Put Me in the Zoo
June 18, 2010 - 7:08pm — Sarah
So, I had been under the impression that I just had to hold on until Saturday for the sun to make an appearance. However, this morning in the paper, I saw that today would be our only shot at sunshine for another week! Well. I threw the breakfast in a baggie, the kids and stroller in the station wagon, and pretty much left tire marks on the driveway in my haste to ensure that we would not miss one minute of our fleeting chance to be outside without rain slickers and galoshes!
We pretty much had a blast. The Oregon Zoo is really fun, the exhibits are designed so you can really see the animals, and my only gripe is that when our double stroller is loaded down with two boys and a diaper bag, it is pretty much impossible to push up the winding hills that make up the zoo's weirdly multi-level layout. We spent all day and the kids napped in traffic on the way home. Now, a bath and early bed time for all. The only thing missing from an almost-perfect adventure was Aaron!
Our Visit
June 11, 2010 - 11:13pm — Nikki
We had a really great time together in California. It's not that often that we get daddy to ourselves for that long! It was so nice to escape to the beach for a few days to relax together. We could have definately done without the long car ride... probably won't be doing that for awhile...
Our New House, Part 1
June 9, 2010 - 8:33am — Sarah
Hi everyone! Here is the first installment of photos of our new house. This batch pretty much covers the main floor. Things are still pretty crazy, but the fine tuning is coming along slowly but surely. I decided to try to distract you from the mess and chaos in the photos by strategically placing cute "props" in the foreground of my compositions :) Enjoy! Up next: upstairs.
Neela and the Batmen
June 5, 2010 - 7:34pm — Aaron
By day, they're Neela, Roli, Jack, Elliott and Oliver. By night, they're a band of miniature super heroes known as Neela and the Batmen.
Let's go over to Oliver, with the Weather
June 5, 2010 - 7:31pm — Aaron
Oli's favorite OMSI exhibit today was the weathercaster training. He happened to be wearing a solid green shirt, which made his head appear to float on the TV screen (look in the bottom-right corner of the TV screen above Oli's head). He was completely mesmerized.
Jack the Hibernating Chipmunk
June 5, 2010 - 7:27pm — Aaron
We spent the morning at OMSI, and by the end of it Jack was exhausted. He gathered up some acorns and bedded down inside an old growth tree. See you after the long Winter, Jack.
Darin comes to Arizona!
May 23, 2010 - 5:19pm — Kristin
Pictures from our day trip to the Grand Canyon.
Welcome to Holland
May 10, 2010 - 8:41am — NikkiI know there are some special MOMS that will relate to this ever so true story about raising a child with a disability..... Hope it encourages you as much as it did for me!
'Welcome to Holland' by Emily Perl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this....
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, ''Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say, "What do you mean Holland???? I signed up for Italy!!! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy!"
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. Its just a different place.
So you must go and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. Its slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away....because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things... about Holland!
Kentucky Oaks 136
April 30, 2010 - 3:54pm — Aaron
This is the photo finish for Kentucky Oaks 136. See that guy with the tiny camera who looks kinda out of place. That's me.
