Today we made a trip up to Berry Patch Farms in Woodstock for the annual Great Pumpkin Rescue.  The kids had a good time, and we did too despite some moderately whiny attitudes.  Of course, having kids up past their nap time is almost always going to net you a whiny afternoon.  We had a good time nonethless!

Pumpkin Patch

To celebrate the 4th of July, we trekked down to Midtown and picked up Uncle Alan and Aunt Valerie. After the usual shrieks of joy, we walked down to Taco Mac and picked up some vittles to-go, and then headed up to Buckhead to stake out a place to enjoy the fireworks. We staked out what we thought would be a nice parking space in the Target/Publix parking garage.

It worked in our favor that the Peachtree Road Race ended a few hours prior (congrats to Alan and Valerie!) there were plenty of barricades still up to route people, and consequently there were plenty of open spots on the grass just across the street from Lenox Mall. We secured some soft grass, spread ourselves out and consumed some good comestibles. Across the street in the mall parking lot there was a huge soundstage and live music, which made for a nice dinner. A helicopter buzzed about at a low altitude overhead, and that catapulted the kids into a frenzied state of "oh-my-it's-a-bit-warm-but-I'm-full-and-there-are-flying-machines" euphoria. They ran around on the grass like...well, like kids do.

Shortly thereafter the police blocked the streets, and we were able to watch the awesome show! The show was complete with music and ended with... well, a bang, and the usual Lee Greenwood music. We said goodbye to Alan and Valerie and headed back to our van... and the ensuing traffic snarl. Our choice of parking, previously regarded as inspired, was not so much so at the conclusion of the show. But, to our advantage, there was a convenient Publix, and it was open. We ducked in, got some beverages and snacks, and waited out the traffic and got ourselves back home before the end of July 4th. Good times! Note: I've geotagged the photos so you can see where we were for the show.

July 4th

The twinkles enjoy making a few faces at dinner.

Yes I realize my last post was a while ago, so I thought I’d just regale you with a few pictures from some Christmas festivities.  I will not regale you with the tale of Maya, She Who Barfs On Daddy at Christmas Dinner.  That shall be another post.

Maya shows Devin who is boss:

 

Daddy is about to take a bite out of a naughty boy:

The twinkles enjoy playing “house” with a new, er, house:

 

Devin is excited about his new helicopter:

The twinkles love playing “food”:

I take that back.  I shall indeed tell you the tale of The Night When Maya Barfed on Daddy at Christmas Dinner.  It’s actually not that long.  We were visiting with the Reeds and their clan (Terry, Jo, Alan, Val, Susan, Sarah, Jessie) and other assorted relatives (the Fishers, and boyfriends).  Steph, the twinkles and myself were enjoying some “beerds” (as Maya calls them), and munching on ribs n’ snacks.  Maya announces that she is ready to go home.  She repeats this several times over the course of about 10 minutes, and of course nobody wants her (and presumably us, but one can never be sure) to leave.  I took her aside to Aunt Jo’s couch in the formal living room, picked her up and asked, “Maya, why do you want to go home?”  She restated her request… and followed up with 4 rounds of bile, vomit and assorted gastrointestinal juices – squarely onto my chest.  I just held her there, in disbelief,  while Steph, Val and Aunt Jo ran around with towels, Maya, air freshener, paper towels and laughter.  It was almost surreal.  I hate to say it, but I think she didn’t like Mom’s shrimp & grits from breakfast.  Sorry Mom.  At any rate, she was pretty freaked out by the situation as she has never barfed before, so we decided to take her home.  Thanks Uncle Terry and Aunt Jo for letting us visit, and barf on your couch!  Perhaps we may yet be invited to return next year…

So, first things first. Devin can climb out of his crib and open his door. This is usually the sign of Drastic Changes In Your Morning Routine. This morning, I was still lying in bed when I heard Devin open his door and close it, and usually he makes his way upstairs to see us. Lately, however, he has shown more interest in Things Downstairs, since that is where we use Skype to do some video phone action with Grandma. This morning was no different. We left the downstairs gate open, so the dogs could go in out and (mental note: dogs stay in bed with us until we get up) as such, Devin decided he would go downstairs.

Things were quiet for a while, so I got up, walked downstairs and didn't see Devin, so I assumed he got up and broke into Maya's room for some morning fun. Not at all. I got Maya up, started getting her dressed and then I saw Devin poke his head up from the stairs. He ran up and said good morning, and I got him changed. I didn't really think anything of it, rather than needing to close the gate at night.

Then, as I started getting Devin changed, I felt the footies on his pajamas were all wet.

I looked him in the eye and asked, "Did you go downstairs?"
"Yes," he replied, rather matter of factly.
"Did you go into daddy's office?"
"Yes."
"Did you go outside?"
"Yes."

Mental note now made to *really* make sure I close the gate at night. I verified by looking out of my office window, and sure enough one of his toy cars is laying out there. Life changes yet again.

Oh, and speaking of the toy airplane - I got a neat little toy airplane that makes take-off and cruising noises and has some blinky blinky lights. I didn't expect to get one for Maya, as I was hoping to get something different for her, maybe some sort of Ben Franklin doll, or maybe a replica Liberty Bell, you know, something appropriate for a 2 year old. Well I didn't find anything in the airport, and I knew I had stashed a few unopened Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars in a cabinet for future use, so I figured I'm ok with just the one airplane. Fast forward to today at lunch, when I go upstairs to have family lunch and I produce the airplane and the car. The airplane? Huge hit. *HUGE*. Sidebar: I watched Devin playing with the plane in his crib for about 30 minutes before he fell asleep.   Rewind to lunch time, and all hell is breaking loose because Maya is not even the least bit interested in the Toyota Truck with raised suspension and Baja-style body work and spare tire.  No, even Devin pushed away Ramone in favor of the Ja-Ru toy Delta airplane, and Maya was none-too-happy about it. In fact, her only consolation was to be removed, after lunch, to Steph's computer where she and Daddy watched a few videos and played some games on SesameStreet.org.  By the way, if you haven't experienced that website, you should.  The indexing on videos has quite a few notches on the Belt of Awesome.

My last-ditch effort was to call a colleague who is on a return flight this evening, and have her pick up another plane from the airport... Here's hoping she isn't delayed.

We went trick-or-treating with cousins Kyra and Wyatt, and some of their friends, down in South Carolina this year.  Steph was at our new home getting as much done as possible to get the kids’ rooms prepared and furnished, so she missed out on this year.  I have a few pix from the festivities, hopefully Jamie will send some more I can add.

Maya the tentative bumblebee.

Devin the not-at-all-cowardly Lion 

The procession prepares to..er, proceed.

Wait, we can’t leave without everyone!

Maya somewhat hesitant at the first door.  

Everybody’s having a good time now!  Especially since Devin didn’t want to carry his own bag.

Afterwards the gang is tired and ready to obtain a sugar buzz.

“C’mon, Dad, dole out some treats!”

It took 9 months, and it was probably less painful than birthing a child, but we have finally done what we set out to do back in January.  We've sold our house on Montview Drive, and purchased our home for the next 20 years.  Our stuff will be getting moved into the home in about 24 minutes, in the meantime we will be getting ready to head off to the airport.  Yes, somehow we managed to close on a house sale, a home purchase, travel with 2 children and 2 dogs up to Charlotte, remotely contract for fence construction and also get some work done in between diaper changes, dog feedings and general chaos.

Now, we get 10 days in Paris and Amsterdam.  It will be a much needed break for Stephanie and I, and as much as I would like to stay "disconnected", I will probably be checking in to deposit pictures every couple of days or so - Steph still has a bit of homework to get done, so that will give me some time to upload pix.  And, I don't want a repeat of the Greece trip of '06*.  We'll see you in Paris!

*That was a the one where I had to go to Miami right after the trip, and my laptop got stolen with hundreds of pictures from our trip.  I only saved about 250 that I had previously uploaded, so this time I'll be proactive in getting the pix saved.

Daddy is laying back relaxing on the slide, and Maya is learning about static electricity.

Devin woke up this morning about 7:15am, and I went in to tell him it's not time to get up yet.  He listened for about 15 minutes, then complained about it for 5 minutes.  Steph and I decided to weather the storm, and this tactic worked.  He was quiet until 8:00am, at which point I arose and retrieved Mr. Man for some breakfast.

While I was getting Devin changed and ready to eat, I heard Maya in her room, talking to her toys and probably saying something about how Daddy needs to come in here and get her up.  After Devin was situated with his morning milk and vitamins, I went in to retrieve The Maya (this is what Devin calls her).  I opened her door, flicked on the light, and was greeted by my child holding her diaper out over the side of the crib, saying, "Maya needs a dry diaper!"

I looked around in the crib, and she had removed her pajama pants and unfastened the diaper all by herself (assuming of course that the manatee, monkey, and Dora didn't help) and luckily there were no, um, solids to be disposed.

I suppose at this point she needs to have a potty in her room and we have to start letting the sides of the crib down.  Or perhaps we need some sort diaper-lock underpants?  Yeah, that's probably better.  The longer we can keep the kids contained overnight, the better, however I would not enjoy waking up to see my child and her bed covered in..."stuff".  I'm going to imagine that my child will enjoy staying clean.  I'm going to chase that dream.

I realize I’ve been remiss in posting lately, so allow me to fill you in on what’s been going on.

“Cheap Mexicans” – on Friday night we met our friends Tony & Kim & Natalie, at our local Los Bravos for some kidtastic dining entertainment.  Let me just tell you that unless you have kids, stay away from Los Bravos between 5pm and 9pm.  Consider yourself warned.  It’s like Chuck E. Cheese’s in there, without the animatronics rodent band and old video games with today’s prices (yeah, like I’m paying 50 cents for Galaga).  If you have kids, however, take em and let em get all over themselves at cheap mexican.  I’m rather partial to their Fish Tacos.

Tomato Sauce Making and Canning – I spent two weekends at the Marietta Farmer’s Market buying fresh vegetables and herbs.  I already posted about the first attempt.  On the second trip, I got up early and let Stephanie sleep in as I took the kids with me.  I didn’t let the twinkles run around on foot since the Market is on the edge of the square and they could easily get into trouble – they were confined to the Chariot.  That actually came in handy as I bought about 15lbs of tomatoes from Craig of Two Mule Farms.  Craig also tossed me an additional couple of pounds of tomatoes with bad spots gratis.  I scored a couple of ounces of just-picked basil and oregano from another vendor.  I say ounces, because I don’t know how much basil is in 3 zip-top sandwich bags, nor do I know how much oregano is in 3 zip-top sandwich bags.  I made two batches this time, one as a standard tomato sauce recipe, and the other as a fantastically spicy version that the kids will not be allowed to taste.  Oh wait a minute.  Never mind then, I suppose they might like it.  So I’ve only a crock-pot’s worth of spicy tomato sauce left to can and I’ll be done for a while.

The Rocker – Saturday night we were childless as we booked Karyn to babysit.  We had dinner at P.F. Chang’s and for some reason we decided not to have the Cool Lettuce Wraps as our entrees.  Mental note for next time: have the Cool Lettuce Wraps as entrees and enjoy.  You can’t beat ‘em.  We finished up the evening with a viewing of Rainn Wilson in The Rocker.  Some folks have compared this to a poor man’s School of Rock, but the storyline is much different, the characters are different, and the plot is different.  Sort of.  It was cute, enjoyable and we had a good time.

We wrapped up Sunday by doing a little canning, getting the dogs’ baths and pedicures, running errands with the kids and just generally taking a little bit of easy.  It was a little crazy as Karyn kept the kids up past bedtime on Saturday, which meant that they awoke quite early on Sunday.  Grrr.  Usually when this happens we have to give Devin an extra long nap in the morning rather than a short one in the afternoon.  While that means that we don’t get any time to do chores while both kids are sleeping, we do get some special two-on-one time with each child.  That’s actually pretty special because it doesn’t happen very often.  In this case, I had a daddy-daughter lunch with Maya, while Stephanie stayed home to do school work (yeah, seems like that never stops) and some father-son wander-around-the-electronics-store time with Devin.  Steph got to have some playtime fun with each as well – but she’ll have to fill in those details as I was busy with other things and didn’t witness it myself.  Then again, with the course load she has this semester I suspect it will be December before you see that post.  Don’t hold your breath…

I have pix to post at some point.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Oh, and one last thing.  Lately Devin has been talking up a storm.  Not all of it intelligible, but he has some good 6-7 word sentences with about 75% of the words being recognizable (at least by us).  Maya surprised me this weekend with a few words I didn’t know she learned: teapot, spacesuit, terrific, and… *ahem* asshole.  Yeah, sooner or later it was bound to happen – and it did.  I was getting her out of the car seat, and removing a toy from her kung-fu grip, and she said, “Hey, stop it, asshole!”  I didn’t bat an eye and continued and then she repeated it.  I just ignored her, but boy was I laughing inside.  Not that I want her to repeat that, but it was certainly worth a chuckle to hear that phrase out of my sweet, sweet treasure.  Let’s hope she doesn’t follow up something worthy of a Kevin Smith script.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay didn't dampen our spirits on a trip down the Silver Comet Trail. Maya and Devin remained happy and dry, ensconced in the Chariot. Steph and myself, however, enjoyed a soggy ride at 73 degrees. During a brief dinner break at the Florence Road shelter, Steph and Maya tried to catch rain while Devin and I ate raisins. Life is best enjoyed when it's kept simple.
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This morning I planned to take the kids out to the Marietta Farmer's Market. It's open from May to the end of August from 9-1 in the Marietta Square. They have a 40 vendors or so, with the usual assortment of locally-grown tomatoes, peppers, honey, peaches, figs, pears, and beans. They also have some bakeries, natural home products, and other bric-a-brac you would expect to find at such a place. This was the first time I have visited this particular market, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect -- my experience has been limited thus far to larger established markets a la Pike's in Seattle. Let's just say this pales in comparison, but the folks are local, warm and friendly. Lots of kids, dogs and people wandering about. The thing I like most is the farmers represented here are into their craft. They love to discuss methods, execution, uses, and just about anything related to their product. And, they are always willing to answer questions to boot. I bought some heirloom tomatoes from a grower right in Sandy Springs which was nice, and he offered me a few pears for the kids, which they enjoyed. I also picked up a huge yellow watermelon from a nice fellow selling them off the back of his pickup truck. He and his wife looked like seasoned grandparents, and they were slicing off samples of watermelon for anyone who was interested, and Maya and Devin were more than interested. Devin was riding up top (on my shoulders) and proceeded to drip watermelon in my hair, which I am finding even now has clumped and stuck up in my hair :/ I suppose I'll have to shower up soon.