Lack of pictures

Argh! I broke our camera by dropping it smack on the concrete sidewalk. It no longer takes pictures, but at least I can get the old pictures off. Fortunately, we have a stream of grandparents visiting over the next few weeks, so we won't leave our fans completely without photos. Hmm, anybody want to get me a really special Christmas present:).

Outer Banks, NC

Finally, I am posting pictures from our trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

More pictures from the Outer Banks, NC

This got me thinking...

"We have not got far enough if we play a game of cards with the children "merely" to amuse them or to show that they are forgiven. If this is the best we can do, we are right to do it. But it would be better if a deeper, less conscious, Charity threw us into a frame of mind in which a little fun with the children was the thing we should at that moment like best."

C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves

Pie Eating Contest

Tyler finished second place at the Sebastapol Apple Fair pie eating contest. The man to his left in the white shirt ending up winning and in this picture it looks like he is sizing up Tyler's progress so he can pass him on the home stretch. We figured the free pie Tyler consumed offset part of the cost of going to the fair.

My Chum

One of my best friends, Karen, came out for a visit from North Carolina. It was her husband's 30th birthday present to her, but ended up being just as much of a present for me. We had a great time hanging around Sonoma: the plaza park, picinic at a winery, chasing two little boys, etc. We were able to spend one night in San Fran sans kids thanks to Tyler and the generosity of our friend AJ who let us stay in his family's apartment in North Beach for free. These are a few of the touristy spots we hit while in San Fran: cable car, Ghirardelli Square, the Fishersmans' Wharf, beat poet Cafe Treiste, Golden Gate Bridge and then Sausalito.

We crammed a lot into 5 days. We walked through the redwoods in Armstrong park and drove along Highway 1 with the boys on Monday. We stayed up late (for us) talking every night and kept swearing we would go to bed early the next night to no avail.

It was so refreshing to catch up face to face. We have been pretty much "phone friends" since high school except a couple summers we had together during college. We could reminisce middle school and share the light and not so light about life since marriage and kids. Definitely one of the highlights of my summer if not my year.

Moose's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Moose's 3rd birthday this Saturday with two other families. It was a small party, but both the kids and the parents had a great time (which isn't always the case with children's birthday parties.)
Micah had a "Farmer Jas" cake because he really likes farms and we have a favorite CD called "A Day on the Farm with Farmer Jason".
Our big guy was thrilled to be the birthday boy. He has been to a few birthday parties, but we're not sure he has the whole etiquette down because he kept wishing all the guests "Happy Birthday" as they left. Maybe he had such a nice time he was hoping they would all enjoy their own birthdays in the same way.
After dinner we capped off the day of sweets with an ice cream cone. This was Moose's first ever ice cream cone of his own. (This sweet little girl is Magpie. If this picture gets you you should meet her in person because she has a personality to match that cute face.)