Saturdays Again

Well, like the recent lunar eclipse, it seems our winter has cast it's darkest shadow and is now letting more light shine into our days and weekends. Thank God. It's taken the last 8 years to slowly get used to the perma-dark-overcast-raininess of the Pacific Northwest that spans from late October to March. Now that I'm in business for myself, it's not a big deal to WORK in this kind of weather (good rain gear & lots of hot tea help.) But it's still incredibly challenging to PLAY in it. I don't know, but taking Evie for a run in the cold rain with a headlamp doesn't seem like a great way to spend quality time together.

So weekends have been limited to how many different ways we can stack couch cushions and jump on them or reading a good book - for the hundredth time - until now!

We've managed to enjoy the unexpectedly sunny weekends and log a couple trips to the park and a recent father-daughter hike on a local peak - Little Mountain.

On a rather brisk but sunny (and dry!) Saturday, the local park was a haven for Evie to finally shake off some cabin fever and slide her winter blues away.





Evie and I went, " iking" together this past Saturday with George on a local lookout point where we got to see the little "owses" in the "ouwn" while hearing the "hoo-hoooo" of the "tain". That's Mt. Baker in the background, our backyard glaciated volcano. Probably wait a few more years to hike that with her - she's waiting until I get in shape.



After a half hour of hiking with her in my backpack and sharing my wilderness expertise with her - "Look! The green moss is sooooft Evie. Ooo feel, the tree bark is rough-rough. The pine cone falls, dowwwwwwwwn to the ground" - we finally stopped to eat our provisions and head home. It was then that she discovered the switchback trail. OK, it might look like a paved wheelchair accessible path, but to our little mountain goat, it was pure joy.


I'm not kidding, she ran up and down this thing at least a dozen times giggling, wow-ing, and panting only to say "more?!" It was exactly what I have been longing to feel and hear after a winter of holed-up Saturdays. And I echo her request - MORE!



Thanks for traveling along with us,
Jimmy

Bits and Pieces

Jimmy and I usually pride ourselves on how we sort of weave these posts together, as if the thoughtfulness behind the theme of each one offsets our inability to post more frequently. Now I've even lost that. So here are some random bits of life with Evie June for you to enjoy. If you can come up with a good theme, please leave it in the comments!

1. Evie is potty training. Sort of. So far her best score on the day is three times in the potty, three times in her Curious George underwear. What have we learned? To cover the furniture with old towells (its like we got a puppy or something), to take her to the potty every half hour, and that like her father, she's got no booty. Without that diaper to keep things up, well . . . see for yourself.


2. When we started this blog back in India, people used to ask all the time what Jimmy did all day. In that spirit, I'm going to show you: Jimmy's been building a house for our good friend Cathy. Cathy's been blogging beautifully about it (say that three times fast), and you should check it out if you haven't already. Yesterday, Evie June and I headed up to the job site in Bellingham to check out the progress. This picture was taken from the second floor looking down into the living room, complete with amazing timber frame construction. For those of you not in the know, that means really pretty wood and really big beams.


3. And while Evie June hasn't learned yet how to side a house, Jimmy did teach her this. And that's a Mr. Potato Head earring by the way.


Jen