Happy birthday, Grampie!

Have a great day! We're looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

A blast from the past

Last Wednesday, our dear friend Joanne passed through Normal on her way to Santa Fe from her home in Ann Arbor. Joanne was one of our very good friends when we were living in Michigan, a coworker of Joel's at the University and a devoted bunny sitter for our dear Greta.
Joanne would read to Greta when she would stop by our apartment to feed her ... a devotion I don't think she regrets even though we learned later Greta was, for all intents and purposes, deaf.

We hadn't seen Joanne since we moved to Tucson in 2003, so it was a real treat to catch up and introduce her to both of the kids. They worked their charms on her.

And, indeed, I think it's safe to say, Owen and Maya, Aunt Joanne will always take the time to read to you if you ask.

We have lots of other discoveries to report this week ...

One of our tomato plants has become the home to a family of caterpillars (actually, tomato hornworms). I'm sure my grandpa the farmer would be devastated to learn we are happily sacrificing this tomato plant to their munching in order to watch them grow and eventually turn into moths, but it's really fascinating to watch them. Amy and Owen pulled this guy off the plant last night ...

And Owen enjoyed taking a closer look at its legs and the row of "eyes" along its side.

Maya had her 15 month checkup last week. She's now in the 30th percentile for weight, which makes her pediatrician happy, as she'd been in the single digits percentage-wise a couple of months ago.

She's saying many more words, but excels at "Daddy" (a good choice), "bubbles," "uh oh!" and "hi."

Owen has lots more to say.

The other day I was getting him in the car so his mom could take him to pre-school as I was on my way to work. He gave me a huge kiss and said, "There's something you can tell your friends at work about."

And the other night I was singing him a few songs at bedtime, as is our routine. He asked for one more and I started singing "Over in the Meadow." He stopped me in mid song and said, "I don't like that song, it's too yakkity."

Mr. Entertainment has also designed a new Mii for himself to go with our Wii game. We sat together a couple of weeks ago and he picked out the characteristics he thought looked right for the on-screen "Owen."

Here's what he chose:

I love it.

Breck Girl

An Independence Day Retrospective

I'm going to claim it took me this whole week to digest all that we did in Chicago over the 4th of July. It certainly was a jam-packed weekend of fun.

Not quite a scene from "On the Town," Owen's downtown romance with the pretty girl dressed in the lemon colored frock was fully sanctioned by both sets of parents, as we delighted in meeting our long-time friends Jake and Laura for the weekend, along with their daughter Annabelle.

My parents played host to all seven of us, joining us for our planned trip downtown ... and patiently enduring a day of cabin-fever activity planning when the 4th itself arrived both cold and wet.

Our big Friday outing was a trip downtown for lunch at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill. Jake and Laura are long-time devotees to Rick's Mexican cookbook. They even gave me my copy ... to which I gratefully returned the favor by giving them the book Rick wrote about cooking with his daughter, "Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures."


The train trip downtown was an adventure for everyone ...

... as was the lunch itself.

And it turned out Lanie Bayless herself was our server.

We then walked down to explore Millennium Park. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we all enjoyed our first look at the Pritzker Pavilion and the glorious "Bean" sculpture.

Maya was energized by walking on one of the walls ...



... just as Owen was feeling the hang-dog exhaustion of a four-year-old who has walked too much, missed his nap, and was desperately thirsty.

Independence Day Saturday, as I mentioned, was cold and wet. Jake and I spent some time rehearsing the duet we would sing at Dad's church on Sunday, and then we all made ice cream, as is Jake's family's tradition on the 4th.

The kids were exhausted and it was too drizzly for an official fireworks show. But we tried our best with sparklers. Although, as you can see, Owen was less than impressed with my dizzying light show.

Not wanting to let him down, we took him out later in the night into a park where we could see some of the fancy "neighborhood" displays around Mom and Dad's.

All in all, had a wonderful time.

And Owen's got his eyes open for when he'll see Annabelle again ...

We have a new cousin! (updated)

Great news from Massachusetts that Owen and Maya's first ever cousin arrived safely after nearly 42 hours of labor (!). Esmé Foster Dankmeyer Aalberts arrived at 6:45 pm on June 30, weighing in at a patient 7 lbs, 14 oz and doing fine. Congratulations Daniel and Erica!

Uncle Joel is all ready with a pocket full of gum and silver dollars.

We've been very busy, as usual. It was another outdoor concert weekend at the BCPA. This week was Family Fest, featuring perhaps my favorite children's artist, Ralph's World. I was at work most of the day, and Amy and Auntie Pam brought Owen and Maya down for the afternoon.

Owen had fun meeting Ronald McDonald, getting a snazzy temporary dolphin tattoo, and enjoying both a green river and his first frozen chocolate covered banana. Maya was mostly into the music (she loves to dance) and working her charm on all of the volunteers and staff at the theater.

We had lots of other stuff going on this weekend, too. We had a fun visit to the pool on Saturday, and on Friday Amy and I brought Owen to Champaign to meet with Dr. Hatch, his pediatric gastroenterologist, who checked Owen out to see how his stomach was doing and make sure he was getting all the nutrition he needed with his gluten-free diet.

The only downer of the past few days is that we had a sick day at home with Maya on Monday. There's a summer cold making its rounds through the area, and Maya was pretty drippy and gloomy at the start of the week.

The real bad news about her sick day, though, was that it kept her away from day care on her last full week in the infant room. Her teachers have all been a bit teary around her the past few days as they soak up their time with her. She's a favorite.

Lastly, some pictures from the past week, including a water balloon fight with the Merrill kids across the street (regrettably, no pictures of when I got soaked after the squirt guns came out), and Maya covered in sour cream.

We could have used the squirt guns again then ...

Best Balloon Animal Ever!

Maya was wearing the right outfit for it, so we went to the Bloomington Farmer's Market this morning. It was a fun morning out after a busy day yesterday. Owen and I went and explored while Amy pushed Maya in the stroller around to the various vendors. Owen and I stopped at two young men who were tying balloon animals for tips.

The guys were crazy talented. They first made Owen a baseball cap, which was adjustable and very cool ... but broke as we were on our way to our car. So Owen and I went back to get something else done. We got the same kid again and this time Owen asked for an animal ...

A squid!

The balloon artist paused for a moment and, clearly thinking about just how he would do this, said, "Yeah. I think we can do that."

Personally, I think it may be about the best balloon animal I've ever seen.

Yesterday was another very busy day. The whole family came to the BCPA for the second of our outdoor summer concerts ... but this time held inside our normal theater.

I was up at about 3 am yesterday checking the weather forecasts and trying to judge whether we needed to move our concert by Beach Boys tribute band Still Surfin' and a local band The Boat Drunks, who specialize in the trop rock style of Jimmy Buffett, indoors due to the 40% chance of inclement weather in the afternoon. After researching several sites and talking to a local meteorologist, the decision seemed obvious. With hail, thunderstorms, and possible tornadoes in the forecast, we made the decision and got to work setting up for the indoor show.

Then, wouldn't you know it, the morning turned out to be beautiful. It was a sultry, sunny summer day, but the weather was still looking great at 2:30 pm.

By 3:30, though, we were all high-fiving each other as the first of three intense thunderstorms tore through the area. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to see pea-size hail fall from the sky.

Anyway, the concert was fun. Our friends the Merrills joined us and Owen and his friend Philip charmed many by being the two most handsome young men on the dance floor.

We have lots of other fun things on tap. We'll probably head to the pool this afternoon. Then tomorrow we'll settle in for the most important holiday of the year ...

Right?

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Finally! A new post

Once again, weeks have passed since my last post. While I do apologize, I am proud to say I have been keeping some notes on everything that's been said and happened lately for Owen and Maya.

We enjoyed a quiet weekend at home this weekend after two weeks of travel. Amy brought Owen and Maya downtown on Saturday morning to see Joel who was working a table promoting the upcoming events at the BCPA. We had a fun morning, and both kids joined the action handing out brochures to passersby.

No one could turn them down ...

Today we went to the pool for the first time this summer. Maya giggled and giggled as she first waded into the (freezing!) water. We met up with our friends the Merrills at the pool, so Owen was busy with Philip from the start, splashing, sliding, and having a great time.

Meanwhile, one of the entertainment highlights for me over these past few weeks is the steady stream of funny things Owen has said. Here are a few of my favorites:

I had given the kids snacks as we were driving home from daycare one day. Maya started coughing and I became a little panicked as I can't see her in her rear-facing car seat.

"Owen," I say. "Is Maya OK.
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
Maya coughs again.
"What's she doing?"
"Nothing, just choking."

(Yes, she was fine.)


Later that day, Owen was dancing around while we were playing the (homophonically ironic) Wii game.

"Owen," I say, "stop dancing and go to the potty."
"I don't have to go to the potty. I just have to get the rhythm out."


Tracing his height from toe to head, Owen tells us how tall he is:

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen miles per hour!"


Iowa City

The weekend before found us in Iowa City. We hadn't been since Christmas and were looking forward to vising Amy's parents, hearing a little music at the Iowa Arts Festival, and seeing our friends Jeff and Melissa, who are expecting twins soon. Owen and their little girl Olivia had a great time playing in the sand box, and then Maya got into the act when the bag of plastic balls came out.

I got this nice picture of the Vande Berg clan on our way out (and they got this nice one of Owen). I have to admit, I expected the belly would be larger, Melissa ... and I'll be happy to Photoshop the twins into the picture later.

Otherwise, the weekend was marked by persistent rains and, therefore, lots of indoor time running the kids at the play area in the mall. Owen, Amy and I got out on Saturday night for Whitey's ice cream in downtown IC.

It was still raining when we got home on Sunday night. Owen immediately got it in his head that we needed to catch the rain so that we could use the water for our plants. He spent the next several minutes being his own rain barrel.

I love his green instincts.

The weekend before was spent with my parents in Chicagoland.

Our biggest day was Saturday.

We started at the Morton Arboretum, enjoying their kids section which features this great ball you can roll around in a pool of water ...

As well as a wonderful pond filled with tadpoles you can touch ...


There was lots of room to run and plants to explore ...

... and some other surprises along the way.

After the arboretum, we drove to a Pizzeria Uno for lunch. Honestly, this was the real goal of the weekend. The restaurant has a new gluten free menu, which meant Owen got to order his own meal, which was wonderful.

He actually made his mom cry when the waitress came and he said, "I would like a gluten free pizza, please. With pepperonis."

It was delicious!

We also spent a lot of time playing in the park. Owen loves the tire swing near Nana and Grandpa's house, and Maya was thrilled with all the rocks she could pick up and stack into big piles.

Last of all, we were delighted to participate in a special ceremony at my dad's church. Their church building is going through a major renovation.

The church organized a special activity for the members of the church now that the "bones" of the new sanctuary are complete. Following the service, everyone was invited in to look at the new area for the first time and then leave their hand prints and messages on the walls that will soon be covered as the next phase of the project begins.

Our family hand prints are here, with Grandpa and Owen at the top, Nana and Maya in the middle, and Amy and mine at the bottom.