Overheard at Carriage House

"Daddy, when I get older I'm going to get married."

"Is that so? To who?"

"My prince Aiden of course!"

"And who is going to pay for this wedding?"

"It's OK Daddy, I'll wear my princess dress!"

Christmas in November

The holiday season snuck up on me this year, what with my England adventures and all. Last I had a minute to relax, it was Halloween, now our Christmas tree is already up and the boxes of decor are down and now empty.
Morgan has taken to dancing to the Christmas music and we officially welcomed the season with Christmas Vacation last night, then finishing this morning.

Eliza is a little unsure of the tree, but luckily has taken to her new BFF, Cleo. Cleo will seek refuge in Eliza's room, it being the warmest in the house, and Eliza will find her, no matter the obstacles.

"Mowe!" Cries Eliza from any part of the house. "Mowe!" and Cleo will go running. Eliza will give chase, all the while reaching out and crying to Cleo, "Mowe! mowe!"
But the funniest thing is that when Eliza successfully finds a stopped Cleo, the cat stretches into Eliza's clumsy scritches and begins to purr.

Kim is exhausted after my week away, at least I have jet lag to explain crawling into bed at just past 9.

Pictures will be up soon, just wanted to give a quick update since I'm on break from the other blog for a little bit.

Halloween 2009

The princesses were in rare form this evening, with Cinderella in the lead most of the evening, tiara or no. And no slippers, just boots.

Sleeping Beauty was often at the end of the greeting party, but did push past Cinderella to knock on a door midway through the evening, then shy away when someone opened it.
The graveyard infront of the house was little appreciated again this year, mainly on account of our street being mostly empty. Only us and the folks across the street even had lights on, let alone decorations and they go all out. Fog machine, lights, scary music. I just write silly things on foam.
This morning we went to a retirement community to trick or treat, and some of them had candy. Morgan needed most of that time to warm up to the idea of geriatrics with treats, Eliza took it in stride and if she was bothered, never showed it.
Morgan was also hands on with the pumpkin this year, reaching in before I had a chance to get spooning.

The house was quiet tonight, maybe 20 kids in total, the last groups clearly driven over, as indicated by the awaiting SUV in the street. we walked the girls up the block and didn't see a single house giving out candy, just one woman running out to hand both girls a full size snickers. It was delicious.
We loaded the girls in the car and went to another neighborhood to let them do the knocking on doors. Kind of a bummer/blessing the block is so quiet.

Don't forget the clocks and the smoke detector batteries!

Going home

I'm sitting in the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on my way home from Albuquerque and missing my girls. I got to see them twice over the web camera built into the new laptop, but nothing beats a jumping hug from Morgan...

...a wet, misplaced kiss from Eliza...

...and a warm, welcoming smile from Kim.

So I sit and wait for the plane to arrive to take me back to them, all the while knowing I'll be doing this again in 3 weeks on my way back from England.

It's easy to leave, but hard to stay away.

Come on plane!

Time passes...

It has been awhile since I've updated, I apologize.

Morgan and Eliza are growing like I could never have imagined. Morgan asks thoughtful questions that I have to actually think about before I answer. Things like, "Daddy, why do those people look so unhappy?" at the store, or "Where should this go Daddy, it doesn't belong here," when we're cleaning up the hose. She smiles and my heart explodes.

She does, however have trouble with silly games. in the car driving back from Oregon I was mixing up the girls' names and we were all having a laugh looking at Eliza and calling her Morgan, then at Kim and calling her Morgan when Morgan begins to tear up and convince me that I was getting the names wrong. Then she broke down crying. I have yet to learn her threshold for silliness.

The England project is on for November, which means we'll be blocking the family blog again. i'm not sure if the passwords from before will work again, but if they don't just follow the instructions and your request will be sent to me and I'll let you in. You can also follow along on Facebook if you aren't already.

It's all to protect the girls from any looky loos who want to know more about where I am and what I do.

Back from Oregon

The amount of relaxation that comes with a visit to Oregon is quickly erased by a screaming 14 month old on a 7 hour drive.

We snuck north for a few days to beautiful Grant's Pass, Oregon for a few days of relaxation and free babysitting.
First morning had Morgan and Eliza out in the park, swinging their little hearts out. We enjoyed some deliscious meals and entertaining nights of cards and cocktails while mom and dad awoke early to tend to the little noise makers.

The drive can indeed be peaceful, until Eliza gets frustrated and decides to scream.

In the end we got home and gave the girls a bath after finding the back yard sprinklers on and a slightly flooded back yard. Looks like a bad valve in the dark, I'll take a closer look tomorrow.

It's nice to be home.

Escape

Kim and I, thanks to Linda's visit, were able to escape for a day and a night a little bit ago. We pointed the Prius south and towards Half Moon Bay. We had a great time.

The little B&B we chose was a converted house dating from 1898, complete with photo of original owners hanging in the front room. The place was great wit hthe old floors, nice furniture, beautiful garden and hot AM breakfast.
This was our room, the "Rosemary," which was on the ground floor with those big windows opening out to the side and back yard gardens, water fountains trickling. We got in around 3 and had planned to walk the town, but the quite room had us asleep within minutes only to awaken to the wine and cheese being served. After that we went up the coast to a restaurant recommended for their patio, but not their food.
The patio there faces the ocean and has benches, chairs and blankets to keep warm watching the sun go down. That was nice. Then after the sun goes down, they lit up fire pits to sit near and keep warm. The drinks were so-so and expensive and we avoided the food since we had another place in mind.

Dinner was back towards the hotel, but still on the water and the food was great. Kim had the fish of the moment and I enjoyed the paella. We shared a bottle of wine and soon found ourselves the last ones in the dining room. When I heard a faint car alarm outside and went to investigate, the waiter commented, "Process of elimination, I'd say that's you." It was and I saw two employees nearby smoking.

So I went back inside and ordered dessert. Mr Waiter, It is your job to serve me and I even get to give you EXTRA money for bringing me food, so stop dropping hints, you go home when I'm ready. I don't go home early, so neither do you. Besides, I'm tipping you on a bottle of wine. Relax, it's worth the extr 15 minutes you get to sit at the bar waiting for us.

Ahem.

After dinner we went back to the B&B and had an almost peaceful night. Kim has been feeling a bit under the weather and this night was no different. I slept like a baby rock log.

The morning found us enjoying breakfast with the other couples lodged there, all the others grown with grown children who were from all over. London, Canada, Michigan...everywhere. Then we wandered the shops for a bit and decided to head home slowly, enjoying the ride.

Just when you think you can meander, fate jumps in. The phone rings and it's Grandma Anne calling, she's nearby and would love to meet up with us in the City. It figures, the one time it is a logistical nightmare to get the girls into the City, Grandma comes to visit. Plus, if we decide to detour to meet them we run the risk of getting caught up in afternoon traffic. Sod it! we made a run for Fisherman's Wharf and caught Anne and her friends just as they were getting ready to leave and return to their time share in Santa Cruz.

We darted home in time to play a bit with the girls before dinner time. They had fun with their Grand and we were glad to be back home.

Not the Laytonville Clarkes...

While working yesterday on the ambulance my partner and I began discussing the history of the City. The topic wandered to the Clarkes sitting on a bench at the 1915 Exposition, coming all the way in from Laytonville.

"Not the Clarkes of the Clarke Ranch out there were they?" He asked, suddenly stopping the ambulance.

"Yeah, my Grandmother met my Grandfather on that ranch, why?" I ask, curious if we're long lost cousins.

"My family has been hunting turkey there for years, it's the best little plot of land anywhere around. Really? That was in your family?" He is as floored as me.

"Yeah, we were just up there 2 years ago November, it's beautiful. Got to stay in the little house with a lot of family and hear old stories." I said, trying to avoid the real reason we were there.

"I'd love to hear more about them." He said and pulled over in a bus stop.

So I told what I knew, about the Mormon trip and skipping Utah for California, about the paintings in Grandma's house growing up and the sheep. He soaked up every word and told me he and his family always respected that that area is so beautiful and has a sense of family, with both houses still in working order.

It was then I told him about the pictures of my great great grandfather building the little house and he just shook his head.
"That is so cool." he said staring out the window.

"I think so too."
http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/memorial/clarke.htm

It appears I am not at work

I've (Justin here) been working a lot lately, banking trades and picking up overtime when I can. In the last few weeks that meant 2 24 hour overtimes and today I grabbed a 10 hour ambulance overtime. It was awkward at first after a crappy night at work, but my partner for the day was on my wavelength so it worked out nicely. And being home at night to sleep in my own bed has it's advantages. Mainly there are no voices waking me at all hours to tell me where the sick people are.

So, for now at least, it appears I am not at work.

The girls are all experiencing some level of sickness, Kim included, and the house is a symphony of coughs sniffles and sneezes. I had my own musical show last week, but seem to have out lasted it. Again I credit the voices waking me at all hours. I think the flu gave up and went to sleep.

The work blog has been picking up steam not only with the England trip in November but that it has been picked up to be included in a new project combining a number of successful blogs in the field and grouped together, kind of like a digital reader's digest of similar information. The concept is the first of it's kind and has some really neat features I'm excited about, I'll post a link sometime in early October when it gets off the ground.

Eliza is beginning to branch out speech wise with the introduction of what sounds like "baby." She has "ball" down like no one's business and points to the picture of a baby on her yogurt container and says "Bah...Bee." I'll take it, since the next words will likely be "Can I borrow the car tonight?"

Are you catching up on Madmen or were you hiding this from us the whole time? We love the series and are DVRing (that's a word, yes?) season three while Netflixing (I'm making them up as I go people) season two. Gotta love the early 60s. Or at least the interpretation of the early 60s. Either way, great show. If you're not watching, give it a shot.

The Prius got it's first check engine light awhile ago, 80,400 miles and one check engine light. And it had nothing to do with the electric motor. Figures it's the gas motor parts that are failing first. We have a vapor leak in the area between the fuel bladder and the fuel tank. Long story short our gas tank has a hole in it, but on the inside. The tank needs to be replaced and is covered under the 80,000 gas motor warranty, if we were in that window, but will cost a decent amount to get installed. The guy at the dealership is overnighting (again with the new words) one that should arrive first thing tomorrow morning and Kim can head over there and work while it gets fixed.

The labor is 3 times the cost of the part.

Hence all the overtimage (Sorry, last one).

Again with the teeth?

Yes, again with the teeth.

I am recently home from the Endodontist with a sore nose, not tooth. Figure that one out. I know the facial nerves are close to one another, but my runny nose feels like it weighs 30 pounds.

This had to be the most positive dental experience I have ever had. Getting the wisdom teeth pulled was OK, but hurt like Hades the following night. This extensive drilling and removal of part of my being (tooth pulp) went swimmingly. Amazingly enough I was able to watch along in the reflection of the scope he used. It was relieving to see what he was doing as he did it instead of staring at the ceiling. When I mentioned they needed TVs up there, he laughed and told me he takes donations.

When we had discussed the procedure he told me it was unlikely we would encounter the resorbtion section, but as he was drilling he could see it. So the decision was made to go in and repair it as best he could, extending the time window for braces.

So here I sit, scotch at the ready for pain control and only my runny nose is bothering me.

Luckily I came home to Eliza whispering "Da-Da", Morgan smiling and Kim cuddling. That's all the recovery supply I need.

Labor Day

Labor Day.

Brought to you by the AFL-CIO. The same folks that brought you the 8 hour work day and the weekend bring you a day off of work so you can BBQ while belittling union wages and working conditions. The same conditions that make your employer remain competitive.

Where have I heard an argument like that before.

Political whining aside, this was a VERY busy weekend for Carriage House as we went mobile to the 144th annual Highland Games and Clan Gathering in Pleasanton. A couple of readers of this blog are familiar with the Pleasanton fairgrounds of old, but when those grounds are covered in bagpipers, it looks quite different.

We've been going to this event for years, usually for just a couple of hours and always feel like we missed something. This year we planned ahead and hit both days all day. You might think that would be tough with these 2 girls in tow, but planning ahead made it all work out swimmingly.

Morgan enjoyed watching the Scottish Folk dancers with Mommy and liked seeing the real live princesses in the Living History section. For those of you not aware, the Living History section is an area of the grounds set aside for re-enactments from various centuries of the past. This leads to impromptu viking fights, knights in armor wandering aimlessly and the occasion procession for Mary, Queen of Scots. Her entire court, guards and all make a daily procession. While the Queen is out, her throne tent is occupied by the Baroness, who you can also visit and talk to, unless of course you are a terrified 3 year old.

The girls were given small favors from the Baroness, kind of an old school badge of allegiance. Morgan seemed more interested in the little girl in the snow white costume than the fully dressed midevil princess right in front of her. The next few years will see that change, I'm sure.

Kim and I got to visit all the booths and take in all the music and art we could handle. It truly is magical to see so many other people with similar interests in tradition and history.

Wicked Tinkers is a band we like that can only be described by the following video.


They were the finishing touch to two full days of adventure.

For years now, we've both been eying certain crafts at these fairs and decided this year we could combine our 8th wedding Anniversary and the games to gift one another those things we have been looking at.

That's how I got my kilt. For years I have wanted a dress kilt, in our newly established family tartan, but the occasions to wear a dress kilt fall under wedding, funeral and highland games.
Enter the Utilikilt. This is not your grandfather's kilt, mainly because I don't think your grandfather had one. It is cotton, so I can wash it, and the pleats are sewn in, so the shape will hold. Plus it has pockets. Higher end versions have all the pockets you can imagine, as well as a hammer sling. That's a bit much for me, so I chose the standard version.

It is far more comfortable than you might imagine.
And the salesman was brilliant. He measures your waist and pulls one down, unsnaps it and places it around your waist. Then, facing you closely tells you to "drop 'em," and down go your shorts. Standing there wearing the new kilt amongst others considering it, you feel silly at first, what with your pants around your ankles, but then the comfort sets in. You suddenly realize how hot those shorts were and how cool the kilt is.
When he asks what you think and you respond in the affirmative, he says, "Great, give me your shorts and I'll ring you up, you can just wear it out."

Got me. Kim was around the corner with the girls watching the 5 on 5 soccer tournament and I didn't want to pull the trigger all by my lonesome, so I sheepishly made an excuse and had him set it aside. 15 minutes later I was back to get it and wore it out. Kilts are nice. the snaps in the front mimic a sporran, or the little pouch worn with a traditional kilt. This keeps the front down as you move, or in a breeze, for reasons of modesty.

When asked by Kim when I would wear it, aside from the games, I thought of a number of places this flat black garment would go just fine. Perhaps even in Mexico next summer, so much easier to get changed into swim trunks.


Kim has been interested in wheat weaving creations similar to this one for years and after not seeing them on the first day, we made a point to find them on the second.
That was one of the great things about going both days. After day one we discussed what we missed and wanted to see the next day.

That and packing your own Guinness into the fairgrounds can save you a lot of money when they're charging $8 a beer. We grabbed an 8 pack of Guinness for just a little more than they wanted for 1 and just brought our own plastic cups. Stack them in the little cooler with the girls' snacks and bury that in the stroller and no one is the wiser. Saved us almost $50 in beer alone. Not that we'd spend that much, but it's savings all the same.

So now Monday Labor Day will be a house cleaning day, getting back on track, or at least as close as we can before the week catches up with us.

Enjoy your free day off while it lasts, and try a kilt!

Overheard at Carriage House

One fine saturday Kim and the girls ventured out to the local farmer's market. When they arrived, Kim noticed she only had $2 or $3 and could only get corn.

Later that week, gold.

Kim: "Oh, remind me I want to goto the farmer's market this saturday."
Morgan from the back seat: "Mommy, don't forget to bring some money!"

Brace yourselves

I'm back from the specialist with surprising news. Not only has he never seen a resorbtion like this, they're not sure how fast it is moving. There will certainly be a root canal, soon, and a technique to follow that could likely save my tooth. The problem with the resorbtion, and I'm expanding on his kindergarten answer of "little guys eating other little guys in your blood", is that the cells responsible for breaking down bone cells, called osteoclasts (not to be confused with osteoBlasts, which build cells), have been activated in that region of my tooth/bone (See Mom, I retained my education). The reason for them activating is most usually trauma, but with the absence of a provoking factor and the apparent speed with which my tooth is being deconstructed by my own cells, we seem to need to move swiftly.

Without going into too much gory detail, the original solution was going to be cuttin back my gums to expose the hole and filling it after the root canal. But, the periodontist told me, the gum may never fully heal, leaving a giant gash in my smile. That would suck.

This specialist wondered what an orthodontist might think about moving the tooth down to fix it, then putting it back. He not only moved with urgency but called the orthodontist next door, who I had seen previously to discuss braces, about the idea.

She thinks it will work, but there is no guarantee it will stop the resorbtion process, meaning in the end they may have to pull the tooth anyway. however, I was needing to get the braces anyways and she is willing to include this treatment in the original quote and plan we worked u pa few months back. So, I will be getting braces soon after returning from England, most likely, to not only fix a glitch with my teeth, but hopefully save the tooth and my smile. Plus, if they want to pull the tooth now, they advise against orthodontics until all the roots are where we want them to be.

Now it's just looking forward to the root canal. Yeah.

My Toof!

Groan. I got me a bad tooth. Not a bad tooth, actually, but an over-reactive protective lining between the tooth and the bone, a phenomenon called external resorbtion. This is a fancy term to explain that my body is reclaiming this tooth slowly.

At the dentist yesterday I mentioned, when asked if there was anything else going on, a slight discomfort if I pushed on a part of my gum above the tooth. The dentist then took a closer look at the xrays, tinkering with settings until he got a sudden glimpse of something that made him sit up straight and stop moving. Never a good sign. Physiologically it is a minor form of psychogenic shock, when the brain is overloaded to the point of hindering normal proprioception. In other words, something freaked him out and he needed a minute to collect his thoughts.

He explained what he thought was happening and decided to probe the tooth with a sharp hook. Found a hole just below the gum line, hence the pain. then to see if the nerve was intact he froze my good tooth, which hurt like hell, then froze the bad tooth, which also hurt like hell. "Good," he says, it means the nerve is in tact.

Then off to the periodontist (peri meaning around, dontist meaning pain) for more probing with a sharp hook and another explanation that what is occurring to my toothe is not seen very often, if at all.

After getting home and doing some research, the bad news is setting in.

Since there is no way to treat the hole that has appeared, or find out what is causing it, there is only one treatment: extraction. They want to take my front tooth.
This kind of thing is more often seen coming from the inside out, but rarely from the outside in.

So here I sit, just 45 minutes from my appointment with the root canal specialist, since my regular dentist said he wasn't comfortable doing it. That makes me feel awesome.

I've had great teeth and checkups until now so this is really a bummer.

More to follow.

Easy Rider

A few nights back we decided to take our evening walk down at the marina. Morgan wanted to take her bike, which sounded nice. The afternoon was warm, borderline hot, but down by the water felt nice. The area, for those who have been there, has really been trimmed back and cleaned up nice.

Morgan climbed onto the little pedal trike and could barely move, her knees hitting the handle bars.

She outgrew her bike.

So the decision was made to look into a bigger actual bike for her, training wheels and all. The syndicate has their own brand of bicycle, costing $20 more for the honor of riding around with your favorite syndicate princess. Too bad that one was "too big for Morgan, maybe next time." Phew, dodged that one by inches.

So we got the bike and all 3 of us put it together the other afternoon with Eliza helping and Morgan constantly wanting to try it out at each stage of construction.

When she climbed on to test the seat, well...
...away she went. Big girl goes to school, too.

Is ... there... coffee...*shuffle* *shuffle*

The sky is no longer dark, I should get up before Morgan does and let Kim sleep. Shuffling to the bathroom I grab my robe. Shuffling is the only safe mode of travel early in the morning with toys all over the house.

Morgan is on the couch, slurping milk from a sippy cup, watching one of her shows. It seems Kim got up when Morgan did, got her settled and quiet, then retreated back to bed.

She doesn't even look my way when I shuffle into the hallway, still somewhat asleep.

The coffee maker is prepped and started, at least 5 minutes until I can sneak a cup. The internet comes to life on the laptop and I check my morning news and messages, slowly waking and Morgan smiles and giggles. She knows when I'm just staring at the machine and she thinks it's hilarious.

By the time I can get my first cup of coffee poured, Eliza is beginning to wake with her signature groans and cries of "MAMA!"

Sending Morgan in to quiet the child is always good for at least 2 minutes of quiet usually followed by laughing, giggling, then screaming by one or both of them. The timing is key there.

With Eliza changed and on the floor walking away I take a moment to peek at the clock. Not as bad as I thought at all.

Back in the family room under the watchful eye of a curious monkey the girls are sharing frosted mini wheats and chugging their cold cups of milk. I lift my coffee to my lips...

...ahhhh

And my day can officially begin.

2 hours later, here they are sharing a coloring book with Morgan choosing shades of green and blue for a fairy while Eliza is experimenting with the different flavors of different colors. Since the sip of coffee the train set has been out set up and cleaned up twice, both times the peaceful town was attacked by a giant purple toddler stumbling through town and sitting on the main switch track. The lego blocks have made "the highest tower in the whole world ever!" and the aforementioned purple terror brought it to the ground.

So now, still in my robe, Morgan is dancing through the room in her purple tutu and Eliza is half crawling half walking through the lego rubble while Daddy is half typing, half sleeping in the corner.

May, and updates to walking issues

May is shaping up to be an exciting month. Kim and I will be taking a trip to Mexico with friends, just over a week in a house on the beach. No kids, no internet, no worries. Wait...no internet?

We have been turned on to the idea of SCUBA diving while there and have started looking into classes here and dive boats there. It tuens out the world's second largest reef, visible from space even, will be ,ess than 200m off the beach of our vacation house. hehe, cool.

Some others in the group are wanting to do it and this sounds like a great opportunity to see some great sea life up close and personal before global warming burns it all.




The girls are growing more and more everyday. Morgan loves going to school twice a week and comes home singing new songs and telling me new stories. She is still completely infatuated with anything princess. I seriously ask any family planning gifts or anything to please refrain from anything princess for the time being. She is in princess overload mode telling us how princesses have to wear "dresses down to their feet" and that "princesses don't eat dinner" ...for that one I was honestly waiting for some explanation about them being skinny. She never did explain why they don't eat, just that they don't.

Eliza has taken walking to the next level, taking as many steps as she likes, I counted 38 the other night, and doing very well balance wise. On our nightly walk yesterday she walked 6 houses - uphill - before I picked her up. She's got some speed, too. She still walks with her arms high over her head like a marionette, but if she can hold your hand, she can match a casual walking speed without losing her balance.
Eliza is also off of baby food. I don't recall when it happened exactly, but I recall with Morgan she had these little toddler meals instead of our food for awhile. Since menus are mildly bland to suit Morgan's likes, we jsut spoon some over to the high chair and away she goes.


The Sequoia House gave us a headache this month, with plumbing and insect issues, not to mention a temperamental sprinkler timer. But we got a call soon after a dip in the pool over at the Reinhold's from the property manager telling me about the plumbing issue and that he had already had a look and called a plumber and that the plumber was already there. Without our manager I would have had to leave the pool party, drive 15 minutes past the house, drop off the family, grab my tools and drive the 15 minutes back, only to have to call a plumber and pay through the nose. I love having a property manager.

We also got the tenants to renew their lease for another year *phew* and are looking to replace the carpet in the living room. ell, that carpet needed to be replaced when we moved in years ago.

and that is the Word from Carriage house.

She Can Walk!!!

Eliza was taking 2-3 steps pretty consistantly this afternoon. We managed to get a little of it on video. I have been wanting her to walk for so long, but now that's she's doing it (a bit, at least) I can't believe she's growing up so fast.

School Days

Aside from even more references to the new time continuum known as "my princess party!" Morgan is now a regular Pre-School girl.
Kim and I have devised this brilliant plan that on days I am home, she will take Morgan to school and work until Morgan is done. I will stay home and put Eliza down for her nap, then work on my Honey-do list.

I have so many half finished projects still to complete from when we moved in, it is hard to take the 20 minutes to finish each one since they all usually butt up against something else more pressing.

But I was able to get a couple of things knocked out this morning, so it feels good. And on top of that, I have time to post this! HAHA!

Eliza is still taking small steps, but loves to be led around the house by one hand. She'll reach out and walk along the walls without you, but still likes to crawl from A to B. It's only a matter of time now. I think she might be worried about Morgan dragging her down from higher than she's used to.

Kim and I will be traveling to Mexico with a group of friends in May, so get those kid requests in soon grandparents! Morgan's last week of school is when we're gone so no kidnapping them north this time, but soon, don't worry.

Angela and I, and the spouses, got Mom and Dad a brick at the NASCAR hall of fame, opening about the time we're heading out of town next year. The inscription reads: Danica Patrick is #1! I think they'll love it.

Walt is not your amigo

I feel the need to introduce you all to my new friends. They are known in this house collectively as the syndicate The Princesses.Morgan speaks at length about how she is having a Princess Party and now bases all time references to said party. For example, if I tell her we're going to a friend's house next week, she will ask if it is before her Princess Party or not.

The Princesses, as individuals, are great. Each one has a different tale, most not as princesses but as strong female characters. Or not. They're lumped together into this sea of conveniently different color coded merchandise and I tried not to let her fall into this world for at least a few more years, but they got me. They got her, actually.

I promised Morgan a good night story the other night and she asked for the story of Cinderella and I gladly obliged. I told my little girl the story of an oppressed girl, stranded in a house with people who thought her to be trash, only there for their service. She simply attended a party and caught the eye of the rich guy and they lived happily ever after. I told it better than that, but you get the idea. It was such a great story until you stop and think about it.

All Morgan cared about was the Princess and the castle. But she's 3 and that is all she should care about.

Imagine if I told her the story of Snow White and she asked if the Dwarves got a discount on insurance through their employer or if they were independent contractors. That conversation will happen in about 15 years if I play my cards right.

The Princesses have their faces, and their convenient color coding, on everything in the stores, right down at eye level. I wonder if Walt is somewhere shaking his disembodied head at the blatant, shameless marketing of his animations of fairy tales.

Fairy Tales...
...don't get me started with the whole Tinkerbell thing.

The girls LOVE to chase each other

Anything odd about that?

Eliza Walking and other New Stuff

Yes, you read right, Eliza took 3 big girl steps today infront of multiple witnesses and loves being led around to walk one handed. She still needs to hold onto something and will cheat to a nearby sofa or wall whenever she has the chance.

But this evening, just after dinner I had her in the family room standing and stood just out of her reach and she came walking. And I wasn't at work to miss it.

Morgan starts school tomorrow. Preschool, but still school. Kim and I had a moment earlier when Kim came out asking my opinion on Morgan's first day of school clothes. "Perfect" I said to it, realizing I will have this conversation at least twice a year for the next 16 years.
Kim will be accompanying Morgan to the sneak peek the school has, I think a way for the kids to get theri feet wet and the parents to have a look around and meet other parents. I'm not sure who is more excited, but they'll have a great time.

Eliza and I will be here, walking.

Speaking of getting feet wet, Morgan is almost done with her swimming lessons for this year and is in her first class alone. I have taken her twice, the first time last week when she had to be coaxed away from my side, and this morning when I had to tell her to walk, not run, towards the pool and her awaiting teachers.

I took a picture at swim class but am having trouble getting it onto the server at t-mobile, so no dice so far. As soon as it pops up, I'll send it along.

Kim has been busy with her work and I with the blog, the work blog that is. The England trip is awaiting a jealous middle manager's approval or rejection. Unfortunately for him if he denies it, his boss will override him and sad for us because until he makes a decision his boss can not approve the project. Groan.

The Zoo

Yesterday found us escaping the 100 plus degree heat of Antioch in favor of the 56 degree lovliness that is the San Francisco Zoo.

Not only did the girls have a blast, but not melting at home was a niec change of pace.

It's baby season at the zoo and every display with a new baby had a sign and a picture with description.
Morgan seemed most interested with the map, asking for one while we were still standing in line. She would consult the map each time we left one exhibit and point to another one. "Where's my map?" was a common sound this trip.
Eliza saw most of the animals from her perch at the bow of the double stroller, pointing at animals and saying "Dhere!" She was first to pet the snake in the kids' zoo and the last to pet a goat in the petting zoo. She was also keen at finding hidden animals.

The big attraction these days is the baby gorilla. We were able to see him latched onto mama's back and enjoying the ride. the silver backed male in the group looked to get aggressive at one point and she grabbed the baby in one hand and ran. The big male just wandered into a corner and sat, bored.
More pictures are coming soon in a slideshow, along with some video from that day, but wanted to give you a taste of the day we beat the heat at the zoo.

Paparazzi aplenty

These girls are just too much fun together. If you ignore everything you want to get done and just jump head first into their world, it is a BLAST!

Kim posted a bunch of new stuff on You Tube, most specifically, Morgan and Aiden kissing at the beach. It was not easy to type that just now. Her teen years will be trying.


This from the new camera we got. This new one has no view finder and takes the nice 720 video in widescreen format, fitting the TV and youtube format nicely.

Here is Eliza trying to avoid Morgan taking pictures of her cheese today:

All Done

At least as far as I can go. I'll admit the crown moulding idea I had didn't look nearly as good as I had hoped and was like putting a cheap hat on a nice suit, so maybe another day if we find something we like.

Here it is, cabinet and window seat:

Almost done

The girls are coming home soon and I can't wait!

I'm also just about finished with the build. Here it is from this afternoon:
The can lights are in, the pieces have been attached and thanks to Mr Reinhold, we were able to tie into the dimmer for the lights in the kitchen, making for a very nice built in effect.
It has indeed been a learning experience, with me learning how builders of tract homes cut corners and run wires into empty cavities. It also taught me that when you don't have to keep a 3 year old from tackling a 1 year old, you can do some pretty neat stuff.

Yes that is almost former governor Sarah Palin on the screen. I waited a commercial break to get her picture on there.

I also learned a new phrase the other day that got entered in the Urban Dictionary: Pullin' a Palin. It means to up and quit something you claim to care about for no apparent reason and then lie about it. Or something like that. I think she got it from when McCain suspended his campaign to fix the economy. Remember that?

HA

I'll be finishing the crown piece tomorrow and getting the house ready for the little ones to return. Kim too.

There will be many more posts from Kim about the trip, I'm sure.


hint, hint.

That was just a pain

The whole invited readers only thing was a pain, and since the England project is moving slower than expected, I think it's "safe" to open it back up. So there.

In other news, Kim and the girls have been away for a few days giving me a chance to get to work on our built in entertainment center.

I've been wanting to do a build like this for a long time, so I'm going all out.

It started with pulling the drywall and quickly became a fun project.
This picture is from the end of the first day and shows the area I'm working on. I had to remove a number of studs as well as bad drywall and insulation. That silver tube is the chimney stack and the dark area behind it is the chimney enclosure. I was able to reclaim some of this space and sink the unit into the wall a few inches as well as adding some space behind the component area to your hand doesn't get stuck all the time moving cords around.

The most annoying part so far has been running all the cables, wires and what not through multiple studs, past a gas line and down under a window where a custom built cabinet will house all the components. What a chore.

I have had 3 full days work on the project and despite some minor injuries I am slightly ahead of schedule.
This is the dry fit from the middle of day 3, yesterday. Everything is coming along and after this photo I took a long break, then found myself in the garage painting and staining, trying to get farther ahead of schedule. I HAVE to finish this before the girls get home or it will never be finished.

I'll post more when I do more!

I'm sorry, your camera has passed

He seemed healthy for so long. Occasionally doing something odd, sure, but everything seemed fine. Now he is dead and we don't know why. It looks like everything is fine, but there is no picture. It looks like just the cover is closed but, no, it is open, and nothing.

The video camera is dead.

It was shaky when I was transferring the fire helmet videos, often pixelating and going green in some places, but I assumed it was the old tape, not the camera.

It was the camera.

So now of our 3 cameras, only 1 is functional, my nice DSLR. So pictures and video of the girls will be halted until we can get back into the store and get a new camera, hopefully that can pull double duty.

Anyone want to buy a video camera cheap?

Fun with Fire helmets

Adorable is defined as...

Boomp-Beedle-ee

This the sound Morgan has been making as she and Eliza navigate the line of couch pillows now in a straight line on the floor. Morgan arranges them and Eliza watches, occasionally shrieking what can only be interpreted as approval.
With the carefulness of a mad dash for free food, Morgan runs down the line of pillows and shouts,
"Boomp-Beedle-ee" and falls diwn onto the pillows, causing Eliza to erupt in laughter.

Where did she learn such a strange word? From Jeana of course. This was the sound she made when someone would trip or fall, or make as though they were about to. Apparently I learned it and use it often enough that Mona has picked it up in common speech.

So the game of Boomp-Beedle-ee continues until Eliza gets involved on the pillows, blocking Morgan's running path. Eliza crawls up, lays down on the pillow with her head to one side, arms down near her hips and smiles and laughs. We call this a "bing." Not sure why.

This morning they are playing with the Winny the Pooh Fire Engine riding toy that makes all the sounds. Eliza enjoys sitting on it and being pushed, she has yet to master the art of riding it alone. Morgan, on the other hand, will car jack her every chance she gets.

So back to the coffee, Kim back to her paper and the girls back to pressing every single noise making button on the fire engine toy.

EDIT - Kim says, "and Eliza stood on her own yesterday."

A quiet day at Carriage House

A quiet day for us begins at 4 AM with Cleo crying to go out. She refuses to use her litter box in the garage.
Then on to 6:45 when Morgan awakes announcing she has wet the bed.

The new garage door went in this morning, he arrived just before 830.

830 was when the producer of the BBC show I'm going to be on called to get background info and ask me a ton of questions about the fire departments in the USA. I told him what I hoped to accomplish with the project and he sounded very excited.

930 was when I called Mark in England to relay how well the meeting went with the BBC and Kim and Morgan left for story time around 10.

1130 Had us eating lunch and Morgan and I deciding last minute to grab a train and head into the City for the big rally at City Hall. we were a little late, but got to make it into the rotunda with the others and show our disgust with the budget cuts the supervisors were trying to make.




Morgan passed out asleep on the car ride back from BART and we came home around 4 to Kim making dinner for a Mom's club friend.

So there it is, a standard day at Carriage House.

Ballet

Morgan sings Popular

The volume is low and she doesn't sing much but she LOVESto watch clips from the musical on YouTube. Thank goodness she likes this instead of the Wiggles. Drives me nuts listening to that stuff.

Updates, updates

Well, it was coming sooner or later, we all knew it.
Not Morgan's 16th birthday (shudder) or Eliza's prom (double shudder) but the time to close public access to the blog.
The exciting news we've been hinting about for awhile is becoming a reality.

I will be participating in a Paramedic exchange of sorts. I will travel to England to see how they run things first hand and a UK medic I met through the work blog will come here to see how we do things. and all of it will be filmed for a BBC documentary. That documentary will then be used as a kind of "pilot" episode for a more in depth series to be filmed some time next year.

And since the names will be out and the documentary shown all over the world, the words from Carriage House will need to be protected from looky loos.

So one day before too long when you try to access the blog, you will be asked to sign in with a blogger.com screen name and password. then you'll need to be invited to read, but you can request that from the same screen as the sign up I believe. Sorry ahead of time, but security is about to become a kind of issue.


In other news, Eliza has 7 confident teeth and is still flirting with the ideas of talking and walking. Morgan is becoming more of a handful each day and, like a trapped T-Rex, is constantly testing the boundaries of our patience.
The girls do play well together now that Eliza can hold her own against the Mona. when Eliza gives chase as Morgan leaves a room Eliza gets excited and starts to talk, which makes Morgan shreek and run. But when she runs she calls Eliza "Fafazu." We don't really know what that means either, so don't ask. But it is hilarious to hear "Run! it's fafazu!" see Morgan go flying by and hear the thunk thunk shuffle that is Eliza on the wood floor.

And Eliza now knows how to turn on the alphabet singing toy. It's still cute for now, try me back tonight and we'll see if I feel the same way.

And that is the news from Carriage House.

Slowly returning to 'normal'

The house is slowly returning to what we would call normal. The snot isn't flowing from tender noses, the coughs are fewer and farther in between. Sleep is returning to regular and only Cleo cries in the middle of the night.

In the midst of all the sickness, Morgan has gone a few nights without a diaper. It is still a challenge to get her to potty before bed and she often simply says, "I don't want to potty, I want a diaper." But she awakens in a good mood and has even awakened before Kim and I go to sleep to potty without a diaper.
She's getting there.

Justin is at work for the weekend, paying back a trade from our trip in May.

The Department is so screwed up when it comes to EMS service, it really makes my head hurt when they make suggestions that make absolutely no sense at all. The new suggestion is to limit the number of paramedics on fire engines in an effort to save money. This means virtually the elimination of overtime for paramedics, while hiring firefighters on overtime to fill the empty paramedic spots.

It is likely to change on Monday and if it does it will make San Francisco one of the least safe cities to get hurt in in California, possibly the United States, when actually implemented.

But then again, what do I know, I'm not an expert in these things or anything.

I'm going to go get a smile back on my face by looking at pictures of my girls.

The plague must have sucked

The whole house is sick. Morgan has pneumonia, Eliza an ear infection and deep cough, Kim and I both have similar symptoms to both girls and feel lousy. It really stops us in our tracks since we enjoy going places and doing things together.

But instead we're all mostly stuck at home.

Eliza has a cough and is congested which makes her very unhappy, but she's being medicated and is feeling OK when awake and fed. Right now she's wandering around pushing her walker. She stops to look at herself in the mirror, then moves a bit forward and looks again. She has 6 teeth now, 2 up, 4 down. She's on antibiotics for the infections, her first course ever.

Morgan is feeling better on her first course of antibiotics as well. We were so proud to avoid them this far, but to hear Morgan's cough and how miserable she was, something had to be done. She was well enough to go with me to Costco today and coughed only 1 or 2 times.

So we'll be medicating and waiting for this to pass along.

Sick Sickly

Morgan is recovering slowly with a diagnosis of pneumonia. 10 days of antibiotics should clear up the infection that had her exhausted, with no appetite, for almost 3 solid days. Her fever broke yesterday and she's still warm, but the tylenol seems to be keeping it in check.

Eliza awoke this morning with a cough, but in a good mood. Often she just wants to wander the floor looking for food, but this morning she sat next to me cuddling on the couch watching the news. From time to time she would see something she liked and point to it, look at me and try to say something.

Now at the table, feeding her breakfast, she refuses to let me feed her, she wants to do it herself. Very little food is actually reaching her mouth, most is falling quite short.

But they're both smiling and Kim is getting some rest.

That was weird

No, not that.

Earlier today I was out washing the cars in the driveway. It was hot today, but nothing like it's going to be in the summer. I had the sun in my eyes when I started so I grabbed an old hat off the shelf and got to work.
By the end of the second car I felt like I was going to burn up from the inside. Not a heat stroke moment, not even a heat exhaustion (yes, they're different), just a "fear" of the sunlight. As if I developed a sudden case of photo sensitivity. For the next few hours I was drinking fluids, Kim got me a wet cloth for my head and neck, but I just couldn't shake this feeling of overwhelming heat from the sun.
Even after a shower and a popsicle I felt a little off, getting out to the bar-b-q with dinner was a challenge, but then I felt a bit hungry and had a snack. Keep in mind I already had dinner with no change in condition, even a snack right before.

It was an orange chocolate stick that made it all better. Almost like a switch got flipped in my hypothalamus under the tag "Orange Stick."

Maybe it was the standing infront of the fridge, or the fluids finally kicked in but, well, that was weird.


In other news not of the Justin feeling odd variety...well let's stay there for just another minute. I grabbed my phone out this afternoon to call and wish my mother a happy birthday when the date on the phone said I had missed it. *smacked head*. We were just there and their birthdays are easy to remember (5,10,15 Morgan, Meadow, Jerry) and 5 25 52. No guessing needed. Somewhere in all the Eliza standing, Morgan remarkably smart, yet unable to calm herself down, I missed an entire day.
So Happy Belated Birthday, Mom. I am a retard for missing it, no argument there, I just wish there weren't so many distractions these days. TV, cell phones, blogs, more blogs, facebook, flickr, upload the pictures, download the files, go here, go there. Oregon was so much calmer.
We do indeed look forward to pulling off at the Merlin exit and going through the woods to that house. It is indeed another home for us.
But I digress.

Eliza, as I said, stands well, walks with asistance, but isn't scooting along the furniture quite yet. At this age Morgan was not only already walking, but at 11 months had mastered crouching down to pick things up.

Speaking of the Mona, she has an amazing ability to make us forget she is only a new 3 years old and not 6 or 7. Her deductive skills and ability to change verb tense is not only neat, but she also introduces new words to us. The other day she found Cleo's comb, a small tight grouping of stiff metal brushes. she brought it to me and explained that it should not be located somewhere Eliza might find it, it is too sharp. She turned to walk away, stopped and turned back, "No Daddy, it's too prickly."
Prickly? As opposed to sharp? Briliant that one.

Then onto the after dinner time tonight and Morgan had a complete nuclear meltdown. Heat rash around her neck and arms, muffled crys and whines, screams when anyone but mommy tries to comfort her, and even then. Like a different girl. then after all the drama and the bath, she seems to smile and calmly get her PJs on. After repeated requests, of course.

It's been one weird day here at Carriage House. Let's see what tomorrow has in store.

Back from Camp

We're back home after a long week up at Camp Gray Wolf in Grant's Pass, Oregon.

We always enjoy leaving all the pavement behind and running for the hills, especially with two ready and willing babysitters wishing we'd leave them the children.

Kim and I got some much needed relaxation and the girls a good dose of life amongst the trees.
I'd love to post a ton of pics, but someone already has.

Head over to the Gray Wolf site HERE and see what we all got into while on our little "Vay Cay."

Instead of a bunch of paragraphs, I'll just leave you with some of the more memorable lines from the week:

"Morgan, why do you have a piece of bacon and a cookie?"
"Grandma said I could."
"Mom?"
"She said please..."

"Where's Eliza?" Morgan whispered after Eliza woke up and was "removed" from the room. The girls shared and it worked rather well. At least the last 2-3 nights anyway.

"That cash register on the floor..."
"Yes?"
"It says 'free' what does that mean?"
"It means it's yours!"
So now we have a 1930s cash register. Looks really cool.

"Since my usual salutation seems oddly self serving I will leave you with this. Good luck."
A line from Star Trek. We actually got to go to the movies. $6 too. Gotta love Oregon.

"Bahoooo"
Eliza learning to start her own game of peek a boo with my hat. She pulls it off my head and says a muffled form of 'boo.' Adorable.

So there you have it. Combined with Grandma and Grandpa's picture diary over at the Gray Wolf blog, you have most of the story. But the best part by far, I think, was when we went to see the horse and Morgan was so scared at first until Eliza climbed up with grandma without batting an eyelash. Morgan went from scared to confident and wanted up onto Sugar right then and there. Just as mom got Morgan situated in the saddle and the reins into her hands Morgan says, "GIDDYUP!"

Priceless.

Thanks mom and dad for a great week, as usual.

Photography 101 with Morgan

I never would have thought such a gift would be so exciting for her, but for Christmas Linda got Morgan her own little digital camera. It is specifically designed for kids and burns through AA batteries like nothing.

We recently replaced the batteries and tonight Morgan brought it to me and told me to sit in the middle of the floor, she was going to take my picture.
And it was on. We spent the next hour taking pictures in and around the house.
And now, Morgan will tell you what each picture is and I will do my best to type it the way she says it.

Picture 1.
That's Eliza my baby sister playing in the libing rooms.

Picture 2
That's my park.

Picture 3
Those are rocks. i took a picture of that flowers cause I want to take a picture. I want take a picture now. It was fun. I'm tired.

I thought this would last longer, but now she is more interested in drawing than describing her photos.

More soon, I promise.

Wicked

Kim and Justin took the opportunity with Ken and Linda in town to go see Wicked again.

We left the girls in their care and took the train into the City. It's always neat to go into the City when not on duty, I can enjoy it more.

Kim did a great job getting us a room at the Westin St Francis Hotel, the only building in Union square to survive the great earthquake and fire.
We got the room on Priceline, of all places, and for a steal. Almost 70% off regular price.

We had a fantastic dinner at a place called First Crush, a wine bar and restaurant. The only folks eating dinner in the City before 9 PM are parents and folks going to the show. All three of the tables in our area were headed to the Orpheum Theater for the 8 PM curtain.

The show was fantastic. When we saw it pre-broadway we loved it and when we got the soundtrack there were new songs we hadn't seen, so this gave us a chance to see the numbers that go with them.
The leads were both played by their standbys and I can't imagine the leads doing any better. A few of the songs were tweaked a bit and they changed the ending (I want the big hat back) but all in all we are glad we went.


After the show we went back to the hotel and had a cocktail in the grand lobby of the St Francis. In my great grandmother's day, not just anyone was allowed to do that.
There was a time, long ago, when certain places excluded people based on certain reasons. Some were unfair, others made perfect sense. Kim and I were dressed to the 9s. One step below formal, I'd say, and we wanted to fit in with the theater and hotel crowd, since this is one of the luxury hotels in the City. This photo is a few years old and there is a large seating area where the table and benches are, but the rest looks the same.
When we got to the lobby bar we were almost overdressed. As Kim sipped her wine, and I my scotch, a man in basketball shorts and a t-shirt drank a draft beer. This is not your average hotel lobby. This is the original lobby, the grand lobby, from the 1860s. Back then it was about who you were, now it's about how many people they can get in the doors.

Oh well. We slept in and loved it.

When we returned from our adventure, the girls had been perfectly happy without us, meaning any time we feel like we need a weekend away, we'll just fly a grandparent or two out and we're all set.

Following the Leader

One of the songs from Morgan's new favorite movie, Peter Pan, is Following the Leader.

It's catchy and fun to sing. Even more fun is listening to Morgan sing it behind Eliza in the stroller and Eliza shaking her arms and trying to sing along.

A few mornings back, however, I realized just how long this song has been sung by children.

Peter Pan first appeared in a 1902 short story, later in J M Barrie's novels and in the 1953 Disney film Peter Pan.
The film version has some fantastic songs along with the classic animation and a peak into life at the turn of the century.
But this song's chorus, the "De-dum Dee-dee," has to be the most recognizable part.

At Target the other morning, Morgan and I were wandering the isles, holding hands when she started into the following the leader song. Most of the other children might sing a Hannah Montana song or the opening theme of their favorite cartoon show, but Morgan likes her Peter Pan.
As she was singing and skipping along, an elderly couple was walking past us. That tune must have sparked their memories because as we passed they stopped dead in their tracks to watch her go by. No doubt their minds raced back to when their children did the same thing dressed as John and the Lost Boys oh so long ago.
Morgan has sung and skipped past folks before, but never has someone stopped and watched with a smile on their face, let alone 2 of them.

I can only assume it was this song that did it. And that was pretty cool.

Where are they now?

Here are the finalists from the Orange County Fire Department's Explorer calendar sometime between 1991 and 1993.

One of them is still buttoning his coat, while the other seems to have figured out his equipment much faster and stands proudly, helmet tucked tight under one arm.

Sorry D, I had to. Thanks to D's mom for finding this long lost pic!

Camping

Morgan has been talking about our camping trip for weeks.

We were planning on meeting our new friends at a campsite in the hills of the East Bay. They have a pull behind trailer, which I'll get into detail about later, and we would be in the tent. When I say "we" I mean Morgan and Justin because dealing with Eliza at room temperature and controlled conditions is bad enough.

We loaded up the car on Saturday and drove, just Morgan and I, to the campsite. On the way I heard her having little conversations with the Daddy in her head.
"Can I watch movies?"
"No sweetie there is no TV at camping."
"Please?"
"I said no"
"OK"
I hear that all from the back seat.
I also hear her telling me all about her new friend Faith who will be there and Faith's mommy and daddy, the friends I mentioned earlier.

The girls had an absolute blast together. Running around the campsite, going for little hikes and running about looking adorable were on their schedules and they did everything.
They even invented their own game called "beers."
"Let's play beers!" one of them would shout. As the fathers proudly looked on the girls collected bottle caps and slid them across the star covered table cloth on the picnic table.
"I win!" One of them would shout and Jason, Faith's daddy, and I would make game pieces.

After dinner both girls got to make and eat their first Smores treat. Morgan was more interested in the chocolate as opposed to her father who thought the whole thing was just awesome. I don't recall camping this young, but if I did, I hope my dad felt like I did.

They trailer was nice. It had all the amenities one would expect and a couple of slide out sleeping areas giving Morgan and I room if we chose to climb in away from the wind and the cold.

Morgan climbed hesitantly into the tent and got her PJs on, her eyelids heavy as I told her her 2 favorite stories "Morgan and the Dragon" and "The day Daddy met his Baby Morgan." Sleepy and slurred, she mutters, "Where will you sleep?" "Right next to you in the tent." She smiled herself asleep.
Back out in the wind I see Jason's Guinness sweatshirt right up near the fire, his cold body bundled inside.

We've known each other only a few short months, having met online and later in person thanks to Dylan Reinhold, who came the next day for lunch with his daughter.
Jason and I exchanged brief tales of husbandhood and fatherhood before deciding to get in and away from the wind. The little heater in his trailer kicked on as he entered and stayed on until well after I had climbed into the tent and next to the sleeping Morgan.

She coughed all night.

She never awoke, I would every so often whisper her name to see if she was awake or not, but only got a response early on when she wanted a drink of water, which was outside.
It was a night on an air mattress in a tent in the hills of Northern California.

As soon as you could reliably say it was more light than dark Morgan was awake and bolt upright in the tent, half out of the sleeping bag.
"Daddy it's morning, the sun is up."
"Only technically I said." And she did her signature crumpled nose face with her new favorite phrase.

"Whhhhat?" which sounds almost like "hot" but not in any funny way at, check the phone, 5:12 AM.

We talked for at least 30 minutes and listened to all the birds now sitting in the trees overhead. Morgan did her best turkey call and imitated a crow quite well before I decided it was time to get up and get the coffee going. It was cold. Not the coldest camping trip morning in memory, but huddle by the camping stove cold. Morgan in 2 jackets cold. But it didn't phase her one bit.
"Is Faith awake yet?" she asked every few minutes until Faith and her daddy did eventually emerge as did the sunshine to warm the camp.

The girls and their daddies went for a decent hike after breakfast looking for animal sign which Morgan reads about in a book Jerry gave her, Who Pooped in the North Woods? all about sign and scat.

When we returned the sweaters came off and the sun was shining.

Dylan Nikki and Chloe arrived and were soon followed by Kim and Eliza who all gathered for lunch at the campsite. We enjoyed burgers, dogs, chicken and steak, all from the neat grill that attaches right to the side of the trailer. The tent has no such feature.

It was quite the enjoyable event for all, especially the Park Rangers who insisted that, even though sites 8,9,10,11 and 12 were empty, we had to move cars around. That whole story just gets my riled up so I'm skipping it.

In the end Kim drove the prius home and I had the girls in the CRV. As we were driving down the windy road out of the park I asked Morgan what her favorite park of camping was.

"Sleeping in the tent next to Daddy!" and not more than 2 minutes later, the car ride had her fast asleep and I smiled most of the hour long drive home.

Clearly, they have other priorities

Welcome Emma Marie

Disneyland

Of course our friend Murphy had to come along and bring his stupid law. Kim Morgan and Linda braved the spring break crowds for Morgan's first trip to Disneyland. Even this day after they're discussing the Princess making factories now in place that take your innocent little girl and transform them into little Disney princesses, at quite the cost.

Morgan's favorite part of Disneyland was "the rides," not including the rocket ships, but liked the Dumbo ride the best, riding it twice.

She covered her eyes on parts of the train ride and sang It's a small world after getting off the ride.

Storybook land seems to have been a hit, even with the scary whale the boat goes into.

The highlight of the visit was to her favorite character, Tinker Bell. Morgan likes the Tink movie, enjoys Peter Pan and was excited to meet Tink and her friends. After the 45 minute wait she was visibly startled and taken aback when her fantasy friend arrived in the flesh. Morgan told Kim "That's not the real Tinker Bell, Mommy, that's the normal one," clearly understanding that Tinker Bell is a tiny fairy and not a the size of a person.

With the dead camera Kim found out about the PhotoPass, where photographers snap pics, then you can see them online later and purchase for $15 a piece.
Thanks to Dylan (not his real name) we were able to high tech a solution to the problem and grab some pics. Like every kid, she hid.



When they returned home Morgan came through the door first, Minnie Mouse hat on, "My 1st Visit" pin proudly displayed and the biggest smile I have ever seen on her face. Had I tried for a picture, I would have missed it myself.