Go fly a kite

odds and ends

Who knew that paint rollers were such a great toy? Good thing we have two of them! We cleaned up and sorted through all the kids' old toys when assembling their corner (which we haven't decided what to call yet: corner, play area, play nook, jail) and found the old magnifying ladybug, aka Emily! Oscar was delighted, remembered her name, and has had a great time flying her around the house.

And today, my bulbs came. I only ordered 200 crocuses, not 400 like I had thought. And I used my old spreadsheet to decide what to order, but haven't emended it yet to reflect the latest order. I love that the globemaster alliums come in a sack just like regular onions! The bag of 100 yellow crocuses is my favorite so far. Unfortunately they arrived on a Monday! I will have to anticipate the planting for a whole nother week, dang it. 

The floor is still looking awesome, too.

John speaks!

I forgot to get him to say all the words he knows, like no and yes and turtle, but there's quite a few. Enjoy!



Bonus: cheers! We spent a long time using Google Translate to hear Prost, Skal, Salud, and everyone's favorite, Cincin!

another weekend, another outdoor adventure

 On Saturday morning we ventured out to the ridge behind our house. We didn't get very far up the hill but it took a good two hours! Secretly the walk from our house to the start of the trail is quite long, and it was such a hot day. Then Gramma and Pop-pop came by and took over while Eric and I made some halloween purchases....

The garden is surprisingly still going. Toba has four glorious berries, and the roses are even making new buds! Eric harvested all his vegetables and has at least 3 gallons of spicy peppers in the freezer, and maybe 1 gallon of onions.

On Sunday morning I made scones and then we all had a tea party! Oscar was a champion pourer. And when Eric got back from the store, he found a friend on the screen door, who attacked the camera viciously. Then Eric put up the storm door instead.

Scientist Mog

I found these pictures on the lab camera when I was downloading the pictures I had taken of hundreds of dead soybean seeds, and I thought y'all would like to see a scientist pretending to work. These were taken for a governmental magazine, showcasing the cryogenic work that other people do. It's nice to always have access to giant vats of liquid nitrogen, because they make such impressively science-y pictures! None of the tubes have anything in them. Also note the sweet safety gear. Oscar is way jelly of those gloves.

 

 

a haircut and a backpack

Annie, do you recognize this necklace? It's John's favorite!

 

Ready for a quick hike around the neighborhood?

 

We've been succumbing to illness, one by one, but now we may all be on the mend. Eric and I went to Eric's friend's wedding yesterday - by ourselves!! It was a wonderful night out, and a very lovely wedding. We're trying to enjoy the weather while it lasts, and keep everything going... Eric is sorting out his committee while also doing lots of new molecular assays for the rest of his lab, and planning to attend two conferences. I'm trying to finish research from my PhD while also getting data together for my next paper. Deep breaths all around.

New camera!

Oscar put his thumb in the lens of our old camera, and our stop-gap was terrible, and we can't use the iPad because then Oscar goes crazy. So this weekend we just got ourselves a new one! Then we went on an awesome hike up Mt. Margaret yesterday. Except Oscar kept calling it Mt. Elizabeth. The trailhead is about an hour drive up towards Red Feather Lake, a very pretty drive this time of year.

We went very far and Oscar mostly walked, and John mostly was carried. There is a lake too, but we turned the wrong way for the lake. I think we will try again soon, though. We saw lots of golden trees! We also saw lots of horses and burros. Most of the horses were in training on trails, and their riders were super friendly and encouraged us to come pet them, so the horses would be used to that kind of abuse. Eric remarked later that horses are not really comfortable to pet, which is true. They feel more like a wild animal might than a pet.

Oscar decided he had to take his shirt off, and found many good sticks, which he named. The one we carried longest was Whacker, and he was very happy to throw it in the stream when we crossed it on the way back. Everyone slept very well last night, that is for sure!

But first here are the few old pictures we have: John wearing a hat, John holding his bear, and the new sofa in its new home in the newly painted office. We will give a tour of all the new furniture arrangements and such soon, but we're not quite done painting and moving in yet.

For once I'm posting the original pictures huge, because they are so crisp. No fingerprints on the lens yet!

Forced family fun omygod...

 

Do you see the chipmunk? 20x zoom, totally worth it...