At Play

(1/31/05) Goofing off in the sandbox. Grandma Maxine is making Henry laugh.

Santa Ynez

(1/30/05) Dale and Maxine took Henry to the miniature horse ranch this afternoon. The tractor shed was a bonus attraction.

Miramar Beach

(1/29/05) Maybe a walk on the beach will get things moving...

Afternoon at the Zoo

(1/29/05) Maxine and Dale take Henry to the Santa Barbara zoo.

Why? Why? Why? Why?

(1/28/05) Henry hit a new milestone today. We were looking at a book about trucks and he pointed to streetsweeper. "Daddy, why does the truck carry water?" I told him it was to wash the street. "Why does it wash the street?" I told him it was to keep the street clean. "Why keep the street clean, daddy?" Every child does this--there's so much to learn about the world and they want to learn it from us by asking "why." But we didn't think it would start so suddenly. I've heard the "why" question at least twenty more times today, and it's not even dinnertime!

Baby Shower

(1/28/05) Jill's friends had a shower for her at a downtown club. The place settings were beautiful and by all accounts the luncheon was lovely.

Keeping Busy

(1/23/05) Dale and Maxine arrived two days ago, and there's not much to do now but wait for Flower's arrival. Here Henry and "GaGa" wash the car. Henry is the wheel specialist, scrubbing the dirty wheels with a brush and then drying them with a cloth.

Doesn't She Look Incredible?

(1/22/05) Nine months pregnant, we're just waiting for labor to start.

Big Digger

(1/17/05) Another "big digger" sighting, this one near our house on Mountain Drive, cleaning up debris from the recent rains. We watch it for a while. Soon Henry begins imitating the digger, picking up handfuls of loose dirt, swinging his arm 180-degrees, and dropping it, as if into a dump truck.

Rude Giants

(1/16/05) We had lunch at the Nordstom's Cafe after church today. I read to Henry while we waited for our food. The book is one of a box that Aunt Jan sent us. They're Cousin Chris and Cole's books, some of which Jill gave them years ago.

A Shower for Jill and Betty

(1/15/05) Jill's "mother's group" from Trinity Church had a shower for Jill and Betty today. Laurie Goodner hosted it, and the "mother's of young children" enjoyed the great weather outside.

A Beautiful Day

(1/9/05) After near-constant rain since Christmas, we're all a little stir-crazy. Jill leads us all outside today, despite the rain, to play in the water and go ahead and get wet. She takes Henry through the puddles while I take pictures. Henry says, spontaneously, "it's a beautiful day".

Across our street, the usually dry creek becomes a muddy torrent. We've had a year-and-half's worth of rain in the first nine days of the year.

Baby Wenzel

(1/8/05) Betty and Pete's baby, later named Katharine ("Kate"), is born.

Brooks Institute Workshop

(1/8/05) I spend the day at the Brooks Institute of Photography, learning more about my digital camera. One technique I learn is how to blur the background of a photo so that only the foreground image is visible.

Hen's Tipi

(1/7/04) Hen and Jen make a tipi today, indoors. After two weeks of constant rain, we're all looking for more to do inside. This involves a broomstick for the lodge pole, and many blankets for the tipi.

Betty's Baby Shower

(1/5/05) Jill throws a baby shower for Betty today, not knowing that despite a late-January due date, the baby is only three days away.

Getting Ready For Baby

(1/3/05) Jill and I spend the afternoon in Ventura and Oxnard, visiting Target and Babies R Us to gear up. As a veteran mom, Jill knew just what we needed, and was even able to explain the fine points of the various strollers to a first-time mom (not pictured). We had a nice lunch in Ventura on the way down, and a quick stop at Krispy Kreme on the way back.