Cavalry Officer

(7/29/05) Henry announces that "I'm a soldier" as he gallops through the house on his plastic steed, with his makeshift weapon and beefeater-ish baseball hat.

Goodbye, Mark

(7/27/05) Mark holds Evelyn as we all say goodbye. His flight leaves at 5:30 AM, so he graciously offers to take a 4:30AM cab. We accept. It's been great to see him again.

Evelyn Can Sit!

(7/27/05) Evelyn sits in her room. She can hold herself up now, by herself, and with a little help from a pillow can sit and play with toys. She's showing interest in food now, and in movement. It won't be too long before she's crawling.

Lake Castaic Bass Fishing

(7/27/05) We're off early to meet our guide, Sean, at Lake Castaic for a day of big-bass fishing. The lake is stocked regularly with trout, which the biggest of the bass quickly eat and get even bigger. We're hoping for a record catch. We get some good-sized fish, although we can't agree on who caught the biggest one. The fishing starts slow, and picks up throughout the day as we start to fish deeper.

Evelyn and Kate

(7/26/05) Evelyn poses with her friend, Kate Wenzel.

Henry Visits the Dentist

(7/26/05) In his first-ever dental visit, Henry recieves a "no cavities" diagnosis from Dr. Mascagno. The doctor specializes in kids dentistry. He sent a fun book a couple of weeks ago that explained to Henry everything that would happen during the visit, and everyone he would meet. Jill reports that the visit went well.

Santa Cruz Island, Continued

(7/26/05) When we wake up, Mark makes coffee with the last of the ranger water. Then we hike the four miles down to Prisoner's Harbor, a scenic cobblestone beach with a long pier. Our plan is to meet the 9:30 boat, pick up more water, and do a guided day hike into the Nature Conservancy land. We're early, so I lie on a picnic table. I am so tired. When the boat arrives, they've forgotten to bring our water, so I seize on this as an excuse to go home early. We take the boat back and have a nice lunch on the beach in Santa Barbara before going home.

Santa Cruz Island

(7/25/05) We rise early and leave Ventura Harbor at 8am for a two-day trip to the largest of the Channel Islands, Santa Cruz, about 20 miles offshore. I've been looking at this island every day for six years and have never been there. On the ride over, we pass through an area with hundreds of dolphins before arriving at Scorpion Bay. We have a brief orientation with a Park Service ranger before setting off on an 11-14 (we're not sure exactly) mile hike to a new backcountry campsite, Del Norte. It's a long, hot walk over some unbelievably rugged and remote country. We see only two people all day. There are no trees, so at lunchtime we rig up a crude shelter to get some shade. The fog rolls in in the late afternoon and the last few miles are much cooler. We're carrying 1 gallon of water each, but by the time we arrive at camp, we each have just a few swallows left. At the campsite, we literally drop our gear, roll out our mats and sleeping bags, and fall asleep. After an hour or so we both wake up and explore. We find a half-gallon of water left by a ranger, so we drink it. We eat nuts and raisins for dinner, too tired to cook, and enjoy a little scotch before falling asleep around 8:00. I wake up at 8:45 and spend an hour watching the night sky. I see a planet just over the horizon, and three shooting stars. Then I fall asleep again.

Lotusland Benefit

(7/24/05) We attend a late afternoon benefit for the Lotusland gardens, guests of our friends Amanda and Norm. There's lots of time to catch up with friends and neighbors, a great dinner, and a charity auction.

Mark Stewart

(7/24/05) Mark Stewart, a good friend from college, best man at our wedding, and frequent fishing partner, arrived yesterday for a few days of outdoor adventure. We started today with surfing lessons at "Mondos" (that's the name of the wave). We both got up on our boards and rode a lot of waves. It was exhilarating. After a land lesson and 1 1/2 hours in the water, though, we were exhausted. We met Jill, Henry, and Evelyn at Padaro beach grill for lunch, where we saw a big freight train pass by, a few feet away.

Henry P. Dewey, Photographer

(7/24/05)

Pool Time

(7/22/05) We go for a splash in the pool before bedtime, and play with my new waterproof camera. The photo of me is an underwater self-portrait.

Harmony

(7/18/05) Tonight Jill was putting Henry to bed while I was playing guitar and singing a couple of songs for Evelyn in the next room. Henry heard me and asked Jill if he could come listen. He and Jill came in as I was playing a really beautiful Johnny Cash song called Diamonds in the Sky, comparing the starry night skies to a field of diamonds. As I sang a line, I heard an echo--Henry's voice coming in right after me, sweet, high-pitched, and right on-key--"Field of Diamonds in the Sky". Jill and I were taken aback but I kept going, and he finished the verse, singing each line right after me: "Silent beauty shining high", "Are you tears the Angels cry", "Field of diamonds in the sky." We sing lots of kids songs together but hearing him join in on this song was unbelievably moving.

Lunch With Dee Anne

(7/18/05) Henry's former speech therapist, and now family friend, Dee Anne, joins us for lunch today. She brings Henry's favorite toy, the Pizza Game, and a new Maisy book. We miss her weekly visits.

Segway Sunday

(7/17/05) Jill and I rent Segways this afternoon and spend an hour cruising around the waterfront, and, when we become more confident, picking our way through the crowds on the State Street sidewalks. It is surprisingly easy to learn, and we meet lots of people, who stop, stare, and ask us what it's like to ride these things.

Water Boy

(7/17/05) We get in the pool often, and Henry hangs out on the pool steps or walks along the side holding on the wall, not wanting to venture farther into the pool. Today he has some sort of a breakthrough, and spends hours jumping off the wall into our arms, or playing games like "blastoff" (he counts down and says blastoff and we throw him in the air and he comes down with a big splash) or "double blastoff" (we jump in the air with him) or "motorboat" (we pull him around the shallow end by his arms). We take turns holding Evelyn and for a while she sits up in a chaise, smiling and happy.

Tour de France

(7/17/05) We watch the Tour every morning, downstairs, after we wake up, but today was so exciting that we didn't make it out of bed for an hour. Jill and I drank coffee and watched the race as Henry played and Evelyn crinkled paper.

Evelyn

(7/16/05) Evelyn is becoming more capable every day. She can grab things with either hand, and she can sit up with a little help from the Boppy (curved pillow). She also likes to do these backbends, which make her smile as she surveys the world upside down.

Birthday Party

(7/16/05) Jill took Henry to a birthday party for his friend Robert today. Highlights were the rocking horse and the portable petting zoo.

Jenn's Show

(7/15/05) After Friday night dinner at Harry's, we visit UCSB to see a show starring Jenn, Hen's (former) babysitter. Her summer job is helping host families for weeklong camp visits to Santa Barbara, and this was their week's finale. The performers were outstanding. Henry misses seeing Jenn and they were able to spend some time together afterwards. Jenn is 4th from the left, second row.

Beach Walk

(7/9/05) We take a stroll tonight after dinner, along the beach, just as the sun is about to set.

Big Boy

(7/9/05) Today was a milestone day for Henry, for a couple of reasons. One, it was his first day in underwear--no diapers or pullups. He had a perfect day with no accidents. Second, we bought him his "big boy bed", which he'll try tonight for the first time. He's growing up so fast we can't believe it.

New Toy

(7/9/05) Evelyn's world expanded today with her new saucer toy. She loved it right away, spinning, slapping, and grabbing everything in sight, working intently and smiling all the way.

Fishing

(7/5/05) We tried our luck fishing for trout in two of the lakes near Tamarack Lodge. We didn't catch anything but we admired the great scenery. We had a quick lunch at the Lodge and then went home for naptime. Dinner was at our place, followed by some board games after the kids went to sleep.

Earthquake Hike

(7/4/05) After checking out the view from our balcony, we took an easy hike to the Inyo Earthquake Fault. It's a place where the earth literally split apart during an earthquake. We could look down into the deepest parts, which still held snow, and hike into the shallower parts. In the afternoon I rented a mountain bike and rode on Mammoth mountain. Many of the more advanced trails were closed due to snow, but there were still plenty of trails open. Fran made a great dinner for us that we ate in the Swart's room. This proved to be much more fun, and relaxing, than going out.

Snow

(7/3/05) Today we took the gondola to the top of Mammoth Mountain. It was sunny up there, but the ground was covered with snow. Dodging skiers and snowboarders, we threw a few snowballs before retreating to the mid-lodge. Later, Jill and Henry hit the climbing wall near our hotel. Henry didn't like it, but Jill quickly got to the top and rang the bell.

Fireworks

(7/2/05) We celebrated the 4th two days early. After driving the 5 1/2 hours to Mammoth, we were pretty tired, but as soon as the sun went town the village celebrated with a great fireworks show that happened to be right across from our balcony.