Six months (and three days) old. Anyone feeling like a birthday party?

Hi. Maya's half-year birthday came last Thursday. It was a busy day, preceded by an urgent Wednesday, and a busy weekend. Hence, our commemoration three days late.

Her stats from her six month check-up with Dr. Rosa say she is now 26.5" tall and 16lbs, 4 oz (80th and 60th percentiles, respectively).

Dr. Rosa wanted to see some more weight on her, so we've now added some rice cereal to her diet. She was skeptical at first, then ravenous for it later. Today, I sense ambivalence. Hopefully she'll get excited about it later, though, because last night she clipped off 8.5 hours of continuous sleep, making it a very easy night for the sitters who came so that Amy and I could go see the Capitol Steps at the BCPA last night.

Maya would like to send the wishes she earned blowing out her 1/2 birthday candle to her Grandpa Aalberts' good health. Nana Aalberts called on Wednesday morning with the news Grandpa had had some chest pains at 1:00 that morning, which led them to the hospital and the discovery that Grandpa is in the need of a quadruple bypass in six weeks. Owen and I drove up on Wednesday afternoon, arriving shortly after Grandpa's angioplasty procedure. It was good to see him. He was a bit groggy and fairly uncomfortable, but in high spirits ... and happy to see his good friend Owen.

Grandpa is now home resting. And he's doing well.

Do send him your good thoughts over the next couple of months, though.

Owen and I drove back yet Wednesday night for a busy day on Thursday. Thursday night was the first show in the BCPA's Underground series, where we're using the ballroom in our building to create a club-style atmosphere and bring in more contemporary artists. I'm booking the shows. Our first artist was Ruthie Foster, an incredible talent who really set the stage for what this new series hopes to deliver. Give a listen to her music by clicking here to go to her MySpace page. You'll love it.

Last, but not least. Owen got into the birthday act by receiving the only significant gift of the week: A NEW BICYCLE!

O has long grown out the tricycle he was riding, and seemed to be coveting his good friend Phillip's bike, a very cool two wheeler with training wheels. Amy and I talked and decided it was time for him to graduate to this new kind of vehicle, so I went out and found one yesterday while he was napping.

When he got up, I ran downstairs and got the bike into position. I missed getting it on film, but this was his reaction when he turned to corner and saw the new bike: He opened his eyes really wide, put down his juice, and said "Wow. Wee!"

We had a great time riding yesterday (you can see how fast he was from the get-go) ...

... and today he rode it with us on our walk to the fire station.

Corn Update: Week 12, plus behind the scenes footage

Hey. Another fun visit to the corn yesterday. Some new grasshopper friends, Owen mentioning how much better this has gotten since they mowed down the thistle, and a surprise question when we got back in the car ...

"Dad, is today my birthday?"

That was a surprise.

But this was not ...

Don't miss the special video coverage of one of our other corn picture rituals here.

Tanners Orchard

Hey. We made our first trip of the season to the Tanners Orchard yesterday. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time. Our activities were pretty much the same as last year, so I'll leave the descriptions of the pony and tractor rides, wooden train, and car full of apples and baked goods (apple cider donuts and Dutch apple pie to die for) out in favor of tons of great photos.

What a fun day!

Out of the Maize

Days late, but here's this week's corn picture. Taken on Tuesday (O was feeling a little under the weather on Monday), the corn looks great. And as I was telling Owen, we're really down to our last few weeks before the field is picked clean.

Oh, and we also met a nice new friend.

Maya, meanwhile, is becoming a champion sitter. We can set her on the floor and she holds her balance really well for a long time. Her favorite spot, though, is next to the recliner, where she can grab onto the handle and hold herself up for a longer time.

It's really cute.

Lots of runny noses here, but otherwise everything is good. A big day ahead with Owen's buddy Philip coming over this morning, and all the Merrill kids -- Becca, Jenna, and Philip -- coming over tonight while their parents are out. It should be lively!

Corn Delay

Owen was a little under the weather yesterday, so we never made it out to get our corn picture. Fortunately, we have some terrific pictures from the farmer's perspective to share until we can make our trip to the field.

Over the weekend, the BCPA hosted its first legitimate country music act with Craig Morgan. Morgan, the singer of such notable songs as "That's What I Love About Sunday," and "Redneck Yacht Club," also has a song titled "International Harvester," inspiring Case IH to sponsor his North American Tour.

Let the product tie-ins begin. Over the past couple of weeks I worked with the IH guys to find a spot for them to park a tractor outside of the theater on show night.

And as the big event approached, it seemed quite clear this was something Owen needed to see.

So O came to the show with me. The night was filled with all sorts of administrative nightmares, which Owen patiently endured at my side, but we also squeezed in a lot of fun. The tractor was awesome, and its owner extremely generous in showing it off to us. We also met Craig's dog Sam, the laziest two-year-old black lab I've ever met, as well as the friendliest, and we sat through two songs by Craig's opening act, Jason Jones, which Owen seemed to enjoy quite a bit.

There were also countless trips up and down the long flights of stairs in the lobby.

Topping it all off, we left the theater just as the remnants of Hurricane Ike dumped another gusher on Central Illinois. We ran to the car and got absolutely soaked. We laughed and laughed about it when we were finally safe inside.

And then I took Owen home and he slept like a dream.

And speaking of good sleepers, check out little Maya here.

Thirty-two

Happy birthday, Mommy!

Amy confirms it was a good birthday ...

Joel's special blueberry pancakes for a birthday breakfast.

Cute and well behaved kids.

Fun party favors.

... that Maya thought were awesome.

A very nice day!

Corn Update: Week 11

It was raining and cold when we stopped to look at the corn tonight. Fortunately, Owen had his umbrella along ... and you'll notice your first look at long pants for the season in today's picture. Ninety-five degrees a week ago, it's really a different world this week.

The corn looked good, although we didn't linger long. It's pretty and very autumnal. But for how long? Lord knows it'll be 85 in October and we won't even remember how chilly we felt today.

The ladies came back last night. Their trip to Iowa went well: a good day at the Celiac Disease conference, and some nice time to visit with Amy's parents.

Owen and I got home from our second trip to the Discovery Museum last night to see Maya and Amy resting on the front lawn. Maya has become quite good at sitting up and was really cute all nestled into the grass.

Later she got her flirt face on and made eyes at the camera.

It was good to see them.

Speaking of catching a glimpse of the sweet mysteries of life, check out the video below.

Oh, happy day!

Bachelor party

Opening night at the BCPA and a Celiac Disease conference in Cedar Falls, IA, kept the Aalberts boys home for the weekend, while the Aalberts gals headed West.

Amy reports the conference was great ... and they are returning with a ton of exciting new gluten free foods for Owen to try. They were glad they went.

And I'm glad I stayed. The performance by the Fab Four was great tonight, with the biggest opening night audience we've had since the theater opened. And Owen and I had a really wonderful day. We hit the farmer's market this morning and bought a fresh peach pie. Then it was off to the Discovery Museum, some errands -- birthday shopping for Mom (Amy's birthday is next Friday), bagels, and groceries -- then play time, a nap, and a trip to the pool.

A pretty wonderful day.

Some pictures from the Discovery Museum this morning. Owen started the day (and this is unusual for a boy who always plays with the wooden train set on the first floor first), at the paints ...

Then we moved to the dance room ...

And down to the tractor and farm toys on Level 2.

But the best shot of the day was this from the funhouse mirror.

Very silly!

Corn Update: Week 10

Great news at the corn field yesterday: they've mowed!

It was awesome walking around the corn without having to watch our feet for beds of thistle and other prickly weeds. Owen ran around, got up close to the corn, and enjoyed our holiday visit to our corn field.

The stalks are the same height as before, but we noticed the kernels we saw exposed looked very dry. Despite the 90 degree temps, fall really is settling in, and it's easy to see the field is getting itself ready for harvest next month.

We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. It was a very busy time. I went to Iowa City with my dad on Saturday for the fun-filled Iowa football home opener. We returned to Normal just in time to greet our friend Laura and her daughter Annabelle, who were making a Midwest tour through Michigan and Indiana, and would stay with us overnight before returning to the Twin Cities on Sunday.

Owen and Annabelle, you may remember, enjoyed a wonderful weekend together last July in Iowa City. It did take them a little longer than expected to get into their groove with each other, but they ended up having some fun at the sand box, reading books, and taking a walk up to our fire station.

Maya, meanwhile, just sat back and took it all in.

With the pool closing after Labor Day, we made two trips to the water slides. It was really busy, as the temperatures were high and, like us, people were enjoying their last hurrah at the outdoor pool, but we had a great time. We also went to the Labor Day parade in downtown Bloomington. Owen took in lots and lots of candy from the pipe fitters, IBEW brothers, and various politicians and candidates. We also saw some fire trucks and other big machines. It was fun.

Yesterday was also fun because the local paper selected me to their 20 Under 40, an annual election of 20 people under the age of 40 who are doing great things through their work and volunteering in the community. Their individual profile of me was in the paper yesterday, including pictures of all four of us. It was pretty neat.