funf und zwanzig

happy birthday to me.

a year older, a year wiser, and yes, one year closer to winning the pillsbury bake-off and becoming a millionaire before i turn thirty.

the main event for today's commemoration (a trip to alki beach) was unfortunately canceled due to the reminder that we do not, in fact, live in southern california, and it rains here. a lot. we shall hopefully attend at a later date and time when the sun decides to return to our small corner of the country.

but not to be deterred, bryan took off work and jam-packed the day with birthday celebrations. he learned a few years back that putting the word "birthday" in front of normal activities makes them extra-special (really, it does). so we enjoyed birthday bagels, a birthday movie, birthday quarter-pounders, some birthday shopping, birthday smoothies, and other various and sundry "birthday" activities. topped off, of course, with birthday cake and birthday presents (hoorah!).

it was a good day. thanks to all who made it so.

opening gifts as summer attempts to plunge off the couch.

summer perusing the birthday booty.

Lone Star Sweet

Last Thursday, I took the girls to the Duvall Farmers Market. Expecting a vast array of luscious, locally grown produce, Emily packed a camera to document the advantages of living in a small, semi-rural community.

Alas, this week's two smallish tables of produce were a bit disappointing. Fortunately, we found a purveyor of "value added goods" (see link above) to our liking. In addition to a variety of other baked goods, this woman was selling the largest donuts I've ever seen (bear in mind I lived in Texas for 10 years).

We immediately dismissed any fantasy of eating organic, locally grown produce that evening. Instead, we slapped down the $4 for the donut and had an early dinner in the park. As you can see, Summer was very impressed.

come, come, ye saints

summer celebrates pioneer day.

The Pioneer Story

hair-volution

as far as the gene pool gamble goes, i feel i've been dealt a pretty good hand. sure, it'd be nice to not sunburn so easily or be a few inches taller but overall, not worth complaining about.

there is only one way that the dna powers-that-be robbed me blind: my hair.

often enough, ladies with long, thick, beautiful hair come up to me and say, "your hair is so cute (always with the word cute). i wish i could wear my hair that way, but alas, i'm stuck with these gorgeous, bountiful locks. life is just not fair!" yeah, not fair.

the truth is i HAVE to wear my hair like this -- lest i appear to have experienced an accidental run-in with radiation. my middle and high school years were coif-ly ruined by the erroneous belief that i, too, could have long hair. i shan't post pictures from that unfortunate era at this time, but stay tuned.

i cut off all my hair the day before high school graduation and haven't looked back since, spending the next seven years perfecting "the emily." (that's right, move over rachel green!)

and now, another landmark event in my life, matched only by my marriage and the birth of my daughter: the spikes are coming down.

bryan tells me that the difference (monumental in my eyes) is too subtle for most people to notice. or they hate it so much, they are refusing to comment. either way, what's done is done, and we'll all have to live with it for at least three weeks.

 

in the meantime (and ever after), i shall be slathering on some spf 85 and donning four-inch heels in the never-ending battle against darwin.

The Need for Speed

Saturday yielded a trip to the McChord Air Expo. The demonstrations aroused a long ago forgotten career track: USAF fighter pilot.

Consider a few facts about me from the 80's:
1. Favorite movie: Top Gun (followed by Iron Eagle)
2. Most wished for toy: Radio controlled airplane
3. Favorite career day: Astronaut (advantage of living next to Johnson Space Center and Ellington Field)
4. Favorite model rocket: SR-71 - that's right, not even a rocket
So what happened 20 years ago? Glasses. Nipped my 8 year old dream in the bud. Since rumor has it that the Air Force accepts candidates with surgically corrected vision, I went to go look for an Air Force recruiter. Alas, all I could find were droves of their Army counterparts.

Fortunately, my present employer need not worry too much. By end of day, the dream had receded from active desire back down to latent fantasy.

More photos Link

summer's new ride

for those who may not be aware, i am a HUGE supporter of baby wearing (hence, the five different baby carriers mentioned in an earlier post). i oft deliver a long speech when others give me a hard time about carrying summer but will spare the readership those full-blown details and just say, it’s best for the mom (osteoporosis, anyone?) and best for the baby (counter-intuitively cultivating independence and self-assurance).

that being said, there are certain situations for which wheels are best-suited. and as summer got older, we found ourselves experiencing those situations more and more, so the time had finally come for that all-important baby gear purchase: the stroller.

now, like most newly (and naively) pregnant women, we blindly purchased a stroller at about four months gestation--unbeknownst to us at the time that i would develop these radical viewpoints and shun the behemoth of transportation, thus forcing the stroller to gather dust in our garage for eight months until we finally dragged it out and found that it suited none of our needs.

so as is my custom (impetuous is the word bryan uses), i promptly sold our old, useless stroller and began my search for a new, perfect pushchair. this was not an easy task and monopolized all of my *spare* attention for three days. i scoured the internet, read blogs, reviews, and spoke with stroller specialists (yes, there are stroller specialists). and this is what we finally came up with:

our three-wheeled, fully-reclining, lightweight, insanely easy to fold and store stroller with maximum sun-shade coverage. after viewing and researching more than 100 different models, i firmly believe that there is a perfect stroller out there for every family, and this is the one for us.

as for summer, she doesn’t seem to mind her new ride as long as it’s moving. and she usually rides with her hands by her ears like she’s under arrest or on a roller coaster. whatever that’s about.

on the waterfront

"i coulda been a contenda."

tickling the ivories

Father's Day at Last

Since we were on the road during Father's Day this year, Summer and Emily had a difficult time giving my annual paternal performance review (the new baggage policies of various airlines make it difficult to cart around grills, no matter how "compact").

We rescheduled the event as soon as we could when we got home. Unfortunately, anything over 90 degrees is counted as adverse weather in Seattle by our friends at UPS, so we had to wait a few more days for the gifts to arrive (this occurrence proves that those brown shorts were more about fashion than function all along).

All in all, I feel I fared quite well. Summer has not had any experience with other dads, so I received the highest marks (and associated booty).

let freedom ring

(be advised: the triple bow is not for amateurs.)

four generations

summer, mom (emily), grandma (wendy), great-grandma (jacquie):

family photos