I'm Rich. She's beautiful.
I can honestly say I miss New York….or miss some things about it. The Northwest and I are far more compatible. But I had a good fling with the big city. Even taking into consideration all the museums, galleries, world attractions of various kinds, the thing I miss most is the sunset on the rickety old rooftop water towers.
I made some limited edition prints of the water towers drawing. Have a look here.
Despite wind that could have easily picked us up had we not been driving a Suburban, I took the kids to see BOLT — in 3D. The movie was good, but seeing Weston and Julia in their “one-size-fits-all” glasses was priceless. At one of the more climactic moments, the wind knocked out the power. They got the lights on quick enough but were having trouble with the dual projectors or something, so it took a bit before the movie started again. Meanwhile, Julia and Weston caught on to the fact that they were the only ones in the room without a $6 tub of popcorn ($5.75 if you want a small) and $50 drink (OK, I didn’t even look at how much the drinks were). They started to whine a bit, but when the movie started again, it was as though their brains turned off with the lights and they forgot all about it. As a bit of a concession, we stopped at McDonalds afterwards and had some cheap, greasy, delicious fries. That, and a sundae to wash it down, and we were ready to head home for dinner.
Julia got such a great reaction from her x-ray drawing that she’s been doing a lot more. This is an x-ray that includes the head. There used to be a square around it indicating that it is indeed an x-ray.
It’s a mystery where this came from, but Conrad has started following everything he says with, “See?!?” He sounds like a little gambino and it makes everything the two-year-old says sound like a threat. “I want a cookie, see?” comes across like, “I want a cookie and you’re going to give it to me, see?” It helps (or doesn’t help) that he has such an intense look when he talks and often says, “I’m serious.”
Because Conrad makes it known that there are real consequences if he doesn’t get his way, it always surprises us when he doesn’t get his way and responds, “OK,” and goes about his business. He comes across tough, but he’s a softie.
This is a Julia’s pregnant alligator:
…and no, we are not making any announcements at this time.
I have nothing to say about this one, but I thought the photo of Weston practicing Kung Fu was worthy of posting by itself.
Some of you mistakenly thought Pixar was caught slipping a little with Wall-e. I personally loved the movie and so did the drunken midgets. Here are Julia’s recent Wall-e inspired arts.
Julia: Is a jet the fastest plane?
Claire: Actually, a rocket ship is faster than a jet.
Julia: So, a rocket ship is the fastest thing in the world.
Rich: Well, the fastest thing in the world is light.
Claire: Papa’s right. When you turn on a flashlight, the light moves faster than anything.
Julia: So, a rocket ship is the fastest moving thing…AND the fastest NON MOVING thing is a flashlight.
My kids are the best ever! We went to the fairly crowded DMV this morning to get the car registered in Oregon and get me a new license, and it took about two hours, but the kids were GREAT! Ok, so Weston clicked on a wrong answer on the computer test (something about running a red light) for me… And Conrad spit his gum on the floor and popped it back in his mouth, eliciting groans from the folks nearby. And Julia at one point started wrassling Weston on the ground. But nobody gave me a dirty look (pitying, maybe, but that’s not the same thing), and the kids never got more than about ten feet away from me, and I passed the test after all and got the new plates and license! But I’m also very glad I don’t have to do that again anytime soon!!!
Julia started her afternoon kindergarten class on Wednesday. She spent her first day “just watching,” she told me. No talking to anyone but the teacher. No playing on the playground. Just watching. And she didn’t want to go back. But Thursday was better because we met a cute (also shy) little Vietnamese girl in her class who catches the bus at the same stop we do, and Julia took her hand and sat by her. When she got home, she seemed excited about school — and said that she followed this little girl around wherever she went. Today at the bus stop she was even joking around with the other little boy at our bus stop. Whew! We’re also trying to set up some individual playdates with the girls in the ward. There are a whole bevy of them who all started kindergarten this year, and I think Julia is a little overwhelmed by the whole group.
Weston has a little cry every time Julia drives away in her bus. But we’ve been enjoying our “alone” time together while Conrad naps. We played chess today — I let him beat me and now all I hear is “I’m the strongest and the cleverest!” Yeah, right. He had great sound effects, though, each time he killed one of my pieces — which was an incentive for me to set my defeat up nicely for him. Yesterday we read Prince Caspian. And the day before we did baseball, soccer, and sword-fighting! Whew!
The weather has been beautiful! And last Saturday we drove out through the Columbia River Gorge to see the second-largest waterfall in the country: Multnomah Falls. It was gorgeous! And Rich wasn’t even upset with me when we got there and discovered that our camera’s battery was dead… Sheesh…
Rich is enjoying his new job. The more he sees of this firm, the more he loves it! They don’t have a specific project lined up for him until October, so he just wanders around offering his services to anyone who needs him. He’s enjoyed hanging out with the computer guys and the model shop guys.
On Labor Day we got together with the other Elders’ Quorum families at a nearby park for a BBQ. Most of the parks and schools we’ve visited so far have wild blackberry bushes in the places where Utah would have scrub oak. So the kids loved wandering through, pricking their fingers, and staining their shirts and faces with blackberry juice. There are also a bunch of U-Pik (you pick) farms not far from here, so maybe we’ll have to give those a try. Well, we miss you and hope you are doing well with the new school year!
