Showing posts with label Cousins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cousins. Show all posts

Saturday, February 19, 2011

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.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Day 15-- Cousins and Cousins

I'll start things off today with a photo. I don't know when this was taken, but it's a pretty accurate depiction of times at our house.


I've got lots of pictures today. It was a fun day.

My nephew Garrett invited Edgar and I to hang out with him for a Saturday. I'm not sure he knew what he was signing up for, but I jumped on the offer.At 10:30 AM, we knocked on his door in Newberg (about an hour away from Salem). I think we woke him up.

It was a beautiful day. Probably the first nice day we've had since Sabrina was born. We've been cooped up inside too much, so we kind of insisted on doing something outside. Garrett took us to a nearby park where Edgar swung, slid, played, etcetera while Garrett and I caught up on our lives.
Garrett's mom (my sister Laura) called, inviting us to see her grandkids at her house today. After lunch at a local panaderia, Edgar fell asleep in the car on the way to my sister's. Emily (his 4-months-older-than-him cousin) was napping, too, so Edgar and I got a little shuteye in the car, parked outside my sister's house. I've learned from sad experience not to try to move Edgar during a nap-- otherwise, the nap is over and the kid is awake and whiny.


Upon awakening, Edgar played in the backyard with his cousins Little Garrett (6) and Emily (2).



At Laura's suggestion, we went to the park at the Evergreen Air Museum. We didn't go in the museum or do any of the touristy-trap stuff they have, we just played on their awesome playground outside.


Edgar and Emily, January 2011

Edgar and Emily, October 2009


Edgar climbed (on his own volition, without any direction or encouragement from his father) up into this HUGE rocket-shaped play structure. He didn't quite get to the top before getting scared and needing a rescue, but he did make it about 20 feet up:


Hello up there.

(for scale)


The kids piloted the helicopter-shaped play structure, as real helicopters flew overhead.

 working together to fly the chopper.

 
Cap'n Emily being cute



Edgar and his shadow.


After the playground, Edgar, big Garrett, and I retired to Garrett's place where the rest of the evening was spent playing Wii, eating pizza, and playing Magic Cards while half-watching both Madagascar and Madagascar 2.

We rounded things off with some good, old-fashioned jumping on the bed:

Edgar LOVES his uncle Garrett.

Edgar airborne.


That's about it. He was glad to see his mommy and use his potty when he got home, and he hugged Sabrina mercilessly.

For some reason, I feel much more refreshed having been away from the house most of the day. It seems to take hours to do simple things like breakfast when we're here, but when we're outside of our comfort zone, things seem to go faster and easier--  maybe because they have to. Oh well...