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Good times at the beach May 20, 2007

Last week we headed to Sanibel Island in Florida for a return trip to the beach. You can check out some pictures if you’re interested. It was fun and the kids had a good time playing on the beach. We felt pretty worn out by the end of the week as the kids were staying up late and getting up way too early. We had Ella and Truman in the same room at the beginning of the week, which they loved. But after a couple days, we’d had enough of the all-night and early-morning playtime and switched to putting one of them in with Beck, which helped a lot.

This was Beck’s first time on the beach and he had a blast. He loved crawling around on the beach, picking up shells, seaweed, and pretty much anything he could find. He had no fear of the ocean – he would spot it and crawl head first into the surf as fast as he could (when we would pluck him out of it). He really liked being held in the waves and moving up and down with the tide too.

Ella and Truman were able to amuse themselves for hours at a time on the beach – wading in the surf, collecting shells, digging holes, building sand castles, etc. My favorite memory of Ella was when she was playing by herself with some shells and started dramatically fake-crying. I asked her what was the matter and she said “I’m crying because the shells are so beautiful”. Oh, brother.

I took a boat ride into Tarpon Bay with Ella and Truman. This is a protected area with tons of birds and wildlife next to the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. We were really excited to see dolphins twice while on the boat. Both kids were excited about that but not too interested in the birds. They took turns trying out the binoculars (always looking through the wrong end) and generally were really good for an hour on the boat. About 40 minutes in, Truman conked out and slept hard on the bench.

We were a little disappointed in the Sanibel beaches for shells. Maybe we were just there at a really good time the last time, but there were far fewer shells and not as good a variety as the last time we were there. We also took several trips through the Ding Darling refuge and saw way less birds – I think last time we were there in September and there were a lot more birds migrating at the time. But we still saw a lot of interesting things and a bunch of raccoons this time, which was different.

Travel to and from Florida was not particularly fun but was really not that bad. Certainly could have been worse. The kids were great on the plane and Beck especially had a healthy nap in both directions.

Hello Dalai May 11, 2007

Last week Mary and I took a whirlwind trip to Madison, Wisconsin to see the Dalai Lama speak. We drove most of the way up on Thursday night, stopping at Chris and Lisa’s to see their beautiful new baby Lily. I love holding the little ones but I’m glad we’re done with that phase. :) We crashed in Rockford Thursday night and finished the trip up Friday morning.

When we got to Madison we had lots of time so we went to the UW Arboretum. We went to the visitor’s center and badgered the poor lady with questions about what we should do both at the Arboretum and around town. Then we took a nice little walk on some of the trails around the visitor’s center. There were tons of birds out – mostly red winged blackbirds and swallows. Here’s a nice nature picture for you.

Probably the coolest thing was when we were walking through the prairie area and a sandhill crane came circling out of the sky and landed maybe 30 feet from us. Here’s a picture I took if you’re interested. Later, we came across another one close to the visitor center. He yelled at us (apparently it was their guard call) and then took off.

After that we headed into campus and the main drag, State Street. Here’s a pic of Mary at the top of the art museum there with the capitol in the background. Here’s a slightly arty picture of the Orpheum Theater sign across the street. Just playing with the camera…

Eventually, we made it to the Kohl Center where the Dalai Lama was speaking. There were a number of loud crazy preachers outside and a reasonably large waiting crowd trying to ignore them. There were also a number of monks wandering around speaking with people. We just lay in the grass and watched the interesting crowd. We went in fairly early, which it turns out was a good idea as the security and large crowd (12,000) meant for big lines once the talk got closer.

In fact, they ended up starting about 30 minutes late. His Holiness the Dalai Lama came out and got some quick introductions from the chancellor and then he spoke for about an hour about compassion. I’m not sure I totally understood all of the points he made. At the end he answered some questions that had been collected from somewhere. One of the questions was about how parents can instill compassion in their children. The Dalai Lama offered a few ideas but at the end admitted that he had rarely spent time taking care of children so he wasn’t really sure. I think Mary felt good that he didn’t know the answers either. :) There was also a question about his daily routine where he talked about getting up very early (3 am) to meditate and how important breakfast was since monks do not eat solid food after noon. I got a kick out of his comment about his afternoon meetings: “Some meetings good; some meetings waste of time.” I hear ya.

He was also asked about the status of Tibet and the Chinese government. He spoke for quite a while about his negotiations and the aims of the Tibetan people. He said that they were willing to give up Tibetan independence if the Chinese government granted them autonomy and the ability to establish and manage their own culture, education, etc. That seemed like a new strategy to me, so I’m not sure if that was new news.

I didn’t take any pictures at the Kohl Center as there were many large and prominent signs saying not to do so. However, the Dalai Lama was in Chicago the following day and here is a good link to some pictures from the Chicago visit.

After the talk, we fought our way out of the Madison traffic and a long drive home in the dark and rain, and eventually a good sleep in our own beds. Definitely a fun trip and I had a great time talking and hanging out with Mary without the kids around for a change.

Ella’s birthday April 25, 2007

Ella turned 4 this weekend and we had a fun party at My Gym. I put some pictures of the event up right here.

Beck on the move March 22, 2007

Beck has been working hard the last few weeks on standing and crawling and today he is mobile! He started crawling forward for the first time today and wanted to do it all day. He also loves standing and is starting to get the idea about cruising but he’s really unsteady. Between crawling and standing, he has no interest in laying down or sitting anymore.

I posted a few pictures of him standing at the couch and crawling. You can tell he’s getting pretty chunky – he has been taking down food like it was going out of style. He’s not happy with baby food either – he wants what you’re eating, NOW. He’ll eat anything, or at least everything we’ve ever given him – chicken, waffles, bread, noodles, apples, etc.

He’s also very interactive and likes looking at books (he’s starting to turn pages), playing with big wooden puzzles, plays “so big”, like to play pattycake, etc. It’s usually easy to get him grinning as he is usually a happy boy. He’s been teething off and on for a while but has yet to cut that first tooth. He’s also starting to wake up in the middle of the night upset, maybe from bad dreams or just greater awareness of his environment. Traditionally, he’s been a champion sleeper, so that’s been unusual and distressing when it happens, even though I know he’ll be ok.

Happy birthday, Nick and Chris! February 21, 2007

Recently, Shag posted a slew of Nick pictures. Well, allow me to retort. I have here my own set of pictures to honor not only Nick, but Chris as well, whose birthday starts 15 minutes from right now.