Day 45-- Going Out Like a Lion

{PSA: for those of you just stumbling across this blog, it might help to start at the beginning. At some point, I may try to reverse these posts into chronological order}


So this is it... President's day, 2011. Day 45 of 42. The last day of my parental leave with Sabrina.

We decided to end it with a roar.... by going back to the zoo.

Yes, I was very tempted to go skiing today, but the lure of spending extra time with the kids won out... besides, the snow's been lame. I guess we're having a drought year. There's not enough fresh powder up there to change my mind.

While everyone was still waking up, Jen busted out a new signing time DVD, so we all learned ASL signs for all the zoo animals.

As Jen was getting ready for the day... (girls..  8 years of marriage, and it still takes her forever to get ready for the day), Edgar and Sabrina and I (already ready already) got to spend some sweet time together. This is Edgar tickling his sister and making her smile:

We had a fun time at the zoo. We managed to not overlap very much with the last time we visited, and there's still a bunch of stuff we missed. Glad we bought a membership.

Sea Lion encounter. Yes, we've seen them in the wild and at the Sea Lion Caves, but these were HUGE, and right behind the glass from us.

The Orangutans were really fun. The huge male swung around right next to us. Then, this female hunkered down near the glass and let all the kids get really close to her. When a kid would get really close, she'd make a kissy face at them. It doesn't take much prompting for Edgar, so he kissed back.

Again, this was the view I got all day: Sabrina was my bjornling, and she was totally quiet and well-behaved. Someday, she may actually see the zoo.

Edgar drove this Jeep from the Cheetah enclosure to Mommy's house.

We escaped from the zoo with two overtired, hungry kids, and dropped in on my parents without any warning. I love my family. They totally loved the visit, fed us lunch, and let us take naps. I took a sizable nap in the bed in the same room as Edgar. When Edgar woke up yelling for mommy (and no one else), I rousted Jen off the couch, took a sleeping Sabrina from her arms, and took her place, taking another longish nap with Sabrina on my chest, while Jen snuggled Edgar down. All told, I think it was about 4 solid hours of napping. I will totally miss daily naps when I go back to work tomorrow.

We had a fun dinner with my parents, and a lot of good conversation. Jen held Sabrina while I ate dinner, then I took her during Jen's dinner. She and I had a grand time, and I even got her to laugh!

Sabrina, smiling at me

Grandma gave in to Edgar's demands and put lots of band-aids on his (now mostly-healed) hand.

Wearing Mommy's shoes, showing off the band-aids.

We love Grandma.

Please don't interrupt my last evening of peace.

So, we're back home in Salem, safe and sound. Both kids are sleeping. Jen and I got some necessities done, and it's now the time that I've been dreading... time to encapsulate all the past six weeks into some coherent whole... to decide if this whole experiment in blogging/child rearing/vacation/slacking means anything. 

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Jen suggested listing things I've learned. While I'm not sure that's the best way to present things, I can't think of a better alternative at the moment. So, without further ado:

Things I've Learned in the Last Forty-some-odd Days:

1. I LOVE NAPS.

 If there is one consistent theme to this blog, it is naps. Long naps. I love them. I've taken them almost every day that I've been off work, and I highly recommend them to EVERYONE. The world is so much better after a nap.

This picture is the theme of my blog, and by far my favorite picture taken at the zoo today.

Honestly, when I think about it, the number-one thing I will miss when I return to work is my daily nap. Sure, I'll miss spending time with the kids, but I'll get some time every day with Edgar and Sabrina. I won't, however, get to spend time napping.

I think our society would see less hate and evil if we'd all take a good afternoon snooze. I happened to mention napping in church, in front of the kids that I teach. One 8-year-old raised his hand and asked, incredulously, "you take naps?" I patiently tried to explain to him that there is a window of age between about age 5 and 15 where naps are for babies, and you don't want to take them. Outside that age window, everybody loves naps. Just not everyone can take them without getting in trouble.

So, I'm all in favor of the siesta.

2. Being a stay-at-home parent is hard work, but I could do it.

Wow. Taking care of kids is a full-time job. There's no doubt about that. Just keeping them fed is crazy. Add to that bottles, diapers, fresh clothes, snacks, and regular naps, and it's a wonder any parents can ever get their kids out the door in the morning. I have a renewed appreciation for what Jen and other moms do on a day-in-day-out basis.

That being said... (This is the part where I sound like a bit of a male chauvinist). It's a big job, but I could handle being a stay-at-home parent. (I know, 2 parents at home with 2 kids=not the same thing). I think I would make an awesome stay-at-home-dad. I could handle the diapers, the yelling, the tantrums, the feedings, etcetera etcetera. I'm not saying I could do better than Jen-- it's not a comparison, anyway. We'd have a lot of fun, and go lots of cool places. But... I can't convince Jen to go to work so that I can stay home.

3. Babies are cute.

Aww...

4. I don't miss work.

Not one little bit. Nope. I could get used to this.

5. Having two parents at home doesn't guarantee you can actually accomplish anything.

Adventures, check. Chores and projects? Not so much. Oh well. There will always be chores.

6. Don't pick a fight with your spouse within the first week of childbirth.

This is one I should've learned last time around. Those hormones on day 4 and 5 are killer. A new mom is not a rational being... more like a vengeful destroying angel.

7. Down with the Wiggles.

I don't know much about them, but the more I know, the more they make me want to hurt people.

8. He-Man is still rad.

And knowing the phrase "Power of Grayskull" makes you the raddest not-even-two-year-old in town.

9. Should I take up writing and photography?

I've had several people suggest that I should do more writing or photography. That's very kind of you for saying that. However, there are several thousand people with more talent and education in those fields, living in their parents' basement, unemployed. I'm glad I have a job, at least until the rock star thing works out for me.

10. Blogging is time consuming

...Actually, I pretty much knew that. Oh well. I was on vacation. I had time to burn, right?

It's been a real joy seeing Sabrina grow from this cute, mewling newborn to a cute, smiling, mewling 6-week-old. It's been fun watching Edgar completely lose it and revert to babyhood when the usurper-baby stole his rightful place in the kingdom, and gradually learn to love this little girl and to be a responsible big brother. It's been fun being able to team up with Jen. We work well together, and we've got each other's back, at least enough to make sure each other gets a nap every day.

In a way, I'm going to miss sharing my life with everyone. In another way, my life is pretty boring. Especially when more than half of my waking time is devoted to being employed.

Having both parents at home, for this 6 weeks, has really brought our family closer together. Edgar loves his daddy. Sabrina loves sleeping in my armpit. Jen and I have learned to work together (even if we can't share a kitchen).  We've learned to have fun and have adventures and parent without a net. It's been great. I highly recommend to any father who can: take some time to support your wife and kids. Any time.

I have had a great vacation-- time spent getting to know my family, helping out, and reporting everything back to you. This will be my last blog post... UNLESS someone wants to provide some sort of artist-development grant to allow us both to keep staying-at-home. I would blog every day, I'd do pictures everyday, we'd tour the world with our rock and roll band. We'd be the coolest parents on the planet.

Maybe we already are.

Day 44--The End is Near

All day today, floating somewhere in the back of my mind was the knowledge that this idyllic existence is about to come to an end. I start work again Tuesday.

Many people in this world, my dad included, live to work, and need work to create or define a purpose for their lives. Retirement has been hard on my dad. Me? Six weeks with no work? I could get used to this... Too bad nobody seems to want to set us up with a hefty artist-in-residence grant to pay our bills, allowing us to continue simply being awesome 24/7. Oh well.

Edgar and I woke up this morning, and did our now-usual routine of Edgar-watching- He-Man while daddy attempts to snooze on the couch.

I even coaxed Edgar into taking a shower this morning. This boy doesn't really enjoy cleanliness. The soap in his hair from the bubble room yesterday made it a necessity.

For several sundays running, we have attempted to get Edgar to nap early before church. This is the first sunday he actually succeeded!

Jen and Sabrina made it home safely from the mountains. If you were to tell me two days ago that Jen could spend two nights away from us, and Edgar wouldn't throw a single Bikini Atoll-sized tantrum, I'd say you're crazy. This kid has been great! There were a few moments where Edgar would tear up and say "Iwantamommy", but I was able to calmly explain "Mommy is at a hotel with Becky and Katie." (hotel is a word he understands). With that gentle reminder, he would buck up and be cool with hanging with dad. Not so bad, if I do say so myself.

Soon after Jen made it home, we woke Edgar up, and made it (almost) on time for church. This is a big accomplishment, as we have tended to the 30-to-45-minutes-late side of things every week since Sabrina was born.

Church was fun. I discovered that certain primary songs actually sound better when you attempt to sing them at double speed. We had a fun moment where Edgar badly needed a diaper change, I needed to be up in front of 30 kids being silly, and Jen was nowhere to be found. Luckily, everything worked out all right in the end.

I got my customary nap after church (yay!) and settled down for dinner and He-man with Jen and Edgar, until Edgar got on Jen's nerves, and the boys retired to the other room to watch Spongebob. I've enjoyed my time snuggling with Edgar and watching TV. I think part of the motivation is knowing that I won't be able to spend as much quantity time with him in the next few weeks. I may get some play breaks, etc., but I probably won't have time to sit and watch 3 or 4 whole episodes of anything with him for quite a while.

During family scripture time tonight, Edgar was looking at the pictures in his book of mormon. This one's his favorite:

He can identify several of the characters from the story, but tonight, he pointed to the boy (lower left, leaning against the rail with bulging biceps) and said "Edgar!" I said, "Edgar, do you have muscles like that?", and he replied:

(muscles)

This boy sure loves his mama, too.

We put Edgar down for the night, and now all that is left to do is decide what to do for my last day of freedom. Stay tuned.

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Okay, here are some photos that I've been meaning to upload for a while....

First, the star of our show:

Strike a pose.

Shameless plug: This cute outfit was made by a friend. You can get one for your kid, too.

(click to enlarge) This one's kindof spooky.  This is Edgar with a bunch of toy bandaids on his left hand, about 2 weeks before burning his hand on the stove, requiring way too many real bandaids on his left hand.

Edgar and Sabrina at the grocery store.

Edgar likes to put his blanket on his head in the car. I guess it shields him from the sun.

Not my best moment. (asleep in the car)

Day 43--Boys

So Jen is off on this all-girls weekend retreat, leaving just us boys at home. I can handle this, right? I can handle anything.

Oh, did I mention she took our only car? Have I griped a few times about the shady volkswagen mechanic who is apparently perpetually 3 days away from fixing my car? I took the car in a week before Sabrina was born. This blog tells me she's more than 6 weeks old now. I may not be the world's greatest mechanic, but I could've taken both carburetors off, rebuilt them, and reinstalled them a long time ago. That's probably more extreme than it actually needs...

Okay, so, no car, no wife, no cell phone (okay, that one's a personal choice-- one I will gladly sermonize you on if you ask me)... Anyway, it seemed awfully like parenting without a net.

But the truth is, we had all we need. We have each other, and a healthy enough imagination to find things to do and ways to have fun.

So, Edgar woke up this morning after a long, peaceful night's sleep, and wanted to watch Spongebob. We cuddled in bed and watched a few episodes (thanks, netflix!). He seemed to really enjoy the time. "Daddy, go to sleep here!" (pointing to my pillow). I will admit to dozing a few times.

After a few episodes, it was time to start our day:

I took Edgar out in his bike trailer. This was our favorite activity last summer. However, it's been a while. He asked me "what's this?", pointing to the bike trailer. I think he remembers it, he just didn't have the words "bike trailer" in his vocabulary. He looks SO much bigger than I remember him being in the bike trailer. You may remember I bought Jen a two-seater bike trailer for her birthday. I was convinced there was some way to shoehorn another kid in this one, but after today, there's no way 2 kids would fit in that (see the above picture).

Last summer, I didn't consider myself in any sort of "shape", so I expected to be just as out of shape today. Boy, was I wrong.  Everything seemed much harder. Either that, or Edgar's much heavier. I know I am.

We rode off to the Gilbert House museum, as I felt we didn't get the full experience last time. We took my advice from last time and played on the empty playground first.

Continuing on yesterday's theme, here's a video of Edgar and I doing a xylophone duet on the playground:

Edgar loved this dinosaur chair. He returned to it a few times, and commanded me to sit in the other dinosaur chair next to it.

We went in the section of the museum dedicated to AC Gilbert himself. He was a true polymath and rennaisance man. Among other things, he was an olympic gold-medal pole vaulter, medical doctor, and inventor of the erector set. We need more people like him in the world. He also invented some other interesting stuff...

Also, those erector sets are cool. Now, I had some cool toys when I was a kid, but I'm not sure anything was as cool as a do-it-yourself robot or atomic energy kit.

Edgar thoroughly enjoyed his playtime today. We spent time at exhibits that weren't very crowded, so neither he nor I got sick of the people. He got a really good chance to explore some of the stuff in-depth.

We even visited the infamous bubble room, which we skipped last time. Our visit went something like this:

Edgar, timidly trying to see what all the other kids are doing in this room -> Edgar discovering a pan of soapy water and a hula hoop -> Edgar unsuccessfully trying to make a bubble with the hula hoop and getting a little frustrated -> Edgar successfully making a huge bubble with the hula hoop -> Edgar celebrating by splashing in the bubble fluid -> Total meltdown, as bubble fluid fills his eyes -> Daddy trying to comfort a screaming Edgar -> Edgar trying to wipe bubble fluid out of his eyes using his soapy hands -> Daddy dragging a screaming Edgar to the sink to wash his hands so at least that part will be soap-free -> Edgar crying on Daddy's lap, while Daddy grabs a bubble wand and makes a few bubbles -> Edgar wanting to make some bubbles, but not wanting to leave Daddy's lap -> Edgar finally getting the courage to stop crying and make some bubbles -> Edgar excitedly making bubbles -> Edgar jumping up and down, blowing bubbles everywhere, getting his arms, legs, and hair wet -> Edgar getting excited again, splashing soapy water into his eyes, and screaming in pain -> Daddy, repeating the wash and comfort cycle, and trying to convince Edgar his time in the bubble room is over

The star of our show, sometime between meltdowns.

The obligatory gilbert house Big Chair Picture. (shortly after bubbly meltdown)

With that, we crossed the wonderful Salem Pedestrian Bridge and grabbed some lunch. Did you know Dairy Queen sells milk in soft-drink-size portions?

Back across the bridge, I offered Edgar the chance of going back to the museum or heading home. He chose home. Good thing he did, too, because he was asleep by the time we passed Salem Hospital. I don't know how he does it, but this is a pretty common thing for Edgar to fall asleep in the bike trailer, going over bumps, with the top down...



Home after a long uphill ride, I trundled Edgar inside, with a fresh bottle, and put him in my bed. I've mentioned on here that he doesn't like to be interrupted/moved during his nap. I was lucky that he went back to sleep and we both got a sizable nap in my bed.

That's the sort of thing Jen thinks is fun-- snuggling with the kids. It's never held a huge attraction for me, but it was pretty fun today. Made me feel like a real daddy.

When Edgar woke up, he really wanted to snuggle some more. So, more episodes of Spongebob were in order. I could've gotten more things done (stuff put away from Kalaloch, dishes, etc. etc.) but snuggling with the kid was way too fun.

I mentioned in one of my first blog posts that I hoped that Edgar would do a little growing up (and detaching from Mom) over the course of this six weeks. I think he has. He's grown-up in all the good ways, and still a baby in all the ways that don't matter.

Here's a cute conversation:

E: "Daddy, what time is it?"

Me (taken aback) : "I don't know... uhh... I'm-just-starting-to-cook-dinner-time?"

E: "Change the diaper time!"

wow. That's easy.

Some other random cuteness from Edgar: He's taken up my habit of saying "Yes Sir" and "No Sir". It's kindof cute. The problem is, it's also ambigui-fied his answers:

I remember being in elementary school, first learning cursive, and finding that T and F were really close in cursive. From then on, for several years, I answered all my true-false tests and homework in cursive, with the hope that if I wasn't sure of something, I could make the letter ambiguous enough that the teacher would mark it right...

So, when you ask Edgar a yes/no question, he usually responds with something that sounds like "Nyeah" or "Yo" or "Noshyeah" or "Yeah-uh" or something else. They all look silly written down, but he honestly drives us nuts because we can't tell his nos from his yeses.

Another couple of cute stories: he loves he-man. Long before he discovered he-man, we discovered two old he-man toys at goodwill. One he recognizes as Cringer, although the toy cringer is quite a bit fiercer than the cartoon. The other one (Leech, evil master of power suction[!!]), he doesn't recognize as a he-man character, and calls it "the kissing monster".

Last week, Jen was nursing baby Sabrina. Edgar came in with Cringer held against his chest: "Edgar give Cringer some Nurning. A little bit. For just a minute." Apparently, this behavior is pretty normal.. it's just also hilarious.

We haven't told Edgar about my stash-- two apple boxes full of all my old he-man toys (and Castle Greyskull!) that my parents saved from when I was a kid. There are a ton in there, with armor, vehicles, weapons (whatever my nephew Gavin didn't manage to break). I figure he wouldn't appreciate it very much at this age, and would probably break them all. We can save them until he's 4 or 5.

Edgar went to bed easily again tonight. Jen comes back in the morning.

I spent way too much time tonight making another poster for an activity in primary tomorrow. Then, I realized that I should blog, too. It's 1:25 as I finish this. I really need to get some sleep before Edgar wakes up.

Day 42-- Musical Ambitions

Yes, this is the long-anticipated forty-two in "Forty-two days" As I mentioned yesterday, because of the way Sabrina's birthday fell on Friday, it'll stretch to 45 days with the 3-day weekend.

Edgar gave me some trouble last night. He woke up about 3 times in the middle of the night, and each time, I would come to his rescue with a bottle and some comfort, he refused my help and stubbornly repeated, "I want Mommy!" over and over and over again.

Mommy came to his rescue the first time. We think he may have a little bit of a cold. After the first time, it wasn't funny. I would sit for 10 or 15 minutes in his room, enduring the I-want-mommy verbal assault over and over again, then I'd leave, set the alarm for 15 or 20 minutes later, and turn off the baby monitor. In the intervening 15 or 20 minutes, he'd cry himself to sleep, but that's tough on parents and kids.

Well, tonight, he'll be forced to break out of his mommy-preference. Mommy is taking a girls weekend with Becky upstairs and friends. So, it's just Daddy and Edgar in the house tonight.

The terribly interrupted sleep, combined with some pretty bad cat-allergy-triggered asthma left me groggy and knocked out all day. On a day where I should've been cleaning up from our Kalaloch trip, helping my wife pack for her girls' weekend, I found myself doing just the bare minimum that was needed to maintain life and parental function. Edgar watched a lot of TV today.  Jen picked up the slack. As edgar says, "Mommy supergirl!"

Edgar also had a very musical day. This is him playing organ after first waking up:

No, I don't understand the name of his song.

Later, he tried recorder. As you can see, he doesn't quite get the concept yet. He plays it like a kazoo, singing into the recorder, and getting it to whistle along with his breath.

Still later, he asked me to work on a duet with him. He handed me our (in need of tuning and repair) melodica, and played his trusty recorder.

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on Flute!"

Jen and Sabrina got out the door this afternoon. Edgar and I spent the evening snuggled on the couch watching Signing Time and He-man. It was a pretty low-key day.

With Jen gone, and my car still (!) in the shop, I don't know what's in store for tomorrow. I've got some awesome ideas, but all we have is a bicycle and lots of ambition.

Day 41-- Snow at the Beach

Sabrina wouldn't sleep last night, so... more midnight photography! It was cold and clear and beautiful. I staked out some epic cliffs above the ocean, and wasn't too sleepy, so I did some photography, tried some reading, and drove the car when Sabrina got fussy. I feel a little weird saying this, but I popped in the Kalaloch CD (you know, the one we haven't finished yet), and it was very appropriate. It's weird listening to your own music, but I got a strange satisfaction from it. It's perfect music for standing at a cliff over the ocean under the bright moonlight while not seeing a single other person for two hours. Now, we have to get some album art, master it, and release that baby.

That's Destruction Island in the distance.

Morning was tough, but made more especially tough because today was checkout day. Yes, all dreams come to an end, and our idyllic stay here at Kalaloch had come to its end.

Last night's hail was still on the ground with what-looked-like-snow mixed in with it. During breakfast, some verifiable snow came down, making this our first experience with snow at kalaloch.

Ed and Grandpa at breakfast.

Seagulls in the snow/hail.

Of course, Grandpa and Grandma made sure we had more leftovers (eggs, old bread pudding, etc) to feed the birds this morning. They were grateful and even more came than before. I watched a flock of birds following Edgar as he walked from my parents' cabin to our cabin.

Edgar had some time with his sister while I packed up our stuff. Here's a probably-too-long video of Edgar comforting Sabrina by singing to her.

The songs are "Rockabye, don't you cry, we will go to grandma's", and You Are My Sunshine.

Walking with Daddy to go check out of the cabins.

After checking out, we drove (through snow!) with my parents to Lake Quinault and drove around the lake. Calling the drive around the lake a pretty drive is an understatement, but I don't know how to do it justice in words.

Lake and snow-covered mountains.

Next, we made the long drive home from the Olympic Peninsula. The kids were so good on the road. Edgar mostly stayed awake, played and sang songs. Sabrina slept nearly the whole way. Edgar is so good in the car. I'm afraid of what would happen if someone let him know that other parents let their kids watch DVDs in the car and ignore all the scenery.

Edgar hamming it up in the car.

After hours of driving, we decided we needed a break, so we took what was going to be a quick potty stop at my sister's house in Woodland. Two hours later and two lungs full of cat dander, we were back on the road. I will probably be sick for the next few days in response to the dosage of cat exposure I got today, but Edgar got to play with his cousins, and that was fun.

Edgar and cousin Ole.

Oh-- a note about the mitten he's wearing on his left hand in most of the pictures. Those of you following the blog will remember that Edgar burned his hand on a hot stove last wednesday. Initially, we put gauze on his hand, then the mitten to keep him from taking the gauze off. Then, when we switched to band-aids, we found that Edgar liked to pick at the band-aids unless he had a mitten on. Over the last few days, he's grown more attached to the mitten.  His burns have healed to the point where he doesn't need it, but now he wants it. Last night he woke up in the middle of the night, repeating what I thought was "Mama turn on!", but what was in actuality "More mitten on!" Yes, his mitten fell off in his sleep, and he made me wake up to put it back on. Add to this the fact that he's fed the birds table scraps several times. Oh yeah, and he eats with his hands, so more-than-a-week's worth of meals are in there. It smells pretty bad now. Rebandaging his hand at my sister's house, we hid his mitten. He was kind of frustrated about it. Here's hoping he forgets about it.

Finally made it home to our little apartment. Unloaded the car, and I showered to get all the nasty cat stuff off me. This evening, it's been going through our pictures and catching up on computer stuff. Now that I think about it, I probably won't post this for a day or two, but as I'm writing it, we're just home.

Oh-- a note on the format of the blog. Yes, the blog is named forty-two days. I have six weeks of parental leave starting from when Sabrina was born. Since she was born on a friday night, after work, my six weeks includes the 3-day President's day weekend. So, it's going to be forty-five days in total. I plan to blog my last entry Monday evening, before I return to work next tuesday. So... three bonus days for your reading enjoyment.

Day 40--Hail to the Beach

Where are we? I realized that I have been waxing poetic (or dogmatic) about Kalaloch, but I haven't done a proper job of explaining it. So, what's the deal with this Kalaloch place, anyway? Kalaloch (pronounce it "clay-lock") is a place on the Olympic peninsula in Washington, within Olympic National Park. It's a place that my family have been going to since years and years before I was born.

Kalaloch is situated on a bluff over the Pacific Ocean. There are a lodge, cabins, a hotel-type building, and a campground to stay in. There's a small convenience store and a fancy restaurant. Other than that, the closest real civilization is Forks, Wa 40 miles away. Kalaloch is about 3 hours' drive from Seattle or 4 hours' drive from Portland, so it's far-removed from everywhere. Because of its remoteness, it's also pristine and beautiful. It's not the boardwalk-and-surf of California beaches, nor is it the crowds-and-beauty of Oregon's beaches. The ocean tosses up piles of driftwood on the shore, wildlife is abundant, we've seen whales, seals, and all sorts of wild critters. I think I've seen a bald eagle every visit for the last 10 years.

In the summer, when there's sunshine, you can play on the beach, make sandcastles, bodysurf or swim in the waves, paddle the driftwood around in the creek like makeshift canoes, make forts from the driftwood, or hike endless miles of sandy beach. You can almost plan on rain at Kalaloch, summer or winter, but it's spectacular in rain, too.

Kalaloch has been a formative part of my childhood. Many of my earliest and fondest memories are located there. I feel like I grew up at Kalaloch. In my younger years, my family camped more often, but as my parents aged, they drifted towards the cabins. I took Jen there for part of our honeymoon, and she fell in love with it. We've gone there, camping or in cabins, more than once each year that we've been married, and we return there as often as we can. I had a friend-of-a-friend from the east coast talk about how her family always summers in Cape Cod. I could tell she feels that kind of attachment to the place. While my family isn't quite in the socioeconomic class that "summers" anywhere, Kalaloch fills that place in my heart.

I mean... we named our band after it-- it's gotta be something special, right?

Okay, so now that you know all that there is to know about kalaloch...

Edgar, playing "baby" in Sabrina's makeshift bed on the nightstand. Photo taken moments before Edgar managed to knock the bed to the floor with himself in it.

We had a better, if interrupted, night last night. Edgar woke up several times, but went back to sleep. Sabrina woke up once or twice, too. I slept and tuned everything out, so it felt like Jen was using me as a snooze alarm. She’d hit me and tell me to fill Edgar’s bottle, or hit me and tell me to sing to Edgar, or hit me and tell me to change his diaper. I ought to file a spousal abuse complaint.

Anyway, Edgar woke up just before 8, which is reasonable, unless you got a poor night’s sleep, which we all did, so it felt way too early.

I got him up and dressed and headed to Grandma’s cabin. Edgar sang “I love Grandma, she loves me” really loudly outside, but the curtains were closed, so we went to take a walk on the beach.

...with lots of puddle-splashing along the way.

It was the beginning of high tide, and the waves were washing up into the considerable amounts of driftwood here on the beach at Kalaloch. Edgar got to the driftwood piles, and was curious: “What’s that?” “That’s a log, it used to be a tree.” “Okay. What’s that?” “Another log. It used to be a tree, too.” “What’s that?” “Another log.” “What’s that?” “Log.” So forth and so on.

"Log."

It hailed on us at the beach, the first of four or more hailstorms today. Edgar threw the little snowballs at me. We watched the waves for a bit and then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa’s cabin, where they were up and ready to do breakfast. 

Moss on a fence. Not a bit out of the ordinary.

Edgar and I ate breakfast while Jen and Sabrina slept in. We fed the birds again. This time, I held out the pan of leftover chips, oatmeal, etcetera, while Edgar took things one by one, and did his best toddler-throw towards the circle of birds that kept a respectful about 6 feet away from us. Problem is, when a not-yet-two year old attempts to throw, he’s as likely to throw stuff behind himself as in front, and most of the time, whatever he throws ends up at his feet. Oh well. It was fun to watch the seagulls and crows. The seagulls are larger and more numerous than the crows, so they get the most of the food. The crows sneak in when the seagulls are distracted or not paying attention. The crows stick together, so 3 or 4 crows can keep a bunch of seagulls away from their meal. I threw a bit of food to try to make sure that both team seagull and team crow got a crack at some food.

Later, once Jen had woken up, I convinced her to take a walk on the beach with me. She was a little concerned about imposing on my parents and making them watch the kids, but they had a standing offer to take the kids while we walked on the beach, and we hadn’t taken them up on it yet.

The tide was high. +11.0, if our tide chart is correct (it’s got some glaring errors, so it may not be). We watched the waves coming up the creek towards the lodge. At times, the creek appeared to be running backwards as the tide came in.

On the beach, it was hailing constantly. It was cold enough that it didn’t seem to want to melt off the sand.. I dared a few dashes on the open sand below the logs when the waves were out, but Jen stayed up in the safety of the higher driftwood. It took us a while to get back our “log-legs”. When we come here, we always start a bit apprehensive about walking across the piles and piles of driftwood, but after a while, we develop balance and a sense of how to get from one place to the next. It’s not unusual to see kids and grownups running across the logs after several days here. Today’s hail made the logs slippery, adding an extra hazard to log-walking.

  

That's hail on the logs and dark gray sand, making it look white.

Jen in the hail.

Me in my natural habitat.

Jen and I made our way out to the mouth of the creek, where the high tide was pounding loose logs against the shore. They would crash around us, making thunderous noise. In the creek mouth, a flotilla of hundreds of logs milled around in the surf, pushed out by the river currents, and in by the waves. We brought our camera with the express intent of taking pictures and video, and at the moment we got out to the end, the camera battery ran out. I’m glad Jen won the we-won’t-need-a-battery-charger-on-this-trip-oh-yes-we-will argument. Maybe we’ll get a chance to take some pictures tomorrow. Suffice it to say, the waves and tide were powerful and we felt awed standing so close to so much force. We saw logs that twenty people couldn’t lift, easily tossed and moved by the action of waves that we’d think nothing of splashing in, in summertime.

The power of nature.

A little salal plant growing in a drift log, sheltered from pelting hail.

We came back to the cabin to warm up and dry out, and it was lunchtime. After lunch, we all retired for a much-desired nap. As you may have noticed, reading this blog, I relish a good nap, but I don’t have much control over how long I sleep, so I must’ve had a 3-hour nap or more. It felt amazing. Apparently, before I woke up, Jen was having a serious discussion with Edgar about whining. He’s been quite the whiner, really since Sabrina was born, but especially in the last few days. I woke up having dreams about drinking wine. I was totally an alcoholic in my dream. Apparently, both my son and I have a problem with whining/wining.

After the nap, it was low tide, and Jen and I went out again, this time taking a lot of pictures. We’re in search of album art, so I hope that one of these fits the bill. In the meantime, enjoy some of our pictures (click on any picture to enlarge, I think).

We walked among the debris of this morning’s high tide, including logs strewn everywhere from the tide’s pounding.

With each wave line of the retreating tide, there was a rainbow of partially-degraded plastic bits washed up in the surf, a reminder of the awful things that we are all doing to our home.

Today’s low tide was supposedly -0.8, so that’s nearly a 12-foot swing between high and low tide, for those of you following along at home. 

We had dinner with my parents, and Edgar about drove us crazy with his whining. We were all close to wits’ end. At one point, I told him that I turned whiners upside down. He whined, I held him up by his ankles. That made him laugh. He laughed until I put him right side up, at which point he would whine again. I’d hold him upside down, swing him, tickle him, etc. He got to the point where he would whine just so I’d play with him, so I’m not sure if it fulfilled the original intentions, but it was fun while it lasted. For a change, my parents and Jen played some 3-handed pinochle while I watched Sabrina and tried to keep Edgar occupied.

I know I've posted about a million pictures today, but I want to post not one, but two videos of Edgar being cute (and whiny):

It's just like having a dog.

Here you get Edgar's "Power of Greyskull! Kssh!", plus you get to see him drop his sword on his sister. Pretty typical.

Finally, it got to be Edgar’s bedtime, and I took him to our cabin and put him to bed.

We played a few more games with my folks—some dominoes and yahtzee for a change as well as pinochle. Sabrina was cute and just laid on the table content to be near the action. Wow. Our first child would’ve never done that. This is what a baby’s supposed to be like.

Later, it all came crashing down. Sabrina blew out her diaper, but we were out of diapers, so I had to sneak back into our cabin to get the new package. By the time I came back, Sabrina was melting down, and Edgar joined in on the baby monitor. He woke up and wanted his mommy. So, night was over. We came back to the cabin, sang Edgar a bunch of songs, made sure Sabrina got fed, and prayed for a solid night’s sleep on our last night here in Kalaloch.