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So, there's a buncha forest fires happening in Northern California right now.... none too near us or actually threatening our safety, but when you see this happen to the sun at sunset, you know these are the kind of events that DO touch everyone.


Just about 30-45 minutes prior to my snapping this and a couple other shots (after Clay pointed out the phenom to me), the sun was shining orangy-pinkly through our living room windows. It was dinnertime, so my priorities were on feeding M and W, and I got no record of it. Actually the light was weird all day today, especially in the AM, when it seemed overcast, but you could see the sun if you looked up.


Air quality is pretty bad, and they are advising not playing or exercising too much outside, and not at all if you are respiratorily challenged.


I'd hope for the wind to blow it off, but I know it will only go into the Central Valley, where Jannie and Buzzy are, and rain seems unlikely, so I'm hoping it will just magically disappear!

And he was so proud of it!!!!

Mommy took the boys (by herself -- ambitious!) to the beach in Half Moon Bay yesterday. It was awesome and fun for all.

We packed a lunch, some sand toys, and a spray bottle of sunscreen, and headed off, to get there, just as the temperature was getting to the nice point of about 71º F at about 12:30.

Wade carried his own sand toys, and Mommy bumped Mark down the stairs in his umbrella stroller... He's just heavy enough at 28-29 pounds that carrying him and everything else would have been next to impossible, but not taking direction well enough to let him walk on his own down a .5 mi path and LONG set of beach stairs.

But it sure was beautiful, and the perfect day for it. Wade and I sat for a minute at some point and just said "Isn't this beautiful?" "Yes, it's a beautiful day..." back and forth about 5 times, in varying inflections and vocabulary. Here are the rest of the pictures on Flickr:

First 2008 trip to beach, HMB, 6/18/08

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Ever wonder how to make a tea bag, and the ceramic mug it was in, explode? Just follow these simple steps, and watch the tea leaves fly! Works great as an instant potpouri just before guests arrive.

KIDS: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!! This is a very dangerous task, and was performed by an adult who knew almost exactly what she was doing.

1. Select your mug carefully (preferably one you don't mind blowing up. I used a Yahoo! mug that was given to me as a chatchke during my CM/HH days.).


2. Select your tea (I used a delightful Chai tea by Good Earth), keeping in mind what kind of scent you'd like to have floating around your kitchen for a day or so.


3. Carefully unwrap the tea bag, and place it in the selected mug.


4. Forget to add 8 to 10 oz. of water. DO NOT under ANY circumstances add water, or else this tip will not work.


5. Microwave on high for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Depending on your microwave (wattages vary from microwave to microwave) it may not even take the full 2:30! Just listen for the "POP" and you'll know your exploding tea bag and mug have fufilled their destiny.

Wade on a slide, 7/11/06

Kids say the funniest things! What is often the funniest is the choice of what they pick up and parrot back from Mommy or Daddy.

Then there are the things I never thought I'd hear myself say out loud... but that is DEFINITELY another post

We've been meaning to start and keep a list of these things since he really started overflowing with the verbiage a few months ago. As you can see I'm just starting it now, so I'll probably forget some of the best, and I have no specifics on when he said these things or how old he was at the time or other pertinent facts like that.

But here goes:

"Hello World"

-- Picked out of a conversation between Mommy and Daddy about Daddy's work and piped in sweetly from the back seat of the car.

"I can take you"

-- Copied when said in jest by Daddy about a souped-up car in the next lane that made an undue display of their coolness (or lack thereof).

"Blazing a trail"

-- From when Daddy was reminiscing about his early adoption of a navigation system in a car we no longer own.

"DIE!!!"

-- When Daddy sqashed a single survivor of a battle with a colony of ants that occurred earlier this evening

"Hit the deck, Boy!"

-- Originally from the movie Raising Arizona, now part of the Loveless Family Lore, we can't quite remember why it was ever said out loud around Wade.

"I get you!" and, as of today "Gon Na Get You"

-- From "I'm gonna get you!" said often by Mommy in our little chase game that he loves.

"Wipe out!"

-- From the Backyardigans

That's it for now... We'll post more as I remember them and get some time.

TIP: Plan ahead and air out your new vinyl shower curtain liner for more -- way more -- than 24 hours in advance of when you have company arriving to stay with you and use your guest bathroom.

These things are stiiiiinky! WOW!

If you did not have the foresight to plan ahead, make sure you have at least one fan and multiple windows that you can open up to air out your house (or the affected area of it).

BONUS TIP: Also, the 84" "extra long" version is pretty darn tall. I was thinking, "84 inches means 7 feet, and I know our fabric shower curtain -- that has been solely decorative until now -- is taller than Clay, who is 6'3", so that should be about right."

Well... let me just say that we are having to move the whole shower curtain rod up about a foot, and that the 72x72" liner would have sufficed nicely.

You know when you have those things that happen to you that are kind of terrible but kind of funny at the same time? Well this new category will be devoted to those special moments.

These are the things that I have learned the hard way, through cold hard experience.

Maybe you can avoid some of these mini-catastrophes by reading about them here. Or just chuckle at them and me.

My hope is that posting them here might (will!) help me focus the humor in these moments, so that I can stay sane!

Well it's been a while since most of you heard from us... but we are still on this planet, and doing pretty well!

Wade just turned 2 today and we can hardly believe it! Then again, we can, because he is talking up a storm these days and learning new words and phrases quickly, including Please (pease) and thank you.

We had a quiet but fun day on his birthday, because we are having a small party with a few friends and neighbors on the 13th. Nevertheless, there were a couple little surprises in store throughout the day, including our trip to In-N-Out Burger, from which he received a cool In-N-Out hat, which he put right on his head.

In other news, drumroll please....

We're expecting bambino number 2 sometime around 10/27/06. Yay! We'd been waiting until the first (or a couple of) doctor's appointments to make a big sweeping announcement like this, but it's pretty official now No news on gender yet, but we'll keep ya posted!