our infantilization and greed), or
• Of a love story between a janitor and a sexy, geeky gal.

I liked it a lot and loved the different messages and themes. But, in fairness, Mary enjoyed it but did not love. I think you should go and see it because it is a Pixar movie. And you have to support great entertainment.

Short Post

We had a great vacation. (I will try to post details.)
We had a great photo session with Rebecca. (Here is a sneak peek.)
We went and saw Wall-e yesterday. You should see it. (The short is unbelievably good.)

I will try to post more information about all of these events, but if I don't at least you know something.

Road Trippin'

We left on Thursday and are enjoying some southern hospitality in North Carolina with Dan and Rebecca. We left at 7:40 pm and made it to Delaware by 1:00 am on Friday morning. Now that is cruising. We did not hit any traffic anywhere up to that point. Here are some thoughts from the road:

• The most expensive state in terms of tolls is Delaware. It costs $7.00 to go about 20 miles. Not cool. We went 20 miles in New York and did not have to pay anything on the way down.
• Mary thinks I might be crazy for driving so late into the night. Obviously, she did not grow up with the Dale and Sally "Haul Rear Across America" program. (Ask Honor about the name. I am sure that my mother will disassociate herself with this particular program. She will say it was Dad. And she just might be right!)
• I saw a weird license plate on the way down. It was from Georgia and it was completely red. I don't think I have ever seen an all red license plate before.
• Grace and Caleb both slept well on this trip. Joshua did not sleep as well. Usually Caleb and Joshua are the better car sleepers.
• Grace slept so well in the car, she even took a nap on Friday afternoon. Grace NEVER naps in the car. Usually she and I are the only ones awake. But she took a nap this trip.

We have really enjoyed hanging out with Dan, Rebecca, and the monkeys. We went to the Duke University gardens and cathedral this afternoon. The gardens were amazing and the cathedral looks stunning. Certainly it is not your garden variety church. Tonight we went to a Durham Bulls game. Minor league baseball is a fun, family-friendly event. The kids really enjoyed themselves, though the later the game went the more difficult it was for them.

Conversation at the Table

Caleb asked me if I knew something over dinner tonight. (I don't remember what we were talking about.) I answered his question and Caleb asked, "How did you know that, Dad?"

I said, "'Cause I'm wicked smaht."

Without missing a beat, Caleb says, "No, you're wicked lahge."

That's my Caleb.

Disorganized Thoughts

I just finished reading this book. Robert Reich is a staunch Democrat. If you don't agree with the Democratic view of government programs, he still has interesting things about the intersection of capitalism and politics. Here is one quote that caught my attention:

The problem is that the choices we make in the market don't fully reflect our values as citizens. We might make different choices if we understood and faced the social consequences of our purchases or investments and if we knew all other consumer and investors would join us in forbearing from certain great deals whose social consequences were abhorrent to us. But we are unlikely to make the sacrifice if we think we'll be the only consumer or investor who refrains. Lonely forbearance can be the last refuge of a virtuous fool.

Interesting ideas in this book.

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I was in Philadelphia last week. My rental car was a Volkswagon Jetta. It was fun to drive. I was surprised. When I was driving to the airport, I passed an old van. It was a conversion van from the 80s. Three guys were pushing it down the highway. That must cannot be fun.

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I was riding a bus home a couple of weeks ago. I was next to three kids in the late teens or early 20s. Two girls were sharing iPod headphones. They were singing Spanish pop hits at the top of their lungs. The next day, the bus ran into a telephone pole with its mirror. It was an odd commuting week.

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I attended a conference in Boston a couple of weeks ago. I was walking through Harvard Square and saw a line of chairs in front of shops. The line went down the block and around the corner. I saw at least 200 people waiting in line. They were sitting in chairs and some had tents. What were they waiting for? They were in front of a shoe store. I think a limited edition of set of shoes were being sold. I can't believe people wait in line like that for shoes.

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Since I was in Boston, it was always fun to see the old sights from when we were in school. I love to watch the stereoscopic advertisements on the T.

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I am digging a new song. It is called "Handlebars" by Flobots. The video is fascinating. (It is on YouTube. It does have some cartoon violence in it.) I have to admit that I am a sucker for songs with compelling ideas. I don't even need to agree with the idea.

Conversations and Happenings

I was ironing a shirt this morning. That is an extremely rare occurrence. The shirt had sat in the dryer for most of the week. I was talking to Grace and asked her if Mom ironed when she was not sewing quilts.

Grace thought for a second and said, "No, not extensively."

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Caleb likes Planet Heroes. Lately we have been coloring pictures from the website. We sat down to color "Earth Ace" and Caleb said, "Dad you can color a pattern or asymigration."

"Asymigration?" I replied.

He thought for a moment and said, "I mean symmetry."

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Joshua loves to empty the dishwasher. He will climb right up there and hand you all the dishes. You have to grab the knifes out first.

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Joshua also loves animals. His favorite animal is a panda. He calls any animal a "nanda." Well, except for a dog. To "say" dog, he pants.

Mmmm Chocolate!

Last weekend, Jerry and Bonnie came to visit. We had a lot of fun together. We did a few activities without going crazy. One of them was to get ice cream. Joshua loves chocolate ice cream. He started in my lap, but was making too much of a mess. Then we moved him to a high chair. (Fear the mohawk!)This was taken just before he finished. (I had actually cleaned him up a few times in the inteirm.)This is the whole clan. You can't really see Johsua. Grace is tasting Mom's ice cream while Caleb is trying Dad's. Bonnie is in the background and you can see Jerry's reflection with the camera's flash as his head. We went to Maine to get some lobster. This is outside of the restaurant where we ate. Grace and Mary had lobster. Joshua really bonded with Bonnie. He would give her a big hug everytime she held him. (He was working in the kitchen before this picture.)

Do You Like YouTube?

I know. Everyone loves YouTube. But how do you navigate it? Are you like Oliver and prefer Ken Lee? Or are you more like Kirty and go for Diet Coke and Mentos?

Maybe you like to start with music. Is it The Killers? Or maybe a funny folk, comedy duo? Maybe you like the new song from OneRepublic? Or how about the incredible Regina Spektor? What about the latest Gnarles Barkley?

Maybe you prefer to start with dancing? How about the sickest dancing you have ever seen in your life? (This dancing is so off the hook, I don't even know what to say.)

Or maybe you just like some crazy guitar music? (Thanks to my nephew Andrew for the tip.)

My children like to watch the Swedish Chef.

Where do you start and where does it take you?

My Happy Baby Boy

I took these videos after dinner last night. Joshua had eaten a late dinner. Everyone else had left the table and he was stuck there. Also, he had been running a fever. Can't you tell he was not feeling well?


(The noise in the background is Mary emptying the dishwasher.)

Je Suis Un Artiste

Caleb has been getting into art. You probably know that Grace is the queen of art, but Caleb has begun to stretch his wings in this arena. He painted this a month ago. (This is the appropriate directionality. It used to hang on a nail. If I would rotate it in any direction, he would get mad.)Here he is holding it.And here is a picture after Mom helped him hang it on the wall. Do you like the yellow in these pictures? Caleb picked out that color for his room. It is a muted and restrained color, just like Caleb. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!)Speaking of Mom, this is the card that he made Mary for Mother's day. We painted our room recently and this is the art that Grace and Caleb made for it. Grace's painting is on the left, Caleb's is on the right.

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I guess we need one French story for this post. Back in February, Grace got sick and needed medicine. I poured her a little cup of medicine and set it on the counter. She picked it up, raised it, and said to me, "A votre santé."

Finding Your Kids

I love to turn the corner and find my children doing good things. It happens fairly regularly. The other day I was cleaning up dinner and I found Grace showing Caleb an American Girl catalog. This is how they were sitting.

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Two weeks ago, Mary was supposed to make a cake for Teacher Appreciation Day at the elementary school. We were in the middle of painting our room, so she wanted to get it done quickly. She had a new strawberry cake and icing recipe that she wanted to try out from Paula. (No, not that Paula, this Paula.)

The cake turned out delicious but Mary was not happy with the way it looked after she had frosted it. She had made too much frosting anyway, so she decided to bake another cake. She did not have the ingredients to make the same cake so she made a bundt cake.

The bundt cake turned out fine and she let it cool. Right as she was pulling it out of the pan, the cake ripped apart. She was not happy. Two cakes and neither of them turned out how she wanted.

In the end, she used the strawberry frosting (which was heavy) to "glue" the pieces back together and covered the cake in frosting. You could not tell at all that it had ripped.

I still don't think that Mary was totally pleased with it, but it had to have tasted great.

What was I doing while she baked? I fulfilled my manifest destiny as a tall man and painted the ceiling.

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Friday, I flew to Philadelphia for work. The rain delayed my flight, but I was not late for my meetings. They went well and I left ahead of my colleagues because I needed to get home. My in-laws are visiting and I wanted to be at home with them. I made it to the airport and found out that the last four or five flights to Boston had been cancelled and then next couple were going to be cancelled as well. I managed to get onto the 11:00 pm flight. My colleagues made it to the airport after I did and left before I did. Fortunately, the 11:00 pm flight was not cancelled. I finally boarded the plane a little after midnight and arrived home just before 2:00 am.

I spent a little less than 8 hours in the Philadelphia airport. Too bad Matt and Honor moved to Florida.

A follow-up to the post below, the two flights that left Philadelphia to end the day were not full! My coworkers called me to tell me that there was still room on their flight and that I should run over. I did but was too late to get on the plane. My flight was about half full. I know they were rebooking people for Saturday and they did not even fill up the other flights on Friday.

Another Customer Service Success Story?

Have you ever flown on US Airways before? They are not exactly known for their customer service. Have you ever wondered why?

On April 10th, I flew to Philadelphia. After my meetings, I met my brother Matthew. It was the last time I was going to see him in Philadelphia since he was moving to Florida within the week. He handed me a cardboard box filled with coats, snow pants and other clothes. After talking with Matt, my coworkers and I left for the airport.

We got there in enough time to bump to the earlier flight. The only complication was that my luggage might not make it on that flight. I decided to take the later flight just to be safe. Who wants to deal with the hassle of lost luggage?

I got to Boston and waited for all the luggage to go by. My cardboard box was missing. I went to the baggage claim service. They took my lost property report and told me that they would deliver it within 24 hours.

It did not come. So I called the phone number they gave me. They did not know where my luggage was. I called the next day and the next day. My luggage had disappeared from off their radar. They did not know where it was and I was resigned to the fact that it was gone. I filled out a report to be reimbursed for all the winter clothes in the box and faxed it off. I was not looking forward to dealing with the reimbursement group.

Then out of the blue I was contacted by US Airways on Monday. They had finally found a box matching my description. Yesterday it came. It took exactly 28 days for my luggage to travel from Philadelphia to Boston.

Most luggage can walk that far in 28 days.

Belated Birthday Wishes

Caleb and Quentin are buddies. They have a great time whenever we get together with Dan and Kirty's family. They even unknowingly picked out the same pajamas. Caleb wanted me to post this picture so he could be invited to Quentin's birthday party.

Doesn't that look like a fun thing to do at a party?

Civic Duty

I was called for jury duty last Thursday. At 7:30 am, I hopped in the car. The temperature outside was a blistering 34 degrees. Not exactly May weather!

I arrived at the courthouse by 8:15 am and sat in the room for a couple of hours. There were eight trials on the docket. By 10:00 am, all but one of them had settled. Jury selection began a little before 10:30 in order to fill an eight-person jury (six on the jury with two alternates.) I was pretty relaxed, since there were about 35 of us and I had a decently high number.

They seated eight of the first twelve jurors. The jury seemed too male and skewing older and they excused two of the older gentlemen. At this point, I started a conversation with the woman next to me. She was in her late 20s and was concerned that she would be spending the rest of her day at the courthouse. She was trying to figure out who the lawyers wanted and if she was going to be on the jury. It is an interesting exercise in mindreading. Meanwhile, they seated two more people and excused two others.

A couple of potential jurors were excused and finally they seated a younger gentleman. The woman next to me breathed a sigh of relief. She thought they were done and really was not looking forward to being at the courthouse for the rest of the day. Then they excuse a woman from the jury. The called for juror number 23 and the woman next to me stood up. I said, "It looks like there is a seat up there with your name on it."

She looked at me and shook her head in resignation. She was the last person seated on the jury. Maybe they were looking for a little younger jury.

As I got up, I looked for a trashcan so I could drop my number 24 juror card into it.

Stories!

The other night Mary was talking to Caleb before bedtime. He was in bed and they were talking about his day. After a minute, Caleb turned to Mary and said, "Mom, did you know that you can take off freckles with tweezers?"

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Joshua has a beautiful baby mohawk. It appears without much coaxing or combing. I don't like to get my haircut. Over the Christmas holidays, I did not comb my hair much and needed a haircut. This lead to the joke that Joshua and I were the superhero tandem of Afro-man and Mohawk-boy, though I am not sure what superpowers that gives us. Here is a picture of my lovely hair from the night we decorated sugar cookies at Matt and Honor's. I did not comb my hair while I was at Matt and Honor's. In fact, I would shower and then make my hair stand on end as much as I could. (It had fallen by the time we decorated sugar cookies.)

The day came for us to travel to Jerry and Bonnie's (my in-laws), so I decided that I had to comb my hair. When I came downstairs after my shower, Delainey took one look at me and said, "What is the matter with your hair?"

(Here is a picture of Lainey and Grace decorating sugar cookies.)

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Joshua tried a sugar cookie for the first time at Matt and Honor's. He loved them. Wouldn't you agree? We left Matt and Honor's house with a Ziploc bag of sugar cookies. Any time Joshua saw a Ziploc bag for the rest of our trip, he would start to grunt and scream. He wants sugar cookies!

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Though Joshua loves sugar cookies (and Oreos), he is a good eater. He likes to hang out in the kitchen while Mom is making dinner. Mary shares whatever she is preparing with him. (I don't think Grace and Caleb know.) She often hands him raw vegetables and he eats them. His favorite are cucumber slices. He has eaten 20-30 cucumber slices for dinner before. He is like Chase in that sense.

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The other way he is like Chase? He loves to climb. He is not quite the prolific climber that Chase was, but he gets around. He stands on the table, the toilet, the back of the toilet and his toy box.

His latest trick is to climb on his toy box to get onto the futon. Then he walks the length of the futon and climbs onto a cabinet. That way you can see all of him in the window behind the futon. (And he likes to bang on the window as people go by.)

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Grace had her first soccer game on Saturday. It was all you could ask for of the first soccer game in May. By noon, the temperature had reached about 45 degrees and the drizzling rain was enough to make you bone-chilling cold.

Grace played really well. The team she played has the two boys on our street who are in first grade with her. Grace dribbled and kept trying to take the ball away from them. I think it helped that she was playing against them.

When she is at school, she enjoys to run and play with the boys. (I think the girls just are not active enough for her at times.) A month ago, she came home from school and told us, "I sat with the boys at lunch." Mary asked her if they got mad. She said, "No because Demetri (our neighbor) said I could."

Demetri and Grace love to run around the neighborhood together.

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Three weeks ago, Grace and Caleb told me that we were going to take off their training wheels on the next Saturday. They repeated this refrain every night that week. Saturday came and the weather was beautiful, so we went outside and took off their training wheels. I think I pushed Grace a grand total of 3 times before she could ride up and down our street by herself.

It is a good thing that my decision to wait to take off her training wheels did not hold back her progress.

Caleb did really well, also. It took me about half an hour of running up and down the street with him before he figured it out. He likes to go as fast as he can and I really have to run to keep up with him. The only thing he has left to master is turning. He does a good job steering but he is not perfect when it comes to turning around on our narrow streets.

We're Not Dead Yet

Some photos should prove it to you.

Grace and Caleb celebrating Caleb's Webkinz's birthday. Caleb after the backyard Easter egg hung with the cousins. Joshua at the Patriot's Day parade. Grace took this picture of a tank coming down the road. You can see Joshua's head in this picture. He is running into the street to see the tank up close. What you cannot see is Mary immediately jumping up to run after him. (And you also cannot hear the audible gasp of the crowd.) You have to have a little excitement at parades. My mom and grandma can tell you the type of excitement I created at parades when I was small.