A Wandering Aramean

The Mother Lode - that is, PICTURES!!!

... while I wait for the two hours to be up after Asparagus injested who-knows-how-many children's vitamins.  You know, just to make sure there's no bloody vomit.  Really hoping (praying) not to EVER see that!

 

Hiking with the pop-pop (backpack)!

 

Daddy's hat and Daddy's shoulders

 

She LOVES swimming!

 

Cutest. Picture. Ever.

 

Happy baby!

 

"I'm a model, you know what I mean..."

 

Checking her technique.

 

Has Grandpa finally found a paddling pal?

 

Belly laugh!

The Finish Line...

...is in sight!  M is scheduled to arrive home from Japan around dinnertime tonight.  God forbid that his plane should be late!

We've gotten by with a little help from our friends (and family), as they say, but I'm ready to hop on a plane myself.  Can you imagine?  Twelve hours to just SIT and have food brought to you?  I mean, I know, airplane food isn't exactly known as a culinary delight, but is it really much worse than the L*ttle C*esars pizzas we've eaten too much of this week?  And it's quiet!  **sigh...**

It's kind of like a parade of fools around here.  It is currently 8:30 a.m., and my day started two and a half hours ago with a boistrous toddler greeting.  As I was making coffee, I heard Lichen begin her "I'm under attack!" cry and looked over to see Asparagus shooting her in the face with her squirt gun (which she apparently has learned to fill herself).  A short time later, I looked over to see that Lichen was no longer sitting on the floor where I had placed her.  While not crawling, she had nonetheless moved her little self all the way across the room.  Mobile baby!!!  I was kind of hoping she'd wait a year or two for this!  Suddenly, Asparagus' beautiful floor mosaic of raisins and popcorn (the snacks she found herself this morning before I got up) are looking a little... treacherous. 

All right.  I'd best go before Asparagus finds any more sharp knives to stick in her mouth.  Enjoy your weekend!  I know that I will... after five p.m. if not before!

Evening Prayer, Asparagus Style

One of these days I'll get around to figuring out where I stuck my camera and get some pictures posted.  In the meantime...

This evening I thought I would include a little prayer in Asper's bedtime routine.  Since M is usually in charge of her bedtime, and he's in Japan, we're kind of winging it.  And while we do our prayers at lunch, I've not done anything at bedtime with her.  So this was something new.

Me:  Repeat what I say, okay?  Dear Jesus...

A:  Dear Deesus...

Me:  Now say thank you for something or ask for something you want, okay?

A:  CANDY, PEEEEESE!

So, not too much different than my prayers, some days.  Next time maybe we'll start with thank-yous!

Funny Girl!

While I'm waiting for some photos to upload, a funny little story from this week.  I thought I'd missed some context, but M assured me that, no, this is the total of the interaction.

It's evening.  Asparagus is sitting on M's lap, talking and fooling around.  She reaches into M's shirt pocket, "removes" something (imaginary), and pats M's head.  Then she does it again. And again.

Me:  What are you doing, Asparagus?

Asparagus:  Daddy, hair.  Hair, Daddy.

Me:  Does Daddy need some hair on his head?

Asparagus (earnestly):  Yeah.  Daddy hair.

Now why didn't M laugh as hard as I did?

High-Speed Rail in America?

It sounds like a dream for those of us who have experienced it elsewhere, but it's a dream that might well become reality if President Obama's plans come to fruition.

Easter Eggs

Here I thought I had missed a couple weeks, and it's been a whole month!  Let's get on with it, then!

 

I wasn't sure if Asparagus was old enough to enjoy Easter Egg dyeing yet, but it was a big hit! She dropped all the eggs in herself (many from quite a height, splash!crack!), then told me which ones I should take out when.

 

Yayyyyy!

The follow-up first thing in the morning a few days later, as M was walking out the door on his way to work. "Mama, egg! Uh-oh!" So we learned a little more about the properties of eggs.

There's a lot to learn as a little kid, you know? When we first got out the hard-boiled eggs for her to Easterize, her first move was to try to crack one - after all, that's what we do with eggs, right? Then, just when she thinks she's got things figured out, she comes across an egg that makes a mess. Weird!

Windmills at Mackinac

This is the first post in an occasional recurring series on wind energy.

 

This is a photo I took on our way back from Isle Royale last summer. While my picture's not the clearest, if you look on land to the right of the bridge, you can make out two windmills catching the breeze up at the Straits.

While each windmill was predicted to generate enough electricity to power 330 homes, they have actually been servicing 1,400 homes in the years that they have been running, saving three tons of coal for each home they power. Because of this, 25,623,400 lbs. of carbon dioxide (which contributes to climate change), 100,760 lbs. of sulfur dioxide (which causes acid rain), 35,750 lbs. of nitrous oxide (which depletes the ozone layer), 72.6 lbs. of high-level radioactive waste (where's it safe to put this stuff again?), and an unknown amount of toxic mercury (which is why I, along with all women of childbearing age, can't eat fish from Michigan waters) out of our environment. Can I get an "AMEN"?

The windmills were constructed by Mackinaw Power, formerly Bay Windpower, located in Lowell, Michigan. If you're interested in learning more about the process, as well as more about wind energy in Michigan more generally, check out this video of the director of Mackinac Power, Richard Vanderveen, speaking at Grand Rapids Community College in early 2008. It's a long video, but worth a view.

FUFF-LIES! (some call them "butterflies")

This was M's week of unpaid "vacation" courtesy of our fine state's (f)ailng auto industry. The conclusion? An extra week of vacation is really not a bad thing. One of our adventures was paying a visit to Meijer Gardens and their annual butterfly fly (exhibit just isn't the right word). Asparagus was pretty excited ahead of time, but we didn't really know what she'd think of the butterflies in person. We needn't have worried - she told everyone she saw about the "fufflies! fufflies! fufflies!" It was a big hit. And since I never mind the opportunity to pretend I'm in a real tropical paradise, well, it was a nice trip all around.

 

Water is always fun, too.

  

Our little caterpillar. Fun fact: Monarch caterpillars gain 3,000 times their weight in just three weeks. That would be like Lichen gaining a staggering 27,000 pounds in her first month of life. No wonder butterflies don't nurse.

  

A family photo. That I am NOT commenting on.

  

Wait. You wanted me to sit here, and smile, AND look at the camera? Fat chance, mama. Didn't you know there are FUFFLIES about!?!

  

M took this one. I thought my camera wasn't taking as good of pictures as it had when I got it, but no... looks like the problem lies with the photographer. Nice shot, though, eh? Kind of cool... kind of creepy!

 

Daddy-daughter fuff-fly viewing.

A Day at the Park

 

  

  

 

Some Salad?

Wow, it feels like I just posted! I think I've figured out a workaround for my Typepad issues - if I type the text while in HTML mode rather than their Rich Text format, it doesn't freeze up (or hasn't yet). Of course, that means my HTML has to be functional...

At any rate! In this week's edition of Photo Friday (or should I call it "Foto Friday"?) we're eating our greens and grinning.

 

Asparagus thought she'd like some salad. Mmmm...does this make up for all the butter she ate a few weeks ago?

 

And Lichen is growing like a weed (or a composite organism of fungus and a photosynthetic partner, take your pick)! She's actuallly big enough to perch on my hip when I'm carrying her around now. Definitely not a newborn!