Dad's commute to work

Since we're on the subject (see Heather's post below), I have to brag up the drive I take to work. In the darkest depths of Winter it's mostly done at night (except when coming home from night shift), but now that the solstice has passed, things will be getting better for the next six months! Probably my all time favorite commute was when I worked on Cocos Island in Guam.

We'd take a launch from Merizo at the South end of the island of Guam.

The boat would cross Cocos Lagoon...

...the view from sea level...

...and end up at Cocos Island....

Doing it in style was the route a couple of colleagues of mine managed. They rented a waterfront house in Merizo (a working stiff could afford to do that back in the day) and rode their windsurfers to work!

The boat that the employees took at the time was a small, open aluminum skiff, but I think that brought you a little closer to the elements and made the ride more gratifying. It was especially moving at night; the stars hung in the sky over you like an inverted bowl of cosmic proportions as if the surface you were perched on was the top of a ball and the sky above draped down to below the horizontal. Off on the horizon thunderheads would illuminate periodically from lightning flashes within them.

Absolutely surreal.

Perhaps it's the temperate winter or just plain nostalgia, but I really miss the place now.

Coming back to the subject at hand, the commute from Bellingham to the Keystone ferry terminal is one of the more scenic drives you can take.

I'm not the only one who thinks so, apparently.

Here's a few pix I've grabbed on the rare days when I had the foresight to bring a camera.

I like old barns. This is one of my favorites. It has "Summer in the Northwest" written all over it.





The Lucky Dumpster, my all time favorite name for a thrift shop, in the town of Edison Station (known locally as simply "Edison").





This picture conveys to me the sense of crossing the threshold, from land to sea. I look at this one and see the Olympics fading off into the distance on the left and in the center of the image, the water connects to the sky without any interruption. I get the same feeling from looking at this that I used to get when the ship I was on was leaving the last coastal port and starting off on the crossing.

Visiting Dad at Work

Sadly, Alex worked on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year. The kids and I visited him though and were treated to one of those incredible NW winter days when it's sunny, clear, and breathtaking on the water.

We visited the "Animal Zoo" on the drive up Whidbey Island. An odd shop off the road at Greenbank with an outdoor display of large fiberglass wildlife. The kids were delighted to visit and pose with the animals.












Alex works the Steilacoom 2 these days on the Pt. Townsend-Keystone run.


It's hard to convince Cole not to make a "silly face" for the camera.


We got to see the view from the pilothouse.


Admiralty Inlet.


We also toured the engine room (hearing protection required!).
It's hot and loud down there.


A little engine room holiday cheer.


Some beach time.




And one serious picture each - no eyes rolling or tongues wagging.




My favorite part of the day was watching an owl hunt on Crockett Lake. I think it was a short eared owl. My lens wasn't powerful enough to capture it but through the power of the internet ...

Visions of Gingerbread

I've always wanted to make a gingerbread house but it seemed like too much work. It is! But still a lot of fun.



The downside to baking with kids, mess. Notice mom's laptop just off Cole's right side and the explosion of flour.

Sweet Dreams

I was reminded tonight of what I imagined tucking my children in would be like ... long before I had children. I held Audrey bundled up in my arms after reading some story books, gently set her in her crib and wished her sweet dreams, tip-toed into Cole's room to find him sweetly sleeping. I pulled the covers up, gave him a kiss and turned the light off. This was pure joy and, as anyone who has put Cole and Audrey to bed knows, almost never happens so I'm reveling in it.

This miraculous feat was made possible by exhaustion not skill. Normally we'd be starting the bedtime ritual (bath, pajamas, books, snuggles) around 7 PM but last night we were playing in the snow and tonight we were petting an alligator at 8 PM. You can't keep kids from being excited about snow and who would want to. I didn't see any harm in shoveling snow and throwing snow balls even if it meant the kids weren't asleep until 10 PM. As for the alligator, Cole was spun over a thrilling assembly today at school. We went to the family event held in the evening though my first instinct was to say no (too late!). The Reptile Man brought a cobra, black mamba, alligator, rattlesnake, boa and other reptiles out of rubbermaid bins and paraded them in front of a packed house. He was an entertaining, informative speaker and captivated the kids and adults alike. At one point he talked up the Black Mamba as being the most deadly snake in the world - only a 10% survival rate from a bite - then solemnly asked the children to stay behind the orange cones because the snake is so quick and hard to handle. Kids were excited and parents were scared. A woman standing behind me looked horrified and held her toddler close while backing away. He reached into the plastic tub and appeared to be struggling with the snake and BAM out flew some spring loaded "snakes". I screamed. He then admonished the adults for causing our children to fear snakes through modeling. Guilty as charged, add spiders to that list. Cole touched the albino burmese python and the alligator. Audrey touched the alligator and didn't seem scared at all.



A show of hands for volunteers to hold the boa?


The lucky winner.

The one disappointment of the evening was that Cole really, really, really wanted a picture with the boa. To raise money for the "reptile zoo" children were offered the opportunity to have their picture taken with either the alligator or the boa for $5. No cash in my wallet. Cole asked for a pet alligator as well. I told him, yes, he could after he grew up and had his own house. He started bawling and said he never wanted to leave (hence could not have a pet alligator).

Thanks Julie!!!

So our pal Julie stepped up to the plate for us and remedied one aspect of our lameness by shooting over a few pix she snapped from Iowa (Thanks Julie!!)


This first one is of me trying to look as stiff as possible, Audrey trying to look as cute as possible, Cole planning out a way to either build or destroy something (he takes equal joy in both activities) and Heather with her usual wining smile. Note the thicker bundling vs. our visit last year. Although it wasn't too bad when this picture was taken, most of the time we were there, it was typically chilly for the midwest in November.
Julie had fun with Audrey, getting some of her little girl Jones satisfied. Audrey has a good time with all the female gender stereotypes (dolls, cooking, cleaning) but she also takes charge and isn't shy about laying the hammer down on her older brother. Teeth, fists, you name it.
I think she'll turn out to be a scrappy one when she's older!


The boys had fun with Cole and Audrey, and of course as small kids everywhere do, Cole and Audrey had a great deal of fun hanging out with older kids.
Wren (on the left) and Cedar (on the right) were about Cole and Audrey's age when they left the Northwest, so in my mind's eye, they're always that age when I think of them. However, as you can see, they've become very good-looking young men. Both very unique in terms of personality and disposition, but both the type of kid that any parent would be proud of. Heck, I feel proud of them and I'm not even related.
Great guys!


When Audrey grows up, I'm sure going to miss having a little girl around.

Catchin' up!

Dadblog happening here,
We've been remiss in our posts, so the kids got sent to bed early in order to facilitate our talking about them. Not too bad a deal actually as Cole has developed a bit of a sleep deficit recently as a result of staying up way late on the day he returned from Great Wolf Lodge.


As you can see in the picture above, we went to Iowa to check in on our friends, the Vogelschmidts.
Their boys are growing like, well, boys in the country. We'd show a picture, but ended up not even breaking out the camera. The picture is from Google images, so I'm officially a poser.
While we were there, we got to meet their friends Dennis and Lauryn, former Seattle residents who also moved out to Iowa. They not only host a couple of really great radio programs (Crooked Sisters' Radio Hour and Gravel Road Radio at KRUU in Fairfield, Iowa) but also make up the duo Truckstop Souvenir, who sound about as right on a you possibly can. Kind of a blend of Robert Earl Keene, Gillian Welch/David Rawlings and with songwriting a little reminiscent of Iris DeMent.


We decided that we (by "we", I mean "I", since this is my side of the driveway) were tired of stepping out of the car door into the mud, so we (by "we" I mean Heather) widened the driveway a bit. In the process, Heather got to show off the pick and shovel skills she developed back in the day when she was on trail crew at Glacier National Park.

Here she is showing the hardpan that makes such a great growing medium (for rocks and muck, mostly)
The pour turned out to be a little scary, since we were short a person or two. In the end Cole demonstrated why 5-year-old boys and ready-mix trucks don't mix and we did our darnedest to give the driver a few things to talk about at coffee when he got back to the plant. The end result was pretty satisfactory, though.

Here's Heather showing her qualifications for a "guvmint job". I think she looks kinda cute in black boots!
Love those dimples!

Before (above), and after (below).



Christina a.k.a. "older sister" has a new beau, and they both came out to join us in search of a Christmas tree yesterday (accompanied by friend and longtime babysitter to Cole and Audrey, Lauren).

We initially planned to go to Stoneyridge Farm, since it's worked out so well for us on numerous holidays past, but when we got there, we discovered that they're closed on Sunday. We ended up doubling back to an unattended self serve organic tree farm we saw on Everson-Goshen Road which turned out to be a winner!

In a novel approach to marketing oneself, here's a great picture of me showing my best side to the camera. This is the tree that the gang selected while I was dropping a payment off in the proprietor's honesty box.

Like any self-respecting boy, Cole has to get his hands on any sort of sharp tool he sees adults using, so he tried about 3/4 of a stroke with the bow saw before delegating the rest of the job to the Dad unit. Now that I see what those $9 shades look like to others, I'm thinking I should have bumped my budget up a notch or two (they look pretty good from the other side, though). Elton John is probably jealous of me!

Cole and Audrey were pretty happy with the tree's height. It was about 11', 9 15/16". This is a good thing, since the ceiling in our living room is 11', 10".

I discovered the value in testing the Christmas lights we saved from the year before, but only after getting frustrated by the fact that there were several bad strings after we got them up. After a late in the afternoon run to the store for a few more strings, plus a few dropped glass ornaments, we got it all done. I think we're all pleased with the results;

Not wanting to miss an opportunity to climb the ladder, Cole helped out a bit but eventually got bored and demonstrated it in the usual fashion;

Audrey and Grammy had some quality giggle time;

After getting their fill of decorating, the kids got to enjoy the story of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer in a digital format, priming them for the display set of toys from the movie.

The trip out to the county with a Northeaster blowing from the Fraser River Valley left Simon a little sub-cooled, so he donned Audrey's hat and gloves while sipping a cup of mint green tea;

Clearly a renaissance man. A very nice guy, as well. We all like him!
Besides, he looks good in pink and purple!

Bathing Beauty

Cole is having an overnight at Great Wolf Lodge with Aunties Gabe and Taj. Audrey is too young for a big water park but she got the undivided attention of both parents this evening. Not an even swap but still fun.

A bath is always a nice transition from crazy time to bed time. Bubbles were a must.