Yesterday I took my kids to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, along with some other folks from church. We played on the beach for a couple of hours, then got cleaned up to play on the Boardwalk. Here are a few images from the day:
- Natalie covered in wet sand over most of her body, with a biiiiiig smile on her face!
- John with a rifle from the shooting gallery... scary, very scary.
- Natalie bubbling with excitement for our first ride of the day.
- John and his buddy, Seth, laughing together.
- Natalie driving the "Space Race" bumper car -- very well, I might add!
- John laughing evilly as he crashed his bumper car into me multiple times. (He learned it from me, of course!)
- Natalie dragging me to the front car on the "Sea Dragon" roller coaster.
- John on every spinning, whirling, round-in-a-circle ride on the Boardwalk. Makes me dizzy thinking about it!
- Natalie snuggling up to me as we rode the ferris wheel together.
- John with chili on his face after a really gooey chili dog.
- Natalie with cotton candy all over her fingers and face.
- My buddy, Woody Square, ducking his head and closing his eyes as he and I rode the Giant Dipper roller coaster. I was whooping and hollering with my hands in the air, and he was trying to duck and cover!
My favorite moment of the day: While Natalie was eating her cotton candy, there was an adorable little girl -- maybe a year old -- staring longingly. She was so cute! She was looking up at this big (to her) girl with a big bag of cotton candy, watching with her mouth watering, licking her lips, just mesmerized by it. As her mother called her to move on with the rest of their family, the little darling sighed a great sigh, and walked away, still looking at Natalie.
Summer is winding down. School starts on Monday, and being on a routine will be good for the kids, and probably for me. But the sunny days of cotton candy and funnel cakes, birthday parties, trips to the Zoo, beach play in San Diego and Santa Cruz, rides at the Boardwalk and Marine World, and the four of us hanging out in the backyard, will all be a big part of the glue that holds our family close together.
I am blessed.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Monday, August 23, 2004
Curmudgeonry
My sister-in-law just had twins on Saturday! We are all very excited for Suzy and her husband, Brian, since they have wanted kids for so long, and now they have two little bundles of joy! And they are completely adorable.
Whenever babies are born, one of the main topics of conversation over them is who they resemble. "Oh, look, she has your eyes." "She gets her nose from her granddad." "He sure does look like his dad." Blah, blah, blah.... Let's face it, you see what you want to see. Most babies look some thing more like a cross between Winston Churchill, Yoda, and an iguana. Sure, they're cute little iguanas, but they haven't grown into their skin yet! (Note: I generally don't mention that in front of the grandmothers of the new babies. They usually are pretty good at hiding the bodies of people who say disparaging things about their grandkids.)But babies do have a beauty unique among humanity. Their tiny fingers, their small voices, their amazing little faces... usually, they're cute enough to keep!
Of course, this makes us reminisce about when our own kids were born. John, our first, was reluctant to make his appearance. He was getting rather large, so the doctor strongly suggested inducing labor. The first day, it didn't go very far. Nina had contractions all day, but not enough to really get things going. They said, "Go home, get some rest, and call us in the morning." Well, we didn't wake up until nearly noon the next day, and then called, and they said, "Come in tomorrow morning." So the next day, we got up bright and early and got down to the hospital, started the process, and after several hours, a couple of scary moments, and absolutely no death threats (my wife is a saint!), John finally made his appearance -- he came out with his eyes open, trying to figure out what was so good about the outside world that we would make him leave his nice, safe, warm womb.
Eight years later, he still hates being away from his mother.
Natalie, on the other hand, was ready to make an appearance. Nina went into labor on a Friday evening, and after a long night of walking around, warm showers, and not even an angry glance that made me wish for a death threat, Natalie tumbled out on Saturday morning. Yes, "tumbled." The midwife who delivered her had to practically catch her as she did a little flip and twist as she came out! Then the doctor who checked her out had a little bit of difficulty getting her to breathe. I was holding my breath, myself, until finally, nearly a minute after making a dramatic entrance, our little drama queen registered her first remark of disdain for the treatment she was receiving.
Five years later, she still think the universe revolves around her. I'm not sure it doesn't, myself, at this point.
Next week, Natalie starts kindergarten, and John starts third grade. Nina will surely have a tear in her eye, as her baby goes off to school, and our son launches into new territory. She's such a mommy.
I'll ponder the meaning of this new stage over a quiet cup of coffee, alone in the house for a few hours each morning. Letting 'em grow up this far may actually end up paying off!
Now, back to the neices. I'm very much looking forward to being an uncle to these two little darlings. The job of an uncle, for those of you who don't know, is to be the odd duck that makes the parents look normal. When going to meet them for the first time, I made sure I was wearing not only a Hawaiian-print shirt, but one with hula girls on it. It will be my job later on to teach them the correct nonsense words, how to blow raspberries, and to overrreact even more than their father will to the presence of young suitors, but not by being threatening or intimidating. The uncles are to be embarrassing. "Wanna see their baby pictures? How about their first pimples? I've got video of them taking a bath when they were four!!" Then, later on, when they're more experience in dealing with me, they'll learn to say, "Oh, that's just Uncle Tim.... he's harmless."
Being an uncle is a challenge. But I take on this challenge willingly, and with great enthusiasm.
Whenever babies are born, one of the main topics of conversation over them is who they resemble. "Oh, look, she has your eyes." "She gets her nose from her granddad." "He sure does look like his dad." Blah, blah, blah.... Let's face it, you see what you want to see. Most babies look some thing more like a cross between Winston Churchill, Yoda, and an iguana. Sure, they're cute little iguanas, but they haven't grown into their skin yet! (Note: I generally don't mention that in front of the grandmothers of the new babies. They usually are pretty good at hiding the bodies of people who say disparaging things about their grandkids.)But babies do have a beauty unique among humanity. Their tiny fingers, their small voices, their amazing little faces... usually, they're cute enough to keep!
Of course, this makes us reminisce about when our own kids were born. John, our first, was reluctant to make his appearance. He was getting rather large, so the doctor strongly suggested inducing labor. The first day, it didn't go very far. Nina had contractions all day, but not enough to really get things going. They said, "Go home, get some rest, and call us in the morning." Well, we didn't wake up until nearly noon the next day, and then called, and they said, "Come in tomorrow morning." So the next day, we got up bright and early and got down to the hospital, started the process, and after several hours, a couple of scary moments, and absolutely no death threats (my wife is a saint!), John finally made his appearance -- he came out with his eyes open, trying to figure out what was so good about the outside world that we would make him leave his nice, safe, warm womb.
Eight years later, he still hates being away from his mother.
Natalie, on the other hand, was ready to make an appearance. Nina went into labor on a Friday evening, and after a long night of walking around, warm showers, and not even an angry glance that made me wish for a death threat, Natalie tumbled out on Saturday morning. Yes, "tumbled." The midwife who delivered her had to practically catch her as she did a little flip and twist as she came out! Then the doctor who checked her out had a little bit of difficulty getting her to breathe. I was holding my breath, myself, until finally, nearly a minute after making a dramatic entrance, our little drama queen registered her first remark of disdain for the treatment she was receiving.
Five years later, she still think the universe revolves around her. I'm not sure it doesn't, myself, at this point.
Next week, Natalie starts kindergarten, and John starts third grade. Nina will surely have a tear in her eye, as her baby goes off to school, and our son launches into new territory. She's such a mommy.
I'll ponder the meaning of this new stage over a quiet cup of coffee, alone in the house for a few hours each morning.
Now, back to the neices. I'm very much looking forward to being an uncle to these two little darlings. The job of an uncle, for those of you who don't know, is to be the odd duck that makes the parents look normal. When going to meet them for the first time, I made sure I was wearing not only a Hawaiian-print shirt, but one with hula girls on it. It will be my job later on to teach them the correct nonsense words, how to blow raspberries, and to overrreact even more than their father will to the presence of young suitors, but not by being threatening or intimidating. The uncles are to be embarrassing. "Wanna see their baby pictures? How about their first pimples? I've got video of them taking a bath when they were four!!" Then, later on, when they're more experience in dealing with me, they'll learn to say, "Oh, that's just Uncle Tim.... he's harmless."
Being an uncle is a challenge. But I take on this challenge willingly, and with great enthusiasm.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Channelling June Cleaver
Today I woke up early, while my wife was getting ready for work. Having had a particularly bad day yesterday, I was pleased to wake without a headache, without any grouchiness, and without any ache in my lower back. So I got up, heated up some water to make my wife some tea, made her bacon and eggs, sat with her as she ate, kissed her goodbye as she left, and got a load of laundry in. In a few minutes, I'll be getting the kids fed as I unload the dishwasher and do a little tidying up.
I feel so domestic.
Later on, I'll be taking my daughter to Tot Time, and my son and I will be painting the new baseboards and crown molding we're putting up in our living room and dining room. Then, after getting the girl back from her class, we'll have lunch, do a second coat of paint, and work on cleaning up their rooms. This weekend, we're having their birthday party (he's 8 this coming Sunday, she just turned 5 this past Saturday), so we've got a lot of cleaning to do inside and out.
Is there any wonder I'm not blogging that much?
But tomorrow, I get a little break from my domesticated life -- LinuxWorld Expo! (Woo-Hoo!) I get to go over to San Francisco's Moscone Center for a computer show, and hang out with my best friend, John Haffner and a bunch of other geeks. It'll be a nice change from the housecleaning, and I'll come back with a bunch of demo CD-ROMs, pens, product literature, and all kinds of ideas for projects to do on my web server and the one at church.
With any luck, I'll get to one or two before the next round of home improvement starts!
I feel so domestic.
Later on, I'll be taking my daughter to Tot Time, and my son and I will be painting the new baseboards and crown molding we're putting up in our living room and dining room. Then, after getting the girl back from her class, we'll have lunch, do a second coat of paint, and work on cleaning up their rooms. This weekend, we're having their birthday party (he's 8 this coming Sunday, she just turned 5 this past Saturday), so we've got a lot of cleaning to do inside and out.
Is there any wonder I'm not blogging that much?
But tomorrow, I get a little break from my domesticated life -- LinuxWorld Expo! (Woo-Hoo!) I get to go over to San Francisco's Moscone Center for a computer show, and hang out with my best friend, John Haffner and a bunch of other geeks. It'll be a nice change from the housecleaning, and I'll come back with a bunch of demo CD-ROMs, pens, product literature, and all kinds of ideas for projects to do on my web server and the one at church.
With any luck, I'll get to one or two before the next round of home improvement starts!
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