Thomas

Sunday was the big day, Sam's day out with Thomas the Tank Engine. It was a lot of fun, though I think Sam's favorite thing might have been the bubbles.

Had to include this bike picture - a railroad bike.



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Sunrise

These are a couple of images from my ride this morning.





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Cow Jams and Fishing

Yesterday while out on a ride I came across a herd of cows walking through the forest. As I rode by the cows all stopped and stared at me. The ones at the end of the line got impatient and started mooing loudly.


Later Sam and I went up to Hidden Hill for their Train Day. Sam was also interested in "fishing".









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Utica's Magic Kingdom

We took Sam up to Hidden Hill Nursery on Sunday and he loved running around, fishing, and seeing the trains.







He got really excited when he saw the trains. He yelled "Thomas" and took off running to watch.




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B's Graduation

Congratulations to B on her graduation. We are all very proud of you. And Sam wants your hat.











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One of the most significant and delightful aspects of Japanese culture is the appreciation of subtle beauty. It's easy to imagine why lots of people would want to go out and enjoy the cherry blossoms every year - they're like fairyland trees when they're in full bloom - but katakuri are a less obvious cause of celebration. They're tiny wildflowers, little pink droplets of color on the floor of the still bare forest. Mixed with the blues and whites and yellows of the other wildflowers, they bring the spring to the Hokkaido forest, and hundreds of people were out yesterday to enjoy their beauty. And these are not fair-weather flower fans either; the sun was bright and the sky was blue but it was really really windy, windy enough that someone might have thought, you knkow, maybe I'll stay home and watch TV. We had to keep Kota well-shielded from the wind, but it was nice to have a little hike together, his first.

Sam and the Flood

Sam is mightily interested in all the activity around the house and town. Tonight he was helping me fill sand bags to put against the house.











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God Willin & The Creeks Don't Rise

Utica is preparing for its worst flooding since 1997. The are sand piles blocking all the streets near the river and old man river has come over his banks in most places.








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Easter Egg Scramble

Today was the annuall Easter egg scramble. Last year Sam was still pretty young for it, but this year he had a lot of fun.

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Morning with Sam

Sam and I had a great morning today. Nice walk and bike ride. Sam loves to blow on dandelions and play in the little stream we found.








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Winter Spring

Sam's New Bike

Sam just got a new bike this week. It is a scoot bike, meaning it doesn't have any pedals or gears. He just sits on it and scoots along. Really it is still kind if big for him, but we take the seat off of it and he walks with it and loves it.

New Pics of Sam

It has been quite awhile since I put anything up here, but here are some recent pictures of Sam.









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Here is Kota, again sleeping, the only time I have to take pictures of him, it seems. He's sleeping now too, as I type this. We bathe him at nine, feed him after that, take him to bed and he sleeps till one or two. Then a meal and he sleeps till five or six. He's usually wide awake in the morning, but by ten or eleven he's alseep. Tomo's sleeping now too. They'll both be up in a few minutes for lunch. Everyone says babies change quickly and that you can't predict their behavior a week from now based on their behavior today. He might not always be such a good sleeper, but it's certainly made the transition to life-with-child easier that he has slept so well so far.

Babies are so amazing. They're cat-sized but human shaped. His little hands are beautiful and delicate. His ear is pointy and his hair is velvety soft. A beautiful little creature!

Welcome to the world, newest Lug Brother. This is Kota. As I write he is sleeping peacefully. During the day when he sleeps he stretches his arms up in the air and makes the most charming funny faces you can imagine. But now he's just quietly breathing in and out and in and out and the music-box-Enya is playing softly in the background and it's the weekend and we're a family of three and his mom is catching forty winks and now that I think about it I'm sitting down and doing something not directly baby related for the first time since he came home on Tuesday but now I look up and see those skinny newbaby arms reaching up in the air for a big stretch and I'm happy to put the computer down on the ground and pick him up in my arms and just sit with him and share a little bit of that peace.