Wave,Tree and Bloom

More Brothers

2011-05-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

The children and I lost our cat OGMO a while back, Yeti had died not to long after that. Tommy was a bit before them and Christie before him. All four cats were around the same age and it was very hard to lose all of them within a relatively short period of time. We love cats, but it took me, especially me, a while to be ready to get another cat.

Oh Great Maned One, OGMO, King of the Yard

Yeti

Kai had been asking for a cat for about six months and finally I relented. I will admit that finding a mouse in the house significantly accelerated my recovery process. The kids and I went back to the the Dumb Friends League^* and interviewed a bunch of cats. There were two cats we really liked, both were tabby boys a little younger than a year. The woman who was helping us looked up both their histories and it turned out they were brought in together and they're from the same litter. DFL's two for one cats offer sealed the deal. One boy was named Seike, the other Wilber. We renamed Wilber "Hyde".

Although Hyde is much more introverted and shy, he eats like a pig. Hyde's hobby is eating. "Wilber" is probably the more appropriate name but "Hyde and Seike" is so much more fun to say. When the cats were accidentally fed twice, I removed the food bowl from under Hyde's nose. He jumped down from the dog-resistant feeding counter, made a bee line for Woofie's food and started chowing down. Cheerios pouring into a bowl is apparently also a cat food call for Hyde. He doesn't like catnip, soft food or being picked up. Nonetheless, he is very affectionate and demands attention with head bumps and climbing up a person's leg.

Seike is much smaller and svelte. He is almost overwhelmingly affectionate and very easy going. He doesn't mind Jasmine picking him up. This is remarkable in that when Jasmine picks up a cat, the head ends up hanging down, the tail end is up, and the belly exposed to the world.

From left to right, Hyde and Seike

One of Seike's hobbies is trying to put his nose up into the human nostril. I don't know why. It's really weird when he catches you off guard and succeeds. His other hobby is catching mice. My dad told me not to count on feline help with the little rodents, but Seike's obsessed by catching mice and much more successful than the live traps. Sadly for the mice, he doesn't always respect the "live trap" part of the mouse removal campaign. I've stopped minding so much. After he's done here, I think I'll hire him out to my other neighbors who also gained new lodgers during the winter cold snap.

Our sometimes resident fox. It dens on the top tier of our backyard.

I've set up a "cat run" in the backyard so the cats can safely bask in the sun. Small pets need to be protected from our local coyotes and foxes not to mention cars and dogs. I find cat and small dog sized bones all along walks that follow the fences separating houses from the local open space. Seike reminded me I still needed to finish affixing the canvas roof.

Woofie loves the cats, but is still trying to figure out how to play with them. The cats are still deciding whether to torture, run from her or play with her.

Seike reminded me I still needed to finish affixing the canvas roof.

* From Dictionary.com, the second definition of the adjective dumb: lacking the power of speech (often offensive when applied to humans): a dumb animal. I've met so many people who think the DFL is contemptuous of animals.

Imminent Tennis Ball Seizure

2011-03-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

Dogs don't care how they look in photos. Ain't that great?

Hold On To Your Hat

2011-02-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

Sledding is a great family bonding experience, like most mortal danger experiences.

Woofie

2011-02-22T23:51:00.000-08:00

So, whaddya do when the world is glum? You admit that you agree with the kids and their many-year campaign -- we needed a dog. In twelve years, it's never been the "right time". At that rate I was going to be retired before we got a dog.

Woofie is a six month old, scary smart, athletic outside, lay-about inside, extremely gentle and very quiet (a little too quiet), (likely) border collie / lab mix. We got her from the Dumb Friends League after some lengthy interviews with people and dogs. We were aiming for a slightly older dog, but she was definitely the right match for us. Other dogs were too dominant, barked, seemed twitchy or didn't give off the right vibe. We knew she was the one immediately.

I've seen some great changes in all of us. Funny that.

Cooking, the Rachel Way

2010-12-22T01:20:00.000-08:00

Note: I am not Rachael Ray. She spells her name funny. I'm also not spunky. At least I hope I'm not. I've been going for surly lately.

Anyhow, I've recently found myself cooking. A lot of cooking. More cooking than I had done in the past ... life. For myself, I used to manage a few pb&j's and some Cheerios as well as some raw fruits and vegetables. I can't let the kids eat like me. I really don't want to have to fight them for the last of the grape jelly or whatever.

So, I've been experimenting because regular ol' food still seems a little tame to me. Thus far we've made Purple Chicken (there is a whole ceremony associated with this dish), Pizza Pot Stickers (a tasty culture clash), Vegan Batter Chicken (no, not made with real Vegans, the batter has no egg or milk) and the dish pictured here: Eyeball Pancakes. I'm still working out the artistic side of the eyes, but the actual pancake bit I have down pat. This first set was too Green Eggs and Ham for me, but I have plans for tomorrow's experiment.

Lest you think all my dishes turn out perfect, I will admit that the Super-Sour-Pucker-Up-Million-Lemon Cake was an utter disaster. SS PUMmeL is something I won't live down for a long while. I have inherited my mother and father's sour-loving taste buds. I discovered this trait is recessive. I traumatized Gary's and my children's sour taste buds and the poor things won't come out of hiding while I'm in the kitchen..

Life Goes On

2010-10-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

It's been four months since Theo left.

The kids have asked many questions, but unfortunately all I can say is that I don't understand behavior, that I think it was incredibly wrong to leave, and that I could never imagine leaving them, not in a million years. It's not comforting or satisfying that all I can say to them is that I don't know or understand. I've told them that when I know something, I'll tell them. For right now, we're all in the dark.

That being said, the kids are holding up. I'm holding up. Life is different now, but it goes on. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has called and offered help, moral support, babysitting, advice and more. Here are some smiling faces to reassure those of you worried about the lack of posts.

Missing Person: Theo Petersen

2010-07-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

We've filed a Missing Person report on my husband. If you've seen Theo Petersen please contact Det Jason Weaver with any information 303-660-7588 jweaver@dcsheriff.net Missing Person Case 10-68523.

You can also see Theo's profiles, picture and related information at: LinkedIn Public Profile, Web Development with Apache and Perl, and Good Reads. He was driving a white '94 Saturn station wagon with Colorado plates the letters are GBL, but the numbers I'm not sure of, maybe 683. He said that he was driving to Indianapolis, but no one has verified that he arrived there.

Since his last communication on June 30th, he hasn't contacted his work and his family haven't heard from him either. Various details of his departure have worried us about his safety and well-being. We are in the midst of a divorce, so he could be under a significant amount of stress. As of this writing, I have not located either his passport or mine. The police have not called me with any information.

Nosey Mantis

2010-06-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

We've come up with a gazillion silly captions for this photo. I found the baby mantis while pulling thistles, but that wasn't quite cool enough that the boys wanted to assist me with weeding.

As we were releasing her I took a few obligatory photos and then was inspired to place her on Rowan's nose. Dunno why. I think I just wanted something different than the demonstration of scale using my finger tip.

Machine Glasses

2010-05-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Jasmine just got into a low-vision examine through Children's Hospital and Anchor Center. These are great for the full battery of exams -- also an extra expert opinion for the insurance company. Eye doctor visits are the best, Jasmine loves them. The "machine glasses" are extra fun.

Endless Tatas

2010-03-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

The title of this blog entry should pick up a number of confused porn surfers.

In actuality, this is a dry-erase picture by Jasmine. She's becoming quite the white board artist. She's also fascinated by adults, actually by women. "Grown ups have breasts," she tells me. I respond, "Yes, women have breasts." Then she says, "When I am a grown up I will have breasts, and drink Diet Coke and I can sit in the passion seat [sic she means 'front passenger seat']." "Okay, honey."

Currently, all women that are drawn must have two round circles on their chests to indicate their breasts. I think she'll start demanding the addition of Diet Coke cans in their hands as well. In this drawing, the breasts look like drawings my 5th grade male classmates used to draw (minus the center dots to indicate [naughty giggle] nipples. I think they look like an infinity sign. Breasts Forever!

Kai has just begun taking the bus to school becuase his new school much further away than our local school. That school as far northwest of our house as Rowan's is southeast -- a 30-minute drive between the two. Anyhow, Kai's first day riding the bus in, we all gathered around the door as the bus pulled up. Jasmine starts shouting, "Bye! Good-bye! Zài jiàn! Adios! Bye bus, thanks for taking Kai away!" We knew what she meant, but it certainly was funny.

Prematurely Gray

2009-12-13T22:43:00.000-08:00

Jasmine has been begging me daily for weeks and weeks to dye her hair black or brown. She says she wants my color (and the color of her favorite dolls). If you tell her her hair is beautiful and everyone loves and wants it, she'll tell you she doesn't want to be beautiful and you can have her white hair.

I think there will be a hoard of people surrounding the house bearing torches, pitchforks and hair bleach. It seems a crime against nature to change her moonlight hair to muddy brown.

Luckily there are temporary hair colors so I can satisfy everyone. In these pictures she's got the Halloween hair spray color. NEVER USE THIS STUFF. We still haven't cleaned up all the black smudges. As you can see an entire spray can has managed to make her hair a pretty light gray. Still she was very happy and I could wash it out after about four shampoos. The first go was opaque, sickly gray. IMPORTANT: clean this stuff off in the shower.

We're now trying a temporary dark brown on a lock of hair before we try it out on her whole head. I was worried, but again, the dye doesn't seem to "stick" in her hair. Unlike artificially bleached hair, her hair is whole and undamaged which means the color seems to slip off.

The brown dye looked like burnt sugar syrup, very worrying. But after following the directions, she had an ethereal, translucent beige lock of hair. Her hair as a whole reminded me of the foamy, steamed milk on a cappuccino with an artistic swoop of coffee running through it.

Banana-man

2009-11-28T23:52:00.000-08:00

While on a routine patrol, our noble hero Banana-man, encountered a stash of illicit beauty supplies. He approached cautiously in case it was a trap. Instincts, luck, experience, call it what you will, saved the brave young crime fighter from a nefarious ensnarement. From a jumbo tube of daily exfoliating scrub exploded a cloud of metallic nano-howler monkeys. A blast of high-pitched howls, swinging nano-fists, and gnashing canines filled the still air. Banana-man leaped back with an alacrity that would have made his Capoeira master proud (had the beloved teacher not died at the hands of Banana-man's evil twin, Plantain-inator: see issue #423). As they drained the last of their factory installed batteries, one superior mini-mechanical monkey minion managed to misappropriate our man's mask and mangled it.

There was no time to lose. Ripping the stainless steel tube from the vocal assembly of an attackers and a large Banana from his belt, Banana-man quickly constructed a new mask. As he worked he realized that this trap could only be the work of one evil genius: Avonica. Once an assistant manager of a small electronics store, she had been kidnapped by a roving gang of zealous pyramid-scheming entrepreneurs. Back in their secret laboratory, in a tragic experiment, she became what she was now -- a warped, evil creature of flashy, meaningless technology and hyper-feminine kitsch.

Though his secret identity had been cleverly maintained, Banana-man no longer had use of the most powerful weapon in his arsenal -- the Banana-rang. But there was no time to be concerned with that. In the distance, Banana-man heard the ringing yell of the innocent, beautiful brick layer caught up in Plantain-inator's plot. Although he could hear the dull thuds of masonry against skulls, he had to hurry, she didn't have an endless supply of ammunition. "Why? Why didn't she listen? She should have never followed me out here," he fumed. Then with an ironic laugh, he mused, "But then again, I always seem to attract the plucky ones."

Pumpkins

2009-11-09T23:14:00.000-08:00

Kai's pumpkin was autophagic. Rowan's ... um... I'll let you come up with a good description for those two. Jasmine made the bold decision to go traditional.

Kiddos in the Habitrail

2009-11-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

I want Burger King to put in a running wheel. Sadly, many of the new BK's are putting in video games, even for the little-little kids. Maybe the parents are now too large to retrieve a child from the tubes. More frighteningly, maybe the kids are too big.

Leaf Diving, Rowan Style

2009-11-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

We had fun with the leaves this year. We have an Autumn Blaze maple tree which loses its leaves too quickly.

Catching Air the Jazz Way

2009-10-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

Our two feet of pre-Halloween snow came down in a frigid blizzard. Today, the sun shone and the powder turned steadily to slush.

We got in about four hours of sledding before it was all gone. I like this set because I can watch Jazz catch air and watch her audience react to her catching some air.

Bikers in the Family

2009-08-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

We've had a population explosion of those who can ride bikes -- at least in our family. Kai and Rowan have both learned how to ride their bicycles and it only took a couple days, a number of bruises, parental hard-heartedness, and complete rejection of the training wheels.

Following a friend's suggestion, I removed the training wheels and lowered the seats of the bicycles until the boys could easily put both feet on the ground. Within a few laps in front of the house, pushing the bike like Flintstones power cars, then wobbily balancing, then pedaling, then ... wow... riding.

It may not seem like a huge milestone, but it has been for us. Balance, height, speed, all that, caused panic attacks. As a parent, I find myself vascillating between knowing that all children are different, learning and growing and being in their own way -- and constantly worrying about what I might need to do for my children that they might reach their highest potential. Something pushed me this week to follow the advice and ignore the protests. I think I must have struck at the right time, because I knew a new trick and they also were competent enough with their balance and age, that it took them very little time to realize that they could do it all by themselves.

I bet they could have done it earlier, but it seems that now was a good time. My pressure for them to succeed was relatively little and they are very aware that the success was completely theirs. After the first signs of progress, both boys became driven (ridden) to master the bike and went out as often as possible to practice. I like that this accomplishment had very little to do with me; my only mean-mommy-moment was telling them that they had to push the bike with their feet past the house a few times. After that, I made no more requests (orders) and it turned out they were unnecessary.

Regarding this picture, it's one of those ones that is either an incredibly lucky shot or one that you do over and over again until it comes out right. The latter is the case. For parents this is a good thing, it wears the kids out. Keep asking the kids to ride/run/ski/whatever past you over and over again, even if you get the shot the first time. They'll sleep good that night. :)

Wind Blown Candor

2009-07-31T00:22:00.000-07:00

It's getting harding and harder to sneak up on the kids. I've had a few lucky shots with Rowan lately.

This was another day that a walk was cut short by rain.

Boom Bam Swishhhh Wow

2009-07-26T00:39:00.000-07:00

This year like last, we blew stuff; however this year we went to see a professional show. I think it was the first time for the kids to see the large pyrotechnics up close. These photographs are from the Highlands Ranch show held at Town Center.

Jasmine was much less afraid of the explosions' noise, though I can't say she really liked it. No crying or anxiety. I think the bright lights made up for any discomfort.

Kai and Rowan really just wanted to stay home and blow our own stuff up, but I finally convinced them to go. Once the big booms got started they were glad they'd come.

I wish Kai had been sitting close to us, I could have gotten his reaction too. I think he scootched closer to the action. When the show ended he came back breathless and wow'ed.

Working from the Back

2009-07-20T08:46:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our epic camping trip, but I'll finish up the events from before we left. Here the kids are joining Dr.Noize on stage at the Lone Tree Independence Day Parade send off. We made sure we were dressed for the event by wearing band shirts. Jasmine wore a specially made (crayoned) banana t-shirt.

Rowan, in particular, appreciates Jasmine's climbing abilities. She's determined to be on stage and says that when she grows up, she's going to play music with Dr. Noize.

During one part of the concert, Dr. Noize asked Kai to deliver a kazoo in the middle of the next song. Kai was sent back to the audience holding the kazoo. Dr. Noize sang for the kazoo -- one long, loud, shrill note going on and on until Kai managed to get it to him.

Mind in the Gutter

2009-07-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

If it's been raining, Jasmine's mind is in the gutter. I'm lucky if I can do any clothing preparation before she's out the door. Stomp, splash, jump, run, stop, skip, step, splash.

Airport Security

2009-07-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

Somehow these three made it through the security checkpoint.

We went to Indiana for the wedding of the kids' cousin Ashley. We stayed in a hotel by Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeff who know how to entertain kids. Books, balloons and silly string were among the many entertainments. Needless to say, the kids didn't want to go back to boring ol' Colorado.

My Kai

2009-06-30T00:38:00.000-07:00

Kai saw the paragraph I wrote about Jasmine for her Anchor Center School graduation. He wondered, in a carefully casual way, how I would describe him. I was a caught off-guard and said that I had had a few minutes to think about it before I'd written that all down. I have some quiet time, so I can organize a paragraph's worth of thoughts. It's impossible of course to write down even a small bit of all the amazing things I think of any of my children, but here's a little bit.

When Kai entered my life, the entire world changed for me. I became acutely aware of the fragility of life and the amazing size and strength of love that I possessed in my heart. These feelings were, sometimes still are, overwhelming and frightening and magnificent. Theo and I found a deep resonance in a quote from Elizabeth Stone, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” I don't know that my epiphanies since his birth are appropriately grouped with a description of him, but he heralded a more vivid and meaningful life.

Kai can immerse himself into stories and worlds of imagination, traditional romantic sensibilities, humorous and fantastic realities. He has an appreciation of the asthetic elements of pose and figure beyond his age. He's not afraid to pour into these worlds his heart and intelligence without reservation. Kai has an amazing memory and a strong will that, when directed to a task, is truly amazing.

He engages his imagination and intuition toward projects with wonderful results. Writing comic scripts within the Alice environment, he shows off both his great comedic timing as well as the behind-the-scenes technical programming talent. His power of concentration is remarkable. Kai also shows off a natural talent for mathematical and scientific concepts. The ability to both abstract the natural world and predict its workings is a rare quality.

When he engages his enthusiasm it is irresistably contagious. Anyone who has watched him, knows that he is a people person, especially with the ladies. He turns on the charisma, opens his heart and shamelessly flirts, eshews aloofness for earnestness and engenders genuine affection.

Go Ask Your Mother

2009-06-20T02:14:00.000-07:00

Kids: Whoa! What's THAT?!

Me: It's a fish head.

Kids: Cool... Wait, woah! AAAAGH!

It's a FISH HEAD! A REAL FISH HEAD! EEEEeew, I touched it! You touched it! That's it's eye! Eeeeeewww! Mom!! You didn't tell me it was real! That's a FISH HEAD! Mom! A real fish head come look! Touch it! It's so gross! Yuck, it's all slimy! Mom! You touch the eye, it's a FISH HEAD!

Amazing how many of our conversations go this way.

Jasmine's Flintstone-Model Automobile

2009-06-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

I missed the weirdest part where twenty identical Jasmine's came out of the car doing somersaults.

Interest Fair -- Rowan and the Toads

2009-05-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

Kinda like a Science Fair, but not so many measurements. Rowan studied our fire-bellied toads with a happy emphasis on toad mating (more on the toads at Macro). We made recordings!

Jasmine listens to the mating call of the fire-bellied male toad.

Rowan whistles while he waits for student and parental passersby to come and listen to horny toads.

Next Teen Heart Throb?

2009-04-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

He's trying.

I love that shade of green on him (looks good on Jae too). That ear though -- it is begging to be photoshopped.

Elf, gelfling, vulcan, imp, fairy prince .... so many possibilities. Mwahahahaha.

Single Critique from the Master

2009-04-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

Beautiful pose. You are too cute to be moved, lest you waken. But you significantly dilute the effect by not blocking the whole of the stairway.

Jasmine's Science Experiments

2009-04-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

Hypothesis: Kai cannot be distracted from a DVD.
Materials and Methods: 40 lb hyperactive, 5 year-old, Durabrand DVB620 DVD Player, randomly chosen rated-G DVD.
Experimental Method: See documentary photography below.
Results:No signs of consciousness from test subject.
Conclusion: Hypothesis not disproved. More experiments should be conducted. Preferably with a motion camera.

The Princess Bat

2009-04-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

The Princess Bat, featuring the images of Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty on its lavendar and pink surface, is actually much more dangerous than you would think.

Dog Day

2009-04-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

About once a month guide dogs come to visit the kids at the Anchor Center. Jasmine isn't always keen on dogs, primarily because of the chance that they might bark. She feels a little better with leash in hand.

Easter Kidnapping

2009-04-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, the bunnies are at it again. They wanted a significant ransom, directions regarding which way to turn once you get to Albuquerque and baskets that had wheels (like the suitcases). The SWAT team was able to take this one out (why would you kidnap someone when you have such an absurdly large head?), but were worried about the inevitable bad press. Jasmine ended up giving him a good twack in the head with her cane and escaping while the SWAT team was discussing options with the PR team.

Actually, this was part of an Egg Hunt put on by the Mariott for Anchor Center School for Blind Children. You can see some pictures at the Denver Post photo gallery (though you'll have to click on "next screen" to get to the set of pictures).

The Science Fair

2009-04-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

When it came time to decide upon a science fair project, Kai happened to be "in a mood". Nothing was fun, nothing was interesting, everything was dumb and why couldn't he just go play a video game, etc. I asked him to write a list of his favorite 10 things so we could get a science project he'd like. To demonstrate he was not going to have any of it, he listed things like TV, Nintendo, reading, ... and then "blowing things up." Now that last item, I could work with.

The project ended up being about pressure (with some sneaky education on the Ideal Gas Law). We blew up plastic bottles with the bike pump. Didja know an exploding bottle Aquafina water bottle with 110 lbs of pressure can blow through a cardboard box? Cool, huh?

Kai learned valuable lessons: explosions can be passed off as educational, mom will show you how to use the power tools if it is part of your homework, blast shields can be repaired with duct tape, and repetition is actually required for scientific experimentation, and you can still ham around for the camera.

Origami Bit My Son

2009-04-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

I made Rowan a "Venus Fly Trap" from one of my favorite origami books: Origami to Astonish and Amuse, by Jeremy Shafer. It's a great moving model and fun way to wait for our real Venus Fly Traps to finish stratifying.

School Front Dancing

2009-04-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Jasmine and our friend Renee were waiting for their siblings to get out of class. They spent their time dancing and strutting. I cranked up Dr. Noize (see previous post) and opened the trunk to get the full blast of the speakers. I'm trying to help advance the "juvenile delinquent" reputation of our children.

Dr Noize!

2009-02-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Way back, New Year's Eve, I took the kids to their first live concert. Before the event, Jasmine played with intense sunlight on her T-shirt's sequins. They loved it, so their teenage rock phase should be fun.

Doctor Noize (aka Cory Culligan) is an absolute blast. He is a local kids' musician with a CD (samples)and book out along with a T-shirt. We now own them all as well as learning all the lyrics to the Banana song. :) To the delight of all the kids, he has parents come up and embarrass themselves in front of their children.

Valentine Roses

2009-02-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

I'd actually intended to post a couple other things next. I'll get caught up, really I will. Theo titled the right photo ***Stem Smell Research***. Puns force themselves to the front of the line.

By the bye, a rabbit, definitely a rabbit.

Rabbit or Walrus?

2009-02-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

I say rabbit, Kai thinks walrus. This is a picture from NOAH back in July/August of 2008. One of those pictures you find while trying to find something else. :)

Caption James

2009-02-09T19:12:00.000-08:00

If I study them carefully, I will know all their plans.

What do you think about having another?

I have studied too much.

The Ghost of Stan Laurel ...

2009-02-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

... has possessed my dad.

This first picture at Christmas showed a notable resemblance, but it didn't seem uncanny. When I pulled an old Laurel and Hardy picture into Photoshop, I thought I'd have to do a lot of dinking to fit Dad's face over Laurel's.

Nope. The only difference I needed to compensate for was that Laurel's ears extend higher than Dad's, maybe by half an inch at most. The rest was pretty much an overlay.

So now we know, Dad's TRUE calling is to become a Stan Laurel impersonator.

Finger Pampering

2009-01-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

Jasmine also got a wonderful surprise, her first professional manicure. Priscilla was definitely the one to introduce her to that particular indulgence. The dresses, shoes, nail polish, hair fashion, love of jewlery and most importantly left-handedness all point to Jasmine definitely taking after her grandmother.

The Big Mirror

2009-01-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

Jasmine loved the mirror wall in Granddad and Grandmom's room. She could play in there for hours. At her school, Anchor Center, they also have a large mirror for tap dance class.

Very Scary

2009-01-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what to say about this one other than it scares me in a future-high-school-bail-sort-of-way. I was also scared in a present-sort-of-way that he was going to do something very unfortunate to Priscilla's crystal and we'd have to chop off a hand or something.

Stop and Smell the Roses

2009-01-16T23:31:00.000-08:00

My sister and I share a certain sensibility. She had all the sensibility when I bought the vase; she gave some back to me when I gave her the vase, seeing that I could obviously use so.

I appreciate having someone who likes to share oddities as much as I do. I guess that means we'll soon be taking turns babysitting for each other.

Working on the Eeee-vil Smile

2009-01-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

I pointed the camera at Rowan and he smiled ... and smiled ... and smiled. I'm used to the plasticizing of my kids' smiles when they realize the focus is on them, but this was slightly creepy. I took the picture just to get him to stop. When he got the chance to see the photo, he was thrilled. "I'm practicing my evil smile, Mom!" I think he has a little way to go.
Rowan teaches Jazz the finer points of a swift uppercut.
A slinky always has a bit of magic, especially when the weilder has an expression like this one.

A Traditional Xmas

2009-01-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a traditional xmas with Cleo-medival-princess (Jazz) and Ralph-Bakshi's Fritz (me).

Faces of Kai

2009-01-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

Goofy Kai and Kai who is bored, thinking, sleepy, sad? I think he was sleepy given some of the other shots in the group. But, he does spend quite a bit of time fretful, anxious, pensive. I worry that some of my less desirable mental traits have been passed on to him through genes or environment. I guess every parent worries about that. I suppose my best plan is to try and guide him through any similar problems (and do I have the experience with that), while avoiding exacerbating them with my own symptoms.

Since it was a long car trip he could have also been about to ask "Are we there yet?" See, I'm doing it again.

Photographically, I like the color tone on each. In the pic on the left, like the comfort at home (though I suppose the setting only comes across as inside). On the right his mood is not so vibrant outside. I like the in-your-face whimsy and eyes shut trust of the first; the second is distant (illustrated by the seatbelt in the foreground) and the tilt of his head to the side isn't actively engaging the viewer.

I'm so artsy-fartsy.

Model Shot

2009-01-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

This is one of the few recent shots I've gotten of Jasmine where she's not laughing her head off. If she hadn't been talking a moment later, I would have thought she was sleeping. Wow, those glasses are going to be really useful when she hits high school.

Two years ago, when we started her in preschool, like Theo, I could hardly have imagined that she would be ready for the 2009-2010 kindergarten year. She could barely walk in 2006 (http://kai-rowan-jasmine.blogspot.com/2006/08/theos-gotcha-day-0802-letter-home.html), was in diapers, wasn't eating solid food and had a nearly non-existent speaking vocabulary. Now she runs around like a maniac, recently figured out the potty in two week's time (even wiping and hand washing -- those of you parents will understand what a huge and remarkable thing that is), can eat raw carrots (she'll spew them if she starts laughing, but then who doesn't?), and won't stop talking. She's also now in independence the stage of "mine", "I saw it first", "Jasmine do it", "I said 'No, Mama,", etc.

She's zooming through each stage of development Kai and Rowan did, but in slightly different orders and a massively different pace. I've noticed most recently is her enjoyment of books. She's enjoying dialog and plot, understanding (and even telling and making up jokes), as well as remembering books the we haven't read for months. Before books were really about shapes and sounds, identifying objects and people and their relationship to one another. Now she's venturing deeper. Interestingly, and very amusing to me, is listening to her make-believe play with her Barbies. (Barbies make me shudder, but she seems to really enjoy them and concentrate on their "relationships" to each other in a way I never did.) When there is a dialog between Melissa Barbie and Nikki Barbie, Jasmine will throw in bookisms just like Kai and Rowan used to. Here's a typical example:

"Then Melissa says, 'Hi, Nikki. It's nice to meet you.'" Nikki says, "I'm wearing a pink beautiful dress.' Melissa says, 'Knock knock'. 'Who's there?' 'Boo' 'Boo who?' 'Don't cry, it's only a knock knock joke.' Then Jasmine giggles for them both.

Jasmine is really a three through five year-old, but I think kindergarten will be great.

Snow!

2008-12-31T01:54:00.000-08:00

They are utterly nuts about snow. This was back at the beginning of December.

I think I used to be this excited about all those frozen flakes. Now that I'm old though, snow seems awfully ... cold.

I did go and buy some snow pants for myself in case of any sledding or skiing that may happen this season that might involve me. On this particular day, however, I was quite content to take the photos from inside the house.

Kai and Rowan tried surfing/snowboarding when I wouldn't let them sled off that five foot wall behind them. Jazz was content to examine the snow close up and eat it.

Playing with Water Prism

2008-12-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

We have a glass water prism hanging from our south facing kitchen window. It was made by a stained glass artist selling at the Ren Fair a few years back. Since it's in the south facing window, we only get rainbows in the winter. Jasmine discovered this winter's first rainbows. She calls them "Beautiful Princess Rainbows." She tried to hold it, look into it, color her body with it and see if it would cancel out the wacky colored stripes she was wearing. This was a batch of pictures where I actually had too many to choose from rather than the typical one-in-one-hundred problem.

(I don't know why there is a big gap between the writing and the pictures. Weird.)

Birthday Girl

2008-12-02T15:12:00.000-08:00

Jasmine turned 5 this November 19th. Amazing. Here she is reading her new (sigh) Barbie book. Her interest in Barbie has skyrocketted since receiving one from her babysitter as a birthday present. Every night she asks where her Barbie doll is so she can sleep with it. In the picture below, she's testing out the fairy wings and tutu she received. She is such a girlie-girl. Oh well. If that's what she wants for her birthday, who am I to argue? At least she likes to do all the same sword and gun fights, wrestling with her brothers, playing cars and playing with bugs.

It's strange to think that she's been with us almost as long as she'd been in the orphanage. This is about the time for Jasmine when adoption experts say that kids adopted from orphanages will be caught up to their peers. That is, one year at home for every one year in the institution. That's not quite been our experience, but then Jasmine had many extra obstacles to overcome. She's sort of a three-thru-five year old.

I've been pondering how many delays were due to lack of care, food and resources and how many were compounded due to her lack of vision. For instance, when we were teaching her how to chew I needed to get about an inch from her eyes, chew open-mouthed, and allow her to put her fingers in my mouth. This is when she actually figured out what to do with all this solid food. How much did this compound her malnutrition?

When we're working on sounds, the same thing applies, I get very close and make a sound (lately the "th" sound) and I point out key features like the fact that my tongue is sticking out from between my teeth. She feels and looks carefully and only then does she really get what she needs to do to make the sound. Basically, we need to do a few extra things to get her to the same skill and knowledge point as a normally sighted child.

It doesn't take much effort to get her up to speed, but it is a different method than what usually goes on. I don't think enough effort and acceptance is given to difference. Many people demonize the homogeneous culture of China for the rejection of people who aren't the norm. But, here in America we have similar attitudes. It isn't as severe, but sometimes (speaking as a weird, atheist geek) it seems the only reason is that there is an American reputation and Constitution preventing people from acting on their instincts.

Way Back Machine

2008-11-30T12:03:00.000-08:00

This seems like it was a long time ago. Late July or August?

Right now snow is falling for the second day in a row. The kids are begging to go sledding, but Theo and I are trying to get those weekend chores done and eat up the rest of the Thanksgiving turkey. I feel guilty, but the day's not over. Maybe if one of us needs a nap, the other will go sledding.

I have a feeling that we're going to have snow for at least a few days.

Plaster-Claustro-Fidgety

2008-11-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

Here's Rowan making his mask. He wanted to keep his nose and mouth clear so that he could mumble through the process. Unlike Kai, Rowan was very anxious to get the mask off. I don't think he found the experience as relaxing and centering as Kai did. He also wanted to get a look at his face in the mask. I think the Fanta helped in calming creature -- always keep bendy straws handy.

The Young Man in the Plaster Mask

2008-11-28T13:27:00.000-08:00

The bestest thing about being a parent is being able to do all the fun projects, arts and crafts, experiments and model kits.

Here we have Kai sitting for a nearly full face plaster cast. He was very patient and lay completely still for 30 minutes. He was utterly silent. I think I'm going to be doing a few more of these masks. Maybe three or four a night. ;)

Jumping Girl

2008-11-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a long while since I posted. It's hard to find the time since I got my job in Boulder. My off time I spend with the kids, so that leaves time to sleep. Theo and I did manage to use our new income to have a babysitter and date night. I'm not sure how we survived before date night. I think the kids feel the same way. They love having a hang out and movie night with Chansa. Kai has already reached the age where he "hangs out with Chansa" rather than "is babysat by Chansa." Jasmine loves her because she paints Jazz's nails different colors.

Jasmine insists on wearing a dress at every opportunity. Most of her dresses are spring dresses, so she can only wear them inside since the weather has gotten colder. She doesn't like dressing in pants and long sleeve shirts, but will tolerate it for the sake of going outside, which she loves. Hats and sunglasses are fine though, she puts these on by herself without prompting.

So, anyway, here she is. She heard me taking pictures and ran into the room saying, "Cheese! Cheese!" Well, it's hard to resist taking pictures when invited so cutely. Personally, I think her motivation is that she wants to see the little screen on the camera after I take the picture. One of her favorite things is looking at pictures of her friends, teachers and family. I make photo books for her and she'll spend hours staring at them and identifying the people in the photos. I think its a good exercise in using her vision.

Little Friends

2008-10-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

Jasmine's favorite thing when hanging around outside is to hold little living creatures. Cicadas seem to be the best, next earthworms -- they both move slowly and have some real tactile characteristics. Sometimes we find a mellow grasshopper that doesn't mind close inspection.

Miss Jasmine

2008-09-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

First off, apologies, I'm massively behind on my blogging and reading everyone's blogs. I'm more than two weeks behind. We definitely need to resupply on hours in the day.

These two pictures clearly indicate what children will do to your furniture and the focus of your living room decor.

Anyhow, Jasmine got a new steel string guitar and wouldn't let go of it the first few days. Yes, she even slept with it. Thus far we've only broken two strings and I can actually restring the thing unlike the nylon stringed ukulele-sized one I got before. I couldn't find replacement strings for the old guitar, but Toys R Us carries the strings for our current model.

Jasmine also wanted a "bra". While her attempts at wearing mine were quite amusing, I thought we should get something more her size. The scary thing: THEY CARRY BRAS FOR HER SIZE! I opted for something that looked more like a summer halter or swim top. She was happy. I was darned if I was going to buy her a padded one. THEY SELL PADDED BRAS INTENDED FOUR YEAR-OLDS!

In this second picture she's completed her ensemble with my old black flats. Note that she does not detract from the beauty of her bra by anything as gauche as a blouse, but nicely accessorizes with a green hat.

A side note, this is Jasmine's favorite way to watch a DVD. She can get very close comfortably, see the whole screen without having to move her eyes around (her peripheral vision doesn't work up-to-down, though seems to be okay right-to-left), and no one tells her to get out of the way. I think she's watching the Sesame Street Alphabet Show that features Stephen Colbert in the role of humble and eager-to-please "Z". It's a heartwarming tale of gaining a smidgen of self-worth in the presence of letters that are more important or interesting.

The Birthday Crew

2008-09-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here's the full laser battle group about to embark on their black lighted massacre. Birthday boy there, four from the right holding Jasmine back. There were no casualties to speak of and all were eager to back into the fight. (Jasmine liked the dance music and disco lights inside.)

Dancing with Daddy

2008-09-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

It's more modern than the traditional standing on your father's feet while he shows you how to waltz, but on the other hand, it fits Jasmine's more active style.

And the second image shows how you have to remove her from the dance floor.

These pictures were taken at the Brunswick Zone while we were celebrating Kai's birthday with video games and laser tag. Fun time for all.

Goofy

2008-09-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

I just bought new earbuds. Thank the gods for these instructions. I might have hurt myself without them. Theo suggested I also include the toothpick instructions:
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/HitchHikers-Guide-To-The-Galaxy-6594.html

South Dakota Kids

2008-09-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

For the recent holiday weekend, I took the kids on our furthest trip ever for camping, South Dakota. It was about six hours actual driving with breaks every two hours to get the antsies out. They are excellent car travellers. I took them out of school on Friday so we would have an extra full day to see things. I figured it was educational and luckily enough, I think their teachers agree.

Jasmine did have a bout of homesickness, which is turning out to be a typical, but low intensity reaction to camping. She definitely wanted to see her Baba ("Dad" in Mandarin). A funnier reaction happened on the last day when she put down her cheerios spoon looked around and asked, "Where IS GrandBaba?" We camped with my Dad a few weeks ago and she thought it was high time he showed up this trip.

In our two full days we toured, Wind Cave, Mammoth Site and Jewel Cave as well as see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. No big hikes, which was a shame, but I fully intend to bring the kids back with Theo ... even if we have to stay in a cabin.

Goofy Glasses

2008-08-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

Jasmine will wear any glasses except the ones that have been prescribed for her. Here she works on her "smart chick" look or audition for the next J.K. Rowling movie.

Cap'n Kai, Pirate of the High Plains

2008-08-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

Kai posed on every tent spike wearing his new eye patch.

Fraternal Battles

2008-08-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

This is again at the "Fight A Scot" booth. The boys both have a Scottish middle name ("Drummond") so I guess this worked out. I heard the tapping of wooden swords and loud battle cries, "CRASH", "BANG", "WOOSH", "I HIT YOU!", "NUH UH! MY SWORD MAGICALLY BLOCKS YOURS!", "UUUGH! I'M DEAD AGAIN!"

Warrior Princess

2008-08-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

Jasmine's taken to calling herself a "princess". If it weren't for her sword fighting prowess, I'd be worried. Here she is at the "Fight A Scot" booth with an accomodating young man.

Though the sword is bamboo, it doesn't hide the blood lust in her eyes.

My Monsters

2008-08-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the Highland Games to experience authentic Scottish culture.

Ward Meets the Children

2008-08-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ward is obviously ready to be a father (you can see his little four month old baby Sammy in the bouncy car in the lower right corner). The reason I say this? He's obviously quite okay having children walk all over him. He, Kelly and little Sammy came over for dinner. Theo really out did himself with a feast of tomato soup, turkey, apricot chutney, crispy rosemary sausage potatoes, and chocolate pie a la mode. MMmmmmmm. The boys had couscous and turkey. :)

This is Jasmine's latest trick inspired by Cirque de Soleil. She also is trying to stand on her guitar (a la Dralion clowns) and climb up the curtains. The kitchen curtain rod has already been pulled off the wall. I need to install a climbing rope that's in a weight bearing beam.

Funky NOAH Dancers

2008-08-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from the dance floor. These most best illustrate just how much Jazz and Kai got into it. Rowan had an early night due to a little worry about potential food allergen exposure. I think I was the only one really worried, but I didn't want to have wished I'd gotten him benadryl faster.

Jasmine in Weird Lighting

2008-07-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

This was a picture I liked from the NOAH conference, but endlessly cursed the lighting. Software can only do so much. I did manage to fix my flash's major red-eye production and used a little fill-in light and color cast fix and upped the contrast. GRRRRRR....

NOAH Series

2008-07-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

I've been on a little posting hiatus. I wasn't super happy about my NOAH pictures. I'm really crappy at taking indoor photos, my lighting technique sucks and my timing is generally off. Part of the added problem was that I wasn't taking very many photos. That makes it harder to find the few gems in the muck. I took a lot of muck shots that weekend.

It is a shame that I don't have more pictures. We had an incredible time at our first NOAH conference. Jasmine was over the moon meeting all these people. I don't think she'd ever met any adults with albinism before. She also met many, many xiǎo péng you (little friends).

One of her friends, Natalie, spent quite a long time with Jasmine racing back and forth in the grand ballroom. Natalie is five years old and ran so much that she even had Jasmine out of breath. Quite a feat.

These pictures came out great in terms of capturing movement, but the colors were massively funky. Very yellow, orange. Part of this was definitely due to the fact that the carpeting was a very ugly brown, yellow, orange, and part I think was the incandescent lighting. Combine this with my flash and I achieved some color casting that was truely appalling and unfixable. I don't know, maybe I'm being too critical. Anyway, here are the running pictures in black and white.

Jump!

2008-07-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

At first Jasmine hadn't thought about walking on the log, then she saw Kai doing it. So she wanted to stand, holding someone's hand. After a couple tries she could handle that pretty well, then she decided it was time to jump. I think it took three or four hand holding jumps before she was ready to climb up and jump off by herself. I was pretty impressed, since she can't see most of it. Jasmine has an awesome spacial memory.

Hanging on the Log

2008-07-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

The cormorant says to the painted turtle, "I wouldn't go over there, he already snapped at me."

The cormorant is between 28" - 35" high, and I'd estimate the snapping turtle was about the same in length. Not a turtle I'd want to mess around with. Enlarge the picture and check out those massive claws. At first, I didn't even see the little painted turtle.

You can see in the picture below, everyone was giving it a wide berth.

Yeti in High Contrast

2008-07-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yeti's favorite spot in the morning is the sunny rectangle in our front room. The rest of the room is very bright also, just not in comparison.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

We had a great day yesterday blowing up a ton of money -- I mean fireworks. I'm still working on my fireworks photographic techniques, but I'm getting better. I think I just need to blow more stuff up, just for practice you understand. It's all in the name of art. Really.

The sparklers were a big hit with Jasmine. I'm afraid she got a little too excited, but Rowan has very good reflexes. Kai thought her exuberance (or near alighting of their brother) was very funny. Once we got her calmed down we were able to start the real fireworks. Unfortunately, this year the booms frightened her and she wanted to go inside for the majority of the explosions.

I didn't expect her reaction since last year the pretty lights overcame the negative aspects of the sudden noise. She's been a lot more sensitive about her environment this year than last. She's still changing at high speed; I suppose it's all part of catching up to her chronological age.

Cormorants

2008-07-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

It seems the other birds weren't impressed by Cory's exaggerated estimation of his last fish catch.

Birthday Fun

2008-07-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

I took the boys out tadpole fishing on my birthday. Definitely a fun way to spend the day. It was very hot though, so we were only out for about an hour and a half.

We caught tadpoles, crawdads and baby trout and or bass. Hard to tell at this age.

The second picture shows our early progess. Eventually we had about fifteen tadpoles... which were the only things we were really counting.

The boys were frustrated at first because all the critters were swimming away. I gave them an impromtu lesson in redirection, the sneak attack and the net and grab.

After all our fun, we released our catch, which was almost as much fun as catching them in the first place.

Jumping with Cindy

2008-07-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

Jasmine was crazy excited when Cindy came over to deliver some of our China photos. As you can see, they worked on Cindy's biceps. Inexplicably, when Jasmine wants someone to hold her hands and assist her in really high jumps, she says, "Watch me!" and then drags them off to the trampoline.

Looks pretty suspicious to me...

2008-07-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

I read to my kids every night. When I get into the reading room (aka the parents' bedroom) I realize I'm not technically necessary anymore. I mean, they're reading while they're waiting for me to read. I'm not sure if this is depressing, amusing or reassuring.

I sent in a picture to LOL cats. Silly site. Basically funny captions to cat pictures (and the occassional other animal). I'm still working on the whole concept of a punchline, but it's still fun.

Hooper Shrine

2008-07-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

We saw this shrine while driving near Hooper, Colorado. It's a memorial to Travis Wayne Anderson. A small family home is just about 100 feet to the east. At the shrine are boots, cans of Bud Light, a bullet, knife, CAT baseball cap, a Copenhagen chewing tobacco lid hidden in the mortar of the base, a sculpture or metal cast of helmet and gun. There is vast land and sky all around and the spot is frequently visited by all evidence, engendering a vast feeling of loss. It was hard to watch my son trying to understand it while I tried to comprehend the feelings of Travis' mother.

Celebrity Fashions

2008-07-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

I think you'd have to be REALLY famous to need this many pairs of sunglasses. I guess you have to start working at it early. Note the royal wave to the paparazzi?

And I'm Supposed to Eat This?

2008-06-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

I told Rowan he could have some cotton candy if he shared with his sister. He gave it to her and said in his high-pitched-I'm-talking-to-a-little-kid-voice, "Candy, Jasmine?" She tasted it, said "Candy hair," then gave it back.

She also calls Beef Jerky "Meat Gum", but she likes that. My spearmint Extra chewing gum is "Toothpaste Gum" and she likes that too. She prefers Cheerios over Fruit Loops and also likes ginger, garlic, Caesar salad, olives and mushrooms. The biggest surprise recently (that related to her food tastes) is that she loves Pei Wei's Blazing Noodles. She takes a bite, breathes through her mouth for a moment, flushes a little, drinks some water and then asks for more.

Ninja Prada Shoe Thief

2008-06-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

Ayi Cindy ('ayi' means 'auntie' in Mandarin) came to visit with Jasmine the other day. Two years ago, she came to China with us to get Jasmine and they still have a special bond. Miss Mei immediately asked Cindy to take off her shoes when she arrived. It's a common habit around here to keep the carpet nice, so Cindy slipped out of her heels. It quickly became apparent that there were ulterior motives.

Despite the general cleverness, it was a slow getaway.

YOINK

2008-06-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

We have a cherry tree. We have many birdie friends. We have yet to eat any ripe cherries ourselves.

Jaded Consumers

2008-06-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

Kai called his purple panda "P.P." for a while, then decided "Sammy" might be better. I think Rowan's snake is called "Slink" or something like that. I think they really wanted the five and a half foot tall spring-necked bird thing, I know I did.

Born Yesterday

2008-06-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

These are the cutest little knees we saw all day at the zoo. At the time of the photograph, this zebra was one day old. The Denver Zoo had a lot of caution tape around the enclosure so we couldn't get very close.

Running Triggers the Predator Instinct

2008-06-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

Jasmine's now fast enough to catch up to some of the joggers. This nice lady was passing us for the third or fourth time as we walked along her circuit. Jasmine must have thought it was an invitation.

As we watched Spiderwick this evening with the kids, Jasmine fidgeted and talked and wrestled and giggled and talked. She must have been watching a little though, the first thing she did at intermission (right after a Mallory fencing with goblins scene) was to pick up a sword. Suddenly she burst out, "Super Jasmine!" I thought I was going to fall out of my seat laughing, which of course caused her to call it out again and again. Then she and Kai engaged in a sword fight (plastic sword and walking stick) and took turns with dramatic death scenes.

Bunny with an Attitude

2008-06-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

"I am your plants' worst nightmare."

Actually, I don't mind so much. Cute counts a lot in my book. 'Sides, the local foxes know they hang out in our yard so I think things generally even out.

Quack

2008-06-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

Our local tiny pond has a family of ducks. Daddy Duck was in a fowl mood (old but required joke) and was chasing all the young ones around. He steered clear of momma duck though. Some domestic strife, perhaps one of the young ones just wrecked the family car. There has to be a good caption for this top picture.

The duck family was happy with the bread bits we brought. Kai and I threw out pieces, Jasmine ate half and threw half, but happily called out "Duckies!" when they came close. She liked them quite a bit. I'm glad she could see them so well.

Best Bugs Ever

2008-06-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

I think Jasmine has found her favorite bug ever. The cicadas were everywhere making noise and walking around in a lethargic way. She spent most of the hike holding one or another of the little creatures. They held on just strong enough that she could feel them, but didn't pinch. They walked, but slowly enough, she figured out how to move one hand in front of the other in the classic holding an animal treadmill fashion. They were also high contrast in her hand and didn't seem to mind beong petted gently or viewed from a few inches away.

All that pink is mind boggling. She's enameled and enamoured with pink nail polish. At least she's holding a giant black bug, otherwise I'd have to give out a Barbie alert.

Walker Mansion

2008-06-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

John Brisben Walker built this mansion on Mount Falcon in the early 1900's. It's quite high, but the trailhead to Castle Trail is only about 30 minutes from our home by car. The weather was mild, threatening to rain, but the trails were wide and flat with the exception of some mini-arroyos from previous storms. Cicadas were calling and clicking; pre-storm weather heightens the mood? More on them later.

Going to see ruins creates quite a bit of interest in kids. I think it's easier to get them into nature if you show it taking over something man-made. Maybe it's the spooky factor, or could be the romantic (think Byron, not Harlequin) aspects. Whatever it is, it gives me a general sense of impermanence. How Hindu/Buddhist/Taoist of me.

Mountain lions deer kills do that too. It does have subtle differences. It's grosser and more effective in keeping kids from wandering away during a hike. These pictures almost made them seem too cute even though it's in the neighborhood next to the state park we generally hike, Roxborough.

So anyhow, we did about five easy miles, Jasmine managed about three of them and then begged her way into a shoulder ride for the other two. I shouldn't have fallen for it. When I brought her home, Theo took her for a two mile walk and said she ran most of the way. She's scary in the stamina department.

Rowan didn't make it on this hike. He's still suffering from an intermittant fever. Last Tuesday his fever shot up to 103 F and then 104 F. We were having a hard time making any dent in it with Tylenol or Motrin, we ended up resorting to luke warm baths. I think he's had about a dozen this week.

A visit to the doctor on Wednesday wasn't illuminating and then his fever started to climb. The highest it got was 106 F. We got some blood tests, but no word yet on what it might be. No one else is showing any symptoms and he has no other symptoms (other than lethargy). He's currently on antibiotics, but they've only taken the edge off the fatigue and fever heat. Now when his mood deteriorates, we take his temperature and he's back to 103-ish. Another trip to the doctor tomorrow I think. :(

His spirits are good though and he's horsing around with Kai when his temperature is normal. We went to see Get Smart -- I figured he was up for that. People getting hit in the groin, a barf joke, a rat in one's pants and bare buttocks seem to really lighten the spirits of a seven year old.

On the Way

2008-06-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

I think that half of the fun of hiking in a new place is the things you see along the way.

I was trying to figure out who lived in this neighborhood (all dependant on tone of course): modest and content people, a group that is expressing just how weird things are, lawyers afraid of overstating the benefits, someone who wanted to give their English spelling teacher coniptions, people who'd just bought a multi-million dollar mountain mansion and realized nine months out of the year they will be snowed in and three months innundated with hikers going to the trailhead, some friend of Kay's... I dunno.

North of Hooper

2008-06-18T21:29:00.001-07:00

As you stand at this sign the view is almost identical in all directions and the air has a certain je ne sais quoi or perhaps it's more l'air des fous d'avril. To the left, northward there is a slight white suggestion of a building. This was indeed the pool and a hot springs pool at that.

It was definitely our kinda place with the kiddie pool filled with the nose fluids of a metal dragon fountain.

The boys were kind enough to play a little in the kiddie end since I hadn't brought a suit.

Crime Scene

2008-06-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

I should probably be more disturbed than amused, but I'm not.

I found this the other day while cleaning up. It's a fast food kids' meal Sponge Bob Squarepants toy. I believe his dead body has been respectfully covered by a napkin, but the gory "blood" has leaked through. Apparently it wasn't a theft gone wrong, note the Chuck E Cheese tickets left behind.

I never got a clear answer....

Finger Painting

2008-06-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Jasmine loves to check out women's nail polish. Sometimes she'll check to see if they have matching toe nails. I'm not much of a girly-girl. (Okay, that's a bit of an understatement because when I wear a dress or make-up, I feel like I'm in drag.) But if she's into it, s'okay by me -- as long as she keeps playing pirates and bug hunt with us. :) I've done her nails with bright blue, silver glitter and a fairly traditional dark pink. The boys have been following suit. I guess I'm the odd one out.

This time when I got out her paints and she decided to do her own manicure... and pedicure.

Mysterious Path

2008-06-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

There is a theme to locations near the sand dunes. There is a great deal of empty space all around them, so much so that each one becomes rather surreal. This particular example was the "Path to the White Rock".

Soundless Woosh

2008-06-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, now I'm really craving something with more oomph in the telephoto department. This is the best my current little lens can do ... but I have to admit, I was happy with this shot.

Rare Event

2008-06-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an actual picture including me. Weird. Kai's looking tough, but I don't know why. He was in a great mood. Maybe he was just posing for the camera.

A couple of gals with their boys took this and I returned the favor. They also helped me set up the shade tent when the wind was still fighting me for it.

The Merely Breezy Day

2008-06-14T16:53:00.000-07:00

This was our one non-exfoliating day at the dunes. I still had to weight down our shade tent to keep it from flying away. It was a great day to be out, the creek was running and the boys took their sled up the dunes for a few hours of speed freak fun. My only regret is that it was the only day with mild enough wind that we could fly kites and I left them in the car. Ugh.

I stayed at the bottom of the dunes with Jazz. It's a bit too hard to take her up and she was mostly interested in the water anyway.

She wore her full body UV blocking suit that day and I can proudly say she came home with no sun burns at all. She was the only one of us. Each of the boys had a slight burns on the face from missing spots. I got a mild burn on the back of my neck. Goofy.

More Walsenburg Lawn Sculpture

2008-06-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the wonderful art pieces in Walsenburg. I wonder what our Community Association would do if we put something like this up. Their spleens would probably explode.

I think the two totem pieces are made from used propane tanks. I was wondering if the top left totem lit up at night.

I really want to learn arc-welding. Here's a site that will make you feel the same way if you don't already: http://www.zhibit.org/rfimages

Camping Karaoke

2008-06-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Jasmine got this plastic microphone as a Christmas present from the Anchor Center. It has a spring inside to amplify the voice. It makes a great camping toy as it can withstand drips, drops, dirt and needs no batteries. It probably also repels bears and mountain lions.