Sleep, Its What's For Dinner

We are sleep training this week. Started 2 nights ago. Mr Windham thinks it is fun to play in the wee hours of the morning. And he doesn't like it when we don't want to play with him. Go figure.

The first night it took an hour to get him back to sleep. 5 minutes of crying, then 10, then 15, then 20…So much fun!

Last night only 45 minutes.

So if you want to chat between 2:00 and 3:30am (those are his preferred hours), go ahead and call. I'll be up.

This message typed with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Xtracycle Porn

Eliza is famous.



Some charming fellow (He called Eliza "Simply Gorgeous") started a photo gallery for Xtracycles. We are #141.

It is fun for me to see how other folks are doing it. (heh!) Especially how they haul the kids. Windham is almost ready for the Peapod. He already has a helmet. We found an old car seat for free in the neighborhood that I am going to attach to the snapdeck behind the Peapod for Harper.

Enjoy the eye candy.

AWESOME GOOD TIMES!

We had the most lovely day on Sunday.

Rewind to a week ago when I ran into Dylan in the beer section at the PCC. We both shed a quick tear over not seeing each other lately. So we devised a plan for a ride and a picnic.

We decided on Coulon Park down in Renton. It is a mostly flat ride through residential streets, a bike lane on Rainier and a a trail around Boeing Air Field. Oh, and just beyond the ginormous new "mall," complete with a Target and Joe's Sporting Goods. (This is important to the adventure).

Sunday morning we loaded up the kids, the charcoal, the food and off we went. Dylan and Grace joined us from an S24O over on Bainbridge Island. Ann Melone joined us from down the street. Boyd and Baby Nonah wished us pleasant riding (they would join us later at the park) and off we went.

It was an easy ride down to the park. Harper napped. Windham sang. Laramie told us stories of her kooky evening out with the lesbians.

We arrived at the park only to find the grill area closed off for unknown reasons. We found a great shelter area with a pit for our charcoal, but no grill. What shall we do?Dylan and I hopped on our bikes and went to Joe's (See?) where we found the most ingenious of cooking instruments. The Hot Dog Stick.

We got the coals going, grilled our sausages, both real and fake, and spent a lovely few hours eating, talking bikes and helping Harper float her devil duck.

We loaded up for the ride back home. I made sure Harper stayed awake so she could see the airplanes. We saw 4-5 taking off and as soon as one was in the air she would say, "More?"

We made it home with wind-kissed faces and only a few sore bums.

Jubilee Farm

Harper is all set in her pumpkin hat for our trip to Jubilee Farm. She entertained us most of the drive out with beautiful singing.



We are going to pick some pumpkins and ride a pony.


Our happy family posing next to some lovely pumpkins. We had many more to choose from this year. Harper kept tripping on the vines though. We ended up with an orange one, a green one and a striped green/yellow one.


Harper wanted to carry the rusty loppers the entire time. Better mothers might have considered the tripping vines and the fact the loppers are bigger than she as a reason to keep her safe. We are not those mothers. But alas, no injuries.


I think Laramie will be happy when the boy is over the boob. But she looks so peaceful/melancholy/lonely/tired/content in this photo.


Little children on pumpkins, what could be cuter? We are going to make room in our yard plant our pumpkins once they are done. I can't wait to have our own little pumpkin patch.


We put Windham in the backpack ofr the first time. He loved it. He had a great perch and a nice handle to gnaw on as we toured the farm. He is getting a third tooth on the bottom and one front tooth and two to either side of his front teeth on the top. He is growing like a weed on speed.


Harper's first pony ride. She wasn't excited about it when we went over to see about a ride the first time. But as the afternoon went on, she finally asked if she could ride a pony.

The kids were a bit sleepy but we had a lovely time. It was a beautiful day and I can't imagine spending it any other way. Jubilee Farm is now an October tradition in our family. Next year we are going to drive the bikes to Fall City and ride in on the bikes. The farm is nestled into miles of lovely, flat farmland. Perfect for a fall ride.

The Reason for the Season

17 days to go until we decide this thing.*

I am a tad bit obsessed with checking the news and listening to the talking heads.

Here are a few podcasts I am listening to on a daily basis:
The Diane Rehm Show
The Rachel Maddow Show
Talk of the Nation
The News Hour with Jim Lehrer

And a few weekly podcasts:
Slate Gabfest
Washington Week
Left, Right and Center
Real Time with Bill Mahr

All of these can be found through iTunes.

And checking on an, uhm, hourly basis
The Daily Beast
Huffington Post
Slate

I don't have time to read most of it but I feel comforted just reading the headlines. I need a job where I get paid to read all day. Any ideas?


* Or the Electoral College decides for us.

How to Eat a Tomato: by Harper

Your Shoes, They're So…Simple

So Simple Shoes is having a drawing for a free pair of shoes. Since these are my favorite pair of shoes right now and I want a second pair in brown, I am playing along.

My shoes:


Their video:


It is actually interesting if you like Enviro Friendly Companies/Cool Shoes/Stop Action Animation/Wasting Time At Work.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Proud Momma: Harper Riding Her Bike

Food

I like to think about FOOD. I like to think about eating it, cooking it, growing it, buying it. Where it comes from, how it tastes, how fresh it is.

Michael Pollan has an open letter to the Pres-elect explaining why he will need to think more about food. To sum up, the food we eat and how we eat it in this country has become a fuel suck, unhealthy for us (leading to increased health care cost) and a threat to our national security.

Pollan does a great job of tracing the history of how we got to where we are today. He also provides some concrete ideas about how we can get on a new path. Or back on an old path with a new pair of sneakers. We need more of this:

Sunlight nourishes the grasses and grains, the plants nourish the animals, the animals then nourish the soil, which in turn nourishes the next season’s grasses and grains. Animals on pasture can also harvest their own feed and dispose of their own waste — all without our help or fossil fuel. -Wendell Berry

I often dismiss the cries of higher food prices (as well as higher gas prices) because I tend to believe we, as Americans, think we are entitled to cheap gas and cheap food. What we don't realize is that the cost of our current food system is much, much higher than the price at the grocery store.

So buy organic, buy local. Buy grass-fed, heck, buy some hens and eat fresh eggs every day. Grow some plants you can eat. Shop only on the outside aisles of the store. Join a co-op. Kill your microwave. Shop at your local Farmer's Market. Ride your bike or walk more. Eat up all the food you have in your cupboards before you buy more. Can or Freeze your own food. Buy in bulk. Recycle. Chew slowly and sit down every night for a meal with your family. Compost. Start a worm bin. Smile more.

One Big Happy

I love these types of family photos. Try as we might to get everyone looking forward and smiling at the same time, it NEVER works. Why do we continue to try? What is that definition of insanity from the guy with the crazy hair? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Ahh, family life.

Thanks for the photo Riki.