It's been busy!..Here is some catchup..

Here is a photo of the steps I recently finished helping my neighbor build. We got to this point about Aug 15 or so. There was some significant structural work to do on the house beforehand, as usual!



August 26 was our wedding anniversary and Veronika and I went out for the evening by ourselves for the first time since our last anniversary! WELL not exactly true...just last week we saw Batman - Dark Knight with our friends Tim and Brian and his wife Jen after dinner at a Japanese steak house. That was great and so was this night - dinner at Roy's and a movie after in the swank new section of B-more they're calling Harbor East. Roy's is fantastic, a real exotic treat - and the new theater reminded us of a New York theater, with the screens below street level which is pretty neat.
This is Anna trying to push her sled - and Simon thinks it's funny to hop in for a ride!



Labor Day Weekend

On Saturday we went down to visit Aunt Connie and Mom, and to inspect some damage to her house. We ended up missing them, and so went on to visit Quantico National Cemetery and Fredericksburg. Here are some photos:








Sunday was very busy with catching up on housework, shopping etc. and attending a birthday party for Simon's friend Phoenix.

On Labor Day itself we decided to enjoy the last day of summer instead of slaving on more stuff, so we took the kids to Annapolis to see the water and the boats. That was great and the kids had loads of fun running around.

I just posted a video of Anna's first steps on YouTube, here.


The video was taken around the 15th I would say, and they weren't exactly her first steps, but pretty darn close. I think these were the first real steps I saw her take. Anyway she was 13 months on the 15th. Hope you enjoy it.

Well I'm streaming Olympic coverage so my connection is very slow. I hope not to lose my work here. I already lose enough during the day, when I have all the great things in my head that I should blog, and then forget them! Agh.

We are getting FIOS (fiber optic) internet in a week - that is exciting, should be much faster.

Because I am curious about Olympic fencing, I have the live coverage on - and am a little surprised at the amount of dead time they have between matches. It's been about 10 minutes.

So...we are still living in a world of pee-pee and poo-poo since Simon is potty training and Anna's mother insists on using cloth diapers. We both feel that we spend all of our "free" time cleaning up one or the other item, when not actually sleeping, eating, cooking, or cleaning other stuff ourselves. Example today: Simon woke up having wet the bed (wearing essentially semi-absorbent underwear); later he poo'd in his pants, twice, then once on the carpet. Anna poo'd on the carpet next in my office. Other people at work don't have to deal with this kind of stuff! - but then I guess they have co-workers for that.

So finally a fencing match (or two?) is beginning. Now I see that I don't understand the sport at all. The nbcolympics.com site has lots of info on every sport- it's very nice!

So amongst daily stuff, I am finishing our fence and helping our neighbor to rebuild their front steps. I have a little more work to do and the longest side of the fence will be finished. Veronika took care of the shopping today. Maybe tomorrow we will have some fun.

I have forgotten most of the great stuff the kids did today. However! - Anna took her first independent step a couple days ago, and today she has progressed to 3 or 4 steps! I got video of this and will post it on YouTube. First I have to figure out why the camera won't talk to the computer - we had it repaired but now it's not downloading. Hehehe

Simon has been trying to converse with people, including adults. It is very cute in that he usually runs out of topics but not chatter after the first sentence. So follow-on sentences just become gibberish. I like to toss him a line after he struggles a little bit, just get him going again. He'll faithfully parrot what I give him, and sometimes enhance it.

He said a lot of really funny stuff today, I just can't remember it...sorry. I need another pocket notebook.

Helloooo August

Well - Veronika went to NYC on Sunday for the whole day, and including a Saturday-night shopping trip, I had the kids for over 24 hours all by myself - a first! And it went really well. We had fun on Sunday, going to Mom's house to swim and check on the boat - which was a good thing since it was sinking!! So between lunchtime and nap-time I had to squeeze in an emergency repair! The kids were great and I got the boat fixed in the nick of time. We were back home in time for Anna's nap. Overall the weather was fantastic, and it was almost relaxing even for me!

Speaking of Anna, she's been really keen on walking now, and will grab onto anyone's hands for support so she can zoom around. Once she is clamped onto your fingers her legs immediately start the walking motion, and pretty often her legs go so high into the air that it looks like she's trying to climb up invisible stairs. Her flexibility is amazing - she is able to put her foot up to head-height without any problem, and just sort of does it for fun. She did this in the tub, I think trying to get out! Our tub is a super-deep Jacuzzi so it was futile, but I was impressed. Her other marine-creature features include a funny crab walk she does, for speed. She walks on her feet and hands, with her legs straight up - maybe it's a monkey walk, but she kinda goes sideways like a crab. Continuing the animal analogies, she still eats like a bear!!

Simon knows that we don't let the cats outside because they like to eat birds. So this morning as he was yelling at the ants around his breakfast chair, as usual, he yelled "Go outside Ants! Go out eat birds!!"

Anna has figured out how to use the shape-sorter - she put a round piece into the round hole! Also she's been feeding herself pretty well now, although she still often enjoys the two-handed method.

Well I've gotten depressingly behind in my log again, and so the glum title. Maybe I can make it up a little bit here! Let's see...

Right now the kids are sick. Anna is actually pulling out pretty well, but Simon has gotten a secondary infection it appears and suffered a 103deg fever over the weekend. We thought he was pulling out this morning b/c his fever was way down, until lunchtime when we looked into his throat and it was spotted like an exotic fish! So we visited the doc for the second (business) day in a row. (Friday was Anna's 1-year checkup). Yes he's viral and a living contagion!

So..hmm....yes the past weekend was shot because both kids were sick...so nothing fun just some yardwork. Going backwards then.....

July 15 - Anna's Birthday

We had an intimate birthday lunch for Anna to celebrate her first birthday. Although we had in mind not freaking her out with a large group, having our neighbors' two kids and her grandmother over was enough for it! She recovered and we all had a really good time. Here are some pictures.

July 19/20 Weekend

This was a great summer weekend. On Saturday morning after Veronika's yoga class we joined friends at our local pool. The weather was classic and Simon loved kicking around in the olympic pool. We almost swam right into a favorite 80-year old neighbor from up the street. Afterwards we attended a warehouse sale downtown where we FINALLY found a kitchen table that we liked (some photos). Because it came with an axe buried in the middle, we got %75 off! (ok, it was just cracked a little bit). Sunday we spent at my aunt's house, swimming in the lake. This was Simon's first time riding basically solo in a floating raft that let his feet hang like a duck's - and he was kicking in little circles, and zooming around chasing his mechanical fish.

July 7 Week

This week was very busy!! But neither of us remember what happened.

4th of July Weekend

We spent the afternoon at my mother's house in anticipation of evening fireworks along the river. Of course we swam, and after spending some time cleaning and setting up the porch, we had a nice dinner just before the incredible rainstorm. So we drove home disappointed in the downpour. To our surprise however, Catonsville was dry and we were able to watch their late fireworks show from a sidestreet in the car, with the kids sleeping. Finally a moment of relaxation! And our first time seeing our own local fireworks show, which was as good as any we've seen in the area!

Actually driving along the beltway during the fireworks hour was pretty neat since we drove past many little towns having their own displays. I guess we identified at least a dozen different shows. It reminded me of years ago when I would take the boat out to see the fireworks - you could always see shows all around you in the dark, up and down the river.

The remainder of the weekend is unfortunately a blur at this point.

June Stuff

June has been stuffed. So far my blogging skills have lagged - it's always the last thing on the list, and I think I just have to shirk some more work to get this done! So here's what we've missed...

June 1

Simon's birthday! We planned a small gathering at a park that we like. They've got a great playground next to the long tables where we had a little lunchtime party. Although there were only 2 other kids of Simon's age there, his best pal Evan and longtime-friend Phoenix ;) - they had a great time and never touched the playground! Oh well! The kids loved uncle Stanley's balloon show, as he sent long balloons rocketing up into the air; and he got to pet some horses. Afterwards we went for a hike along the park trails near the river. It was a great day. Here are some more photos.


The Camera

I placed an old security camera in my office with its b/w screen so the kids could play with it. Simon calls his image the “other Simon”, and holds up stuff for him to see. Anna points at the screen an smiles in delight. Simon is potty-training now, and today after breakfast he took his little potty up to the office. We didn’t know what he was doing, or even that he had his potty. When I entered the office, he had the potty in front of the camera and had apparently watched himself peeing on-screen! When we left to go shopping he said he had to go say goodbye to ‘other Simon’, and we heard him say “See you later, have a nice day!”

The 'Antiques' Trip

We have been talking about taking an "antiques trip" for over a year, and we finally planned it for the end of June. We need a kitchen table, and the trip is also a reward for completing our yard projects, which I hit hard this month in order to meet our goal. This included removing old chain and wood fences, building and installing a new fence, installing new garden walls/edgings, a new garden, sod, soil, and mulch. Also included are attic and basement work from earlier this year, but that was never completed.

So...the trip happened this past weekend (June 20-22) and we had a great time. However, we only really shopped antiques one morning - the rest of the time was spent hiking. Oh well! We didn't find anything, anyway - it was Strasburg - VA's "antiques capital"...so, why look any futher? Guess I'll be making the table, like I had planned anyway!

This is a glimpse of the trip.

Here are some pictures from the trip.










We did a loop starting in the Shenandoah valley - first in Strasburg for antiques, Luray to visit the caverns, then to Skyline Drive where we stayed at the cabins in Skyland. Our second time there and we love it - they have great rooms on the top of the mountain, and delicious buffets in the dining room! Not really camping at all.

The next day we headed south down Skyline Drive with beautiful weather - and headed west on 33 through Harrisonburg, where we stopped for lunch at the Artful Dodger, an arty cafe on the old town square, and continued west on 33. On the Virginia side of the mountains is a little side road that goes down to Lake Switzer. We ran around the lake access road for a while, where the Mazda forded its first river. That was a hoot; afterward Simon enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake. From there we headed west still and arrived in Brandywine, WV, where there is a little restaurant called The Cabin which I knew from years back. Back then they were famous for their homemade pies - huge, delicious, and all kinds of varieties - but it seems they've since declined. They still had pie though, and we were OK for a snack! Then it was on to Seneca Rocks. That's a really nice ride - but unfortunately, we got the runaround with our "resort cabin with outdoor jacuzzi" rental, and ended up in a fleabag motel room!!! YUK - I did my best to keep my head off the sheets all night while a stormed raged outside. Long night!

In the morning we climbed the trail up to the Seneca Rocks (where the town gets its name), a popular rock-climbing spot because of its 900-foot barefaced vertical climb. We didn't do any climbing of course since the kids were with us - but they have a nice climbing wall in town that was tempting. Torrential rains began after we arrived back down from the mount, so we drove south to Spruce Knob, the highest point in WV. You can drive all the way to the top, which was nice so the kids could sleep. Simon enjoyed the ride back down because the road is lined with farm animals. From there we headed home - too early really, the kids were not tired enough, and there was some gnashing of teeth! This was a great trip however.

Memorial Day Weekend

After a month or more of cold rainy weather with the house at about 60-62 degrees inside, Memorial Day weekend finally arrived with sunny weather in the 70's. It was fantastic. We spent Saturday working in the yard. Simon and I went for a load of mulch in the morning - the supplier we go to has a huge yard will lots of big loaders and piles of soil, compost and mulches, and he loves to watch the tractors work. After spreading mulch in the back gardens, I installed a dry well in the low spot of our yard. In diging down about 3+ feet I found 2 old pint milk bottles, one marked "Catonsville Dairy". I will visit our local historical society and see if they know when the Catonsville Dairy would have operated. Our house was built in 1929 so probably not too much after that.

Sunday we spent in DC's National Zoo. Simon was really excited about riding the metro to get there, and suprisingly loved the hippo above all other animals. Maybe because it was swimming around underwater and he couldn't see the whole animal. He and Anna both were transfixed by the apes and chimps. I think we spent 45 minutes in the crowded, stinking primate house!

So Monday was a holiday and I actually didn't work, which was great. We went to our local part in the morning which has great hiking trails through the wooded hills. I took the family to a secluded spot and we plunked down for a picnic on what was a suspiciously wide trail. During our meal mountainbikers were swerving around our little picnic since we were right in the path! Not as secluded as I had thought! The afternoon we spent finishing up some yard projects; I think I was working on the stone wall around our front garden.

Catchup

Well it's been a week or so since I have posted an update. I think we have been working - the usual - just getting through days and working until it's sleep is overdue. Yes my job has been busy, but also we have been having daytime appointments. For example....

I think Tuesday we took Simon to visit a Montessouri school where we sat in on a classroom and the teacher tried to interact with him. On this day he was too freaked out by all the kids - I think it was the most kids he's been around in one place outside of a playground. Although they were all remarkably calm, all quietly working on something at tables or on the floor all across the classroom. In Montessouri schools, there is mostly this loose time where kids do whatever they want, among lots of constructive things, and receive guidance from teachers and peers.

So Veronika took him back on Wednesday to interact with the teacher. This time it went very well, and he did several tasks with her, such as puzzles, a latch box, etc. It seems like he "passed" since she later talked to Veronika about enrollment.

It's after midnight so I'm literally just typing, sorry, but I don't want to get too far behind.

Simon has been parrotting a lot of sentences we say, and a couple that always make me laugh are when he tells me "You're such a big boy, Papa!!", and "You're my boy!". Sometimes he'll just point at me or Veronika and yell "YOU!!" which is hysterical.

Anna's first mention!! She is now 10 months old, and it is only because her brother has more history that I have only written about him up to this point. But she herself has already provided plenty of things to write about. She now has 3 prominent teeth - 2 on the bottom and 1 on the top - so her wide-open grins now are rather jack-o-lantern-like, but she couldn't get any cuter. Her hair has become very blond, and I suspect by the end of the summer she'll be a total toe-head. It will be more noticeable once she really grows hair, which so far has remained just a light covering on her adorable little head.

I mean to post pictures with these updates and promise to do so. I haven't yet experimented with images in place but will. Hopefully this becomes a place I want to continue writing, but I need to ensure I can download these logs later on so they do not evaporate on someone else's hard drives.

OH right - so anyway, Anna has been crawling for couple months I guess, now she is very fast, and likes to climb the stairs. She's also climbing other stuff like store shelves. She appears to be rather fearless. Lately like in the last day or two she's started dancing!! She bobs her head and grins happily when she hears music she like. The head-bobbing usually involves most of her body though, especially when she's standing. Oh yeah, that's the other thing she likes to do, she's pulling herself up on furniture and standing - sometimes she gets so excited she starts a high-pitched shrieking like a monkey.

This is more on Simon. He's 2.9 YO. He has picked up some new comical lines. Yesterday he yelled to Veronika, pointing to the sky like a bandito, "GO MAKE COOKIES!", which in fact she was already doing. Today, while working on a water-color painting at the kitchen table, he chided Veronika and I to "Go Upstairs. Simon painting. Go Upstairs!". I don't think he fully realized however that he would be alone once we did go upstairs. In about a minute he yelled for us to come back.

This is the reason I started blogging. Simon asked his first question that I could not answer. He is not even 3 years old yet; maybe this in itself is not so remarkable; other kids are doing a lot of talking by this age. However his conversations are still developing and he spends a lot of time talking about robots.

Anyhow - We were sitting in his bed looking at books and things, and I guess he saw a picture of a starfish. Then he asked "Papa, do starfish have a eyes?" (He says "a" a lot, like instead of saying "the' - we don't press him for grammatical perfection at this point - it's kind of cute and he'll get there). I didn't know - to be honest I panicked a little bit - here it was, his first zinger, and I was totally unprepared for it. "Yes!" I blurted out - then I thought about where the eyes would be located, and...could not come up with any little spots that seemed to make sense. So then I changed my answer. "No" I said. I think I saw him mentally register that Papa was unsure.