I can see clearly

Today we are drinking iced tea, taking long naps, visiting in air conditioned cave-like coolness, throwing wedding bells into butter churns, climbing recliners, pushing a tricycle around the kitchen floor, and laughing at our reflections in the oven door. We are musing about "home" and living a vacation.

To the Beach

Today we went for a quick day trip to the beach. Actually it was more like a lunch trip than a day trip because we drove during Luke's morning and afternoon naps and we were only at the beach for about three hours. Still we got to enjoy delicious chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, sand in our toes (and diaper), and some cinnamon rolls for the road. It was sandy and salty and thirty five degrees cooler than Shafter. It was a beautiful jaunt.

Monkey Suit

It is so right that Luke rhymes with Cute. He was the hit of the wedding on Saturday (after the bride and groom of course). There never was a sweeter, more interesting, intelligent, or handsome boy.

And here comes the Shafter heat. Yesterday we arrived in Shafter to a balmy 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Today's just more of the same. We're taking it easy in the air conditioned house, Derek working on his sermon and me reading a book and playing with Luke. Mom's taking a class from today to Wednesday so she's not home, but Dad's home with us recuperating from a blood clot in his leg (we found out why his leg was hurting when he and Mom went to the ER Saturday night in Sacramento).

More pictures and stories tomorrow. Today I am tired, and am going to lay down here in a few minutes when Luke goes down for his nap. It's time to rest, at last.

We're in California

It's not as hot as we thought it would be.

Flying with a toddler is as fun as it sounds (not).

Internet is being uncooperative, so expect pictures Monday.

Get 'er Done

Today we are ploughing through last minute things before our trip. Tomorrow we leave for sizzling California, so to prepare we are packing sunblock, sunglasses, hats, flip flops and bathing suits, tank tops, ice cold beverages, and a camel.

That's right, we are leaving this green and golden valley for the piping hot Western shore. Most people, when they hear that I grew up in California and moved to Manitoba ask incredulously, "WHY?!" When I tell Californians that I'm leaving Manitoba to come to the SJ Valley in July, they ask incredulously, "WHY?!"

Yes, why would anyone choose to subject themself to 112F temperatures when they could be sitting in the shade on their new deck watching the birds chirp cheerfully in the sprinkler? Why would anyone wander around in the pounding heat with a ten pound camera, wearing long black pants? Why would anyone give up their gloriously cool car, parked in a slightly chilly garage for a stifling vehicle with a seat belt so hot you can't buckle up for seven blocks? Why would someone pay $400 to go 2,000 miles to stand in the sticky, murky heat?

No, really.

Why are we going to California in July?

Scratch and Lick

Someday I'm going to put books away and find that several pages from this book have been eaten.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Oh the wonderful things we can do with a toilet paper roll! What fun we can have with a simple piece of cardboard. Forget the fancy colorful plastic contraptions from expensive children's outlet malls. Give us a rock or a stick, or an ordinary sheet of paper and our imaginations will take us across galaxies, beyond time, through mysteries never pondered by the likes of humans. The most complex challenge of all: convincing Mom that without another bite of brownie the entire human race will be snuffed out like a candle.

Daddy's Shirt

Luke tried on a big boy shirt last night and it was obvious that he's just not a big boy. For now he's just a cute boy.


This is the way Luke talks on the phone. He picks up the receiver and says, "Hi!". The other day when Charity and the kids left he waved and said, "Bu-dye".

All Opposed to Strawberries, Say Nay

Nay.




Charity and her kids came over yesterday and helped cut strawberries for an hour. They took home 3 jars of jam (at my insistence). 35 jars and 5 more batches of strawberry jam to go.



Forgive me for being sick of strawberries. This is sweet peas all over again (if you don't know the story here is the reader's digest version: I wanted sweet peas for my wedding bouquet so we planted tons of sweet peas. Then the volunteers from the year before came up and we spent hours - HOURS - every day just cutting sweet pea flowers to keep them blooming until the wedding. By the time May 22nd came around I wasn't sure I wanted sweet peas in my wedding bouquet anymore). Just too much of a good thing. I finally finished cutting the tops off of all the strawberries this morning, and the rest of these berries are going in the freezer as they are. Maybe next year I'll have the nerve to make more jam with the frozen berries that are already cleaned and cut. Although I think we're not going to need jam again for a very long time.

I Can't Turn it Off

This is a sweet video of Luke pointing to my nose. I wanted to put a video up of Luke screaming, because there sure was a lot of crying yesterday. Nap times got messed up and then barely happened, and grumpiness set in with a vengeance. At first I thought, "it would be cruel to put up a video of Luke's crying". Then I thought, "But they get to turn it off whenever they want! I have to listen to it as long as it lasts". And I must admit I felt a little sorry for myself at that point. So you lucky duck - you get to turn it off.

Jam Jam Jam

Sorry I don't have a new picture of Luke today, but I put in this video from a few days ago. We went out for breakfast with grandma and then went grocery shopping to get the rest of the ingredients for jam. Derek has been begging for homemade strawberry jam for years, SO - today we are making strawberry jam! I have $72 worth of strawberries, a HUGE bag of sugar, and lots and lots of pectin. After I had cut the green tops off of one pail of strawberries I realized that to finish this jam I must remember that I love my husband very much. And he better love me.

Talking on the Phone

Luke is very good at saying, "Hi!" at appropriate times now, and his little voice is so high pitched and airy. Friday night at Harv and Helene's we were in the basement with the kids, playing with the plastic kitchen set and Luke picked up the phone, rolled the back of his wrist up to his ear so that the phone was in the crook of his arm, smiled and said, "Hi!". He was so proud of himself, and also sort of confused when grandma's voice didn't come back through the phone. When nobody returned his conversation he placed the phone back in its receiver.

These pictures are from Derek's grandma's birthday party in the park yesterday evening.

Video Bonanza

I only captured the Walter walk for a few seconds in each of these videos because Luke gets distracted by the video camera. Today we are going to do "Where's Luke's nose?" on video, so hold tight until monday.

bonus video

It's been a while since I posted a video and I wanted to post this one before it got too old. I temporarily lost my video cable, but now that it's found we will make up for lost time.

Working With Dad

This little boy helps Dad build his new desk. Derek needed a place to put all of his books and the laptop, since the desk in our bedroom is really for bills and my photography stuff. So we got a mission style desk from Pembina Valley Online last night, and Derek and Luke assembled it. Luke especially liked the feel of the styrofoam padding in his mouth.

If you ask Luke where his nose is he will now point at his own and then at yours! I'm hoping to have a video of this for you before the week is through.

Another thing I've been noticing lately and trying to capture on video is Luke's walk. It is distinctly Walter-esque (my grandpa). Luke puts his arms out behind him like little wings when he walks, and sometimes when he's just standing around he puts the top of his wrists on his hips. These things aren't learned, they're genetic!

Summer Fun

Jaime and Helene came over with Cameryn and Roehn for breakfast casserole and fresh fruit.

Flowers from my garden for our breakfast table.

Summer brunch with grandma and Cammy.

Berry Pickin'

Yesterday after lunch Luke and I went berry picking at Katie's house. Sure enough, it's strawberry season! Finally! Today we are going to the Farmer's Market to get as much produce as we can get our hands on...including strawberries. We love strawberry jam, so I am going to buy enough to make it for the first time. Yesterday we just got this little pail full, which was just perfect for snacking on. Luke pulled a few green strawberries off the bush and squished them in his fist before shoving them in his mouth, stem and all! It was hard to keep his dirty little fingers out of the pail. Luke sure liked berry picking.

Today is also Derek's birthday. I bought him a bicycle for his birthday a few months ago, but we will celebrate again this evening with his favorite meal - warenika and farmer sausage. We are going to celebrate again on Friday with the whole family (it's actually for all July birthdays - we have 4!).

27 Hour Camping

some scenery from our morning drive

playing in the bed of the truck (aka a secure place to leave your wandering toddler)

Our camp

Well, camping was perhaps not all that it could have been. We didn't leave until Friday morning because we were worried that if Luke didn't sleep well Thursday night we'd have a miserable day Friday and end up coming home right away. So we left Friday morning and we had a very nice day, Luke took all of his naps in the tent just fine, it was sunny and warm, and Derek and I sat around reading the entire day. Then we roasted wieners and after Luke went to bed we roasted marshmallows.

The night went well too, I guess. Except that Luke woke up at 5:30am. We stayed in bed until 8am with Luke crawling all over us and into suitcases and tossing all the diapers around the tent. When we got up and went outside - it started to rain. Instead of sitting in the rain we decided to go for a drive. We picked up some coffee, Luke immediately fell asleep, and we drove around some really amazing countryside. When we got back to camp it started to rain again so, you guessed it, we went home. And after my two hour afternoon nap, I was glad we had come home so I could "sleep in my own shower" as my grandma once said.

The Petting Zoo

Yesterday Luke and I braved the crowds to visit the petting zoo. I re-discovered I am not a "crowds" kind of person. And as it turns out I am also a party-pooper. We walked through the fair, up to the petting zoo, petted the animals, snapped some pictures, and walked back to the car. Luke tried to stop and dance to the children playing violins on stage and I only let him dance a little before I dragged him off again towards the car. Oh well, we saw the animals. Which was a very serious business for Luke. He didn't smile once, although he was brave and reached out to pet them all on his own.

We are leaving to go camping as soon as Derek gets home from work this evening, so there won't be a post tomorrow. We'll return with a very colorful post on Monday with all the weekend's adventures!

He's a Reader

Sure enough, this little guy is a reader. Last night Derek and I were laying in the living room reading our books and Luke walked over. First he sat down on the floor with Derek and picked up Derek's Greek Reader and started paging through it as if he was interested in purchasing a copy for himself. A little while later when Derek and I were both on the couch Luke walked over carrying two of his own books and tried to climb up on the couch with us. I helped him up after he set his books on the couch and he sat in between Derek and me and read "On the Farm", and "God Always Cares" before he ran out of steam and had to go play with a ball or a guitar or something more tactile. Still later it was awfully quiet and I found Luke sitting under the coffee table going through a stack of books I had put there within his reach.

Today is Canada Day (like Independence Day), and Luke and I are celebrating by going to the petting zoo which is being held in the parking lot of the grocery store this afternoon and evening. There's lots of other kids' entertainment that Luke is not quite old enough to enjoy, and live music and steak dinners for $5! We may also be eating steak. We're not really doing anything to celebrate this holiday other than taking advantage of the free petting zoo, but we ARE going camping tomorrow night through Sunday. I am excited and anxious about our first camping trip with a toddler - hopefully Luke doesn't wander off!

If you were wondering, my allergy tests all turned out negative. At the end of the test my arm was no more red than it should have been after being poked fifty times with sharp little sticks...but it was more blue!