Monday, September 15, 2008

Ike, and other stuff

Yeah, I didn't think that I'd be using a title like that on this blog... but given that it blew out our power way up north here (and still helped generate hurricane force winds elsewhere in the state), I guess it is appropriate.... We lost our power last night about 7:15 and it came back today around noon we think. Sara had a much needed bath by flashlight light... which she kind of liked. We also had one of those glow sticks so she had fun playing with that. She even came with me to check on some of our neighbors that are of rather advanced maturity, shall we say. Of course, the pharmacy at the end of the block had power the whole time. In someways, very similar to "the blackout" but not as long thankfully. Lots of big branches and trees down between here and work, but otherwise the lack of power was the only thing we really had.

Of course, Danette spent the weekend in Chicago at a shower for D'Arcy. Which was well-attended including Cari and Kristin. I guess it was a lot of fun, but more than a little wet in Chi-town. Danette had a wee-bit of a bumpy landing on her way back - not to mention several hours of delays on the way out. All in one piece though. :)

Sara and I stayed behind, cleaned the floors, washed the windows, worked in the coal mines... okay, maybe not. But we did play with her Duplo blocks. Pretty average weekend here with a two-year old... some fun, a little battle, some fun, a bit more battle, some hugs, maybe a nap, and some "little snacks" :) We did some food shopping and even hit the bookstore. On Saturday we also made a trek to my office... good halls for running off steam and staying dry... plus I got to remove at least 6-inches of books and junk of a couple of desks, so minor progress in cleaning up my office. I am sure there are other good tales to tell.... but that's all for now.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

The end of summer

Well, it is clearly the end of summer already. School has started, and even though all the grass in town brown, we are beginning to see some rain this weekend. I won't use that four-letter b--- word, but the past few weeks have been full. So much so, that I will probably not scratch the surface in this post, but oh well....

So, we think Sara may be priming for another growth spurt. After finally kicking all the stomach bugs of the summer her appetite picked up with abandon again. She has also been needing more sleep than she has been getting (nap times at school have been erratic lately, which is at least part of it). She is definitely getting stronger and more coordinated. Sara is now almost a full-on pro on her tricycle, clearly a highlight of the day when there is time to go "pedal" after dinner. She is also into running and hopping all over the place now. After dinner tonight she rode her tricycle and then ran sprints up and down the sidewalk, laughing the whole way, all of her own accord for a good 10 minutes. Some of that was probably overtiredness hyper syndrome (or "the sillies" as we call it), but still there was a bit of strength and stamina shown there. Sara's imagination is growing all the time too, talking about things she would like to do with her friends, things she is making in the kitchen, and even started talking to some of her stuffed animals. Daycare (school) is going pretty well too. She has had some transitions there with some of her best buds either moving up to the preschool or out to another preschool... though it seems that some of them miss her too.

We have also begun to see the end of diapers. Still has some to wear at night for a while, but things are going well there. A nice step, but now we are beginning the grand tour of restrooms around town... to be expected, but that's where we are at. Once we feel like we have this one down for a while, we may make another push at the 'big girl bed.'

What else... I was out of town for a week on business, the week before school started. That was a bit of a trial all around for various reasons but it ended reasonably well. This semester is a full one. It is has been a while since I have taught multiple classes with labs and field trips in the same semester, not to mention it has been a while since I taught one of my classes. Plus, there is another big flyby of Mercury coming up and that will be looming large in the window over the next month.

Okay, enough jibberish, how about some pics... these are all from Labor Day weekend actually.

On Sunday we went to a local County Fair so that the little girl could see some farm animals (as we drove to and from school we kept hearing tales of people walking their cows, and she couldn't be persuaded that these smaller animals were dogs). We all had a lot of fun. We got there before the crowds picked up and the weather was decent in the morning.



Requisite John Deere photo



This time on a Kubota digger



Asserting some independence by finding her own bench to eat her french fries at the fair.



Enjoying her first mixer beater with homemade frosting on it...