Miki's Farm

A few weeks ago Ericka tacked a big swath of green felt to a wall in our house and "Miki's Farm" was born. We gave her a basket of felt, farm-related cut-outs; a barn, a cow, horse, farmer, tractor, chickens, etc...and let her go at it.

I've been observing over time how Miki initially engages with items, toys, books or whatever and then shys away from them for a time. At first I was disappointed and thought, "well, so much for that, she doesn't like it." However, eventually she goes back to all these "ignored" items, when I assume, her internal time tells her she's ready to manipulate it again. It's interesting and I'm sure it's quite common; perhaps the beginning of the development of a human's affinity for certain hobbies?

Hippie Chic

How ya' like me now?!

The Many Faces Of...

I can't recall exactly what was going on here... I think we were at the dinner table asking Miki to show us her "cold face", her "scared face", her "surprised face" and her sign for the "itsy bitsy spider".

Classic Cuddle

Miki fresh from her warm bath snuggling with Mama. I think Mama was also tickling her feet...

The Reading Room

We have this funky (seldom used) little foyer on the front of our house - I suppose it would be a "mud room" in Vermont - and the other day I decided to put a small chair in the corner and a few of Miki's books on the window sill. I've been telling her ever since that it's her reading room. She's been plucking some of her books from other places in the house and putting them on the windows as I demonstrated. A few mornings ago I caught her in her reading chair thumbing thru her copy of the Teddy Bear's Picnic.

Keeping Busy

All is well here on Vancouver Island. We haven't seen a cloud in the sky for 7 days! There's almost no wind during the day, it's never too hot and the stars at night are amazing.

Papa has been commuting to work these past few weeks via a mountain bike. It's high time he seriously put some energy (and $$$) into getting a proper road bike. I feel like Miki looks in this picture after the 30 min. jaunt. Why is it so easy to fall out of shape, yet so darn difficult to get back into shape?

I had a fire call earlier this week at around 9:30am; a natural gas line in town was mistakenly cut by a guy digging with his backhoe. He got a $1,500 fine, we had to evacuate a general store, a church and about a dozen homes, close 2 lanes of traffic for 2.5 hours and deal with the potential, "flame-throwing" chaos all while trying to keep gawkers at bay. Even in small, back-woods towns there's never a dull moment...

Our plan for the weekend is to get some pre-fall (rainy season) house chores done: chop & stack wood, clean rain gutters, sweep the roof of pine boughs and trim back the garden. Hopefully we'll be able to squeeze in a family bike ride on the local parkway trail. We gave it a go last weekend only to have the tire on Miki's chariot pop 30 minutes into the day. No spare tube nor portable pump so Papa had to bike back to the car and then go pick up the stranded family. Luckily, the mishap occured in a nice park next to a small lake.

Delaware-Pennsylvania Visit

Well, well, well, this posting and the accompanying photos are very late, I apologize, but I finally managed.

Our small family ventured back east about 1 month ago to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends for what amounted to 10 days touring Philadelphia, Baltimore, the Delaware seashore and numerous points in between. It was truly a whirlwind trip, 10 quick days sandwiched perfectly between 2 groups of Japanese students: 1 group left Vancouver the day we did and the other group arrived the day after we returned. This week (almost 1 month to the day!) is the first full week I haven't either had to deal with students or international air travel! Anyone for a beer...?

A brief re-cap of the first few days...

Departed Vancouver safely and on-time but, due to tornado sightings in the Chicago/O'Hare area (our lay-over hub), our flight had to make a semi-emergency landing in Wisconsin 'till things cleared up. It wasn't until midnight that we strolled off the plane into Philadelphia to meet Nana and Pop Joe - the ever reliable grandparents were there to drive us and fast-asleep Miki another hour back to their house. Day 1 began at 5:30am and ended at 2:00am. Ouch.

We spent the next couple of days hanging out with Nana & Pop; Miki absolutely loved all the toys scattered around the house and we had to peel her away from the Little Tikes slide numerous times. One Saturday morning we ventured over to a weekly Amish farmer's market. Ericka picked up some veggies and a roast chicken for lunch, I grabbed an amazing homemade pretzel and shared it with Miki. This was also the weekend that Miki got to meet her eldest cousin, Evan, for only the second time but they hit it off well, despite the age difference. It was sticky hot one afternoon so Pop dug out the kiddie pool and the 2 of them splashed around on the lawn while Nana kept a sharp eye out for any mishaps.

that's it for now, more to follow soon...scroll down for some other photos.

Baltimore & The 4th. St. Deli

Many thanks to Aunt Heather for taking me to the famed 4th. St. Deli in Philadelphia for lunch...and dinner. I've never had a sandwich stacked so high and so thick that it took me 2 meals to eat the whole thing! Awesome.

We spent a day in the city of Baltimore (thanks Pop, for the ball game tickets, more photos are on the way) with the Thibodeau/Cowan Clan, checking out the beautiful harbour, lounging in a massive Barnes & Noble and visiting a dear old friend.

Delaware Coast

We also spent a few days lounging at the Delaware seashore with Grammy, Gramps and Aunty Mac. We were very happy that Great Grandma Nanny and Great Aunt Dianna got another opportunity to see and hold Miki.

Nana's House

A red slide, a big plastic snail, the kiddie pool and a soccer ball. Nana's house had it all.

Cousins & Siblings

It was wonderful to see Aunt Heather, Cousins Evan & Sully and a last minute surprise visit by Aunty Mac! And best of all, Nana got to hold all 3 of the grandchildren for the second time.

Slides

Miki has an unquenchable fascination with slides. Mama & Papa dare not speak its name, we usually resort to spelling out said object.