Freezie Freakies

The other day it was really hot so I got out a little "Ice Treasures" project that I read about here. I had started making this a few days before since it takes at least 24 hours in the freezer. I froze some plastic butterflies, ladybugs and other treasures in a big Tupperware bowl. You have to do it in 3 layers or the treasures end up frozen together at the bottom of the bowl. Anyway, I gave Oliver and the neighbors some squirt bottles and old toothbrushes and they had a blast excavating their treasures. Elliot also had fun chewing on the ice. It was a ton of fun on a hot day.

   

Happy Birthday Elliot

Sweet little Elliot turned 1 year old last Sunday. Elliot is such a fun-loving little guy. He is so intrepid, always seeking a new adventure, whether that be trying to climb into Oliver's big-boy bed (quite a feat considering even Oliver needs a step-stool), or quality testing all the toys in the house by a) chewing on them, or b) throwing them down the stairs. He is so cute and funny!

We had a quiet birthday celebration for him at home. Our friend Brad came over for dinner and then we had present opening and cake. It was pretty low key. I was very happy that Elliot ate his cake. I made a vanilla-orange cake with blueberry filling and orange butter cream frosting. It turned out pretty well. Elliot liked the cake but he especially liked the blueberries. 

  

   

Mama's Mama's Boy

I am behind on my posts because we've had Nana (my mom) in town. Oliver had a freakin' FIELD DAY with my mom. She had little presents and treats for him stuffed in every pocket of every bag (there were many). She knows how to enchant a child. It must be her patience and kindness and lively imagination...to say nothing of her total indulgence of his every whim! Oliver was in heaven. The afternoon after she left I was exhausted and lay down to take a nap. Oliver came up to me and said that he wanted to snuggle. He climbed into bed next to me and put his arms around my neck and whispered softly, "I love...Nana." So do I buddy, so do I.  

  

Thoughts on Motherhood

I had the chance on Mother's Day to write a letter to each of my sons, a little tradition that I hope will someday amount to a really meaningful gift for them and a treasured memento of these years for me.

One of the things I wrote about was how fortunate I feel to be a mother and in particular to be a "stay-at-home-mom". I haven't always felt this sanguine about the whole "SAHM" status. I was raised by a very accomplished mother who not only earned her PhD while I was a toddler, but also was able to develop a rich professional career while raising two kids. It sounds trite, but I HONESTLY do not know how she did it. My dad was appalled when I quit my job to stay at home, but he is trying his best to be supportive now. I know he thinks I am a good mother, but I also know that he feels like being at home with two little kids is some sort of purgatory: it's hard work that kind of sucks, and my "real" contribution to the world is still to come.

I know that I have a duty/obligation/privilege to make a difference in the world outside our home, and I hope I can figure out what that will be. But during this "season" while my boys are so young, I LOVE being able to be with them every step of the way.

I feel like being with my children is such interesting and rewarding work. I love observing how little brains work. I love watching Oliver gain knowledge and skills. It's fascinating to hear what he remembers and notices about experiences--the details that are salient to him are often so surprising. I love seeing Elliot develop physically and attack the world with such gusto. And it's so much fun to create opportunities for them to explore and learn.

It is also really reassuring to feel that what I am doing in raising my children is in no way frivolous. It is not a waste of time or something ephemeral. It is profoundly meaningful. And I am REALLY GOOD at wasting time (no, really, really good...trust me on this one). When I am doing things with my kids it never feels like I'm "wasting" time even if we are being lazy or inefficient.

Anyway, the way I came about this topic was that I was thinking about friends/family members who have had a hard time conceiving children. It is such a blessing and a miracle that we can have children and my heart just breaks for those who yearn to be parents but cannot. You'll notice that I added a link to Taylor and Lisa's (my bro & sister-in-law) adoption website on our sidebar. They were able to adopt the MOST adorable little boy about a year and a half ago and are hoping to find another child to adopt soon. They were introduced to their son's birth parents by an acquaintance, and apparently this works out quite often. So, I thought that I could use my blog as a little platform not only to shout out the wonders of motherhood, but also to advocate for adoption in general and for Taylor and Lisa in particular.

Ryan just got home so I'm going to sign off...

DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

                 

For about 15 years my passion sport was downhill skiing. I would stop at anything to do it. While living in Hawaii I was introduced to SCUBA diving and my passion sport quickly changed. It was further embedded after I moved out East, away from the fresh powder days and world class skiing in my backyard in Utah.

I’ve dived, as chance would allow, the last 10 years when I traveled to warmer locales outside the country, but for the most part the sport has remained largely unsatisfied for my overwhelming love for it. A few months ago the need became unbearable (it was also the middle of the winter and everyone in our house had been sick for 2 months). I asked Anna if she would  like to go the Caribbean. She was interested and suggested we invite another couple to join. So we invited Jason and Kim Harris, friends of ours who live nearby in NC. Jason is a dive enthusiast and they both are up for the fun and adventure of travel. They were in.

But then a curious thing happened. A couple days into the planning of it, Anna backed out. She claimed she wasn’t that interested in diving or going to a resort and relaxing on the beach in the Caribbean sun or something like that. Frankly, I stopped listening to what she was saying, because honestly, who decides not to go on vacation… to the Caribbean. Well, I guess Anna would be one. They are probably dozens of people like her all of the world. Dozens!  All of them should be in counseling of some sort.

(Anna... come on! What's not to like?)

Anna backed off. Kim decided hanging out with the guys is not her idea of fun. So there Jason and I were staring at the reality of a vacation to Grand Cayman for 5 days by ourselves… with the sole purpose to dive! And dive we did.

We stayed at a resort that caters specifically to diving. We did 2 boat dives in the morning and as much shore diving as we could handle in the afternoon. After 4 straight days of we had accumulated 13 total dives and 10 hours underwater. It was awesome. The entire experience exceeded whatever lofty expectations I set for it.

(The Cobalt Resort where we stayed)

Cayman is an excellent place to dive, not least of which is that there is an outer wall surrounding the island that drops off like a cliff to 4000 feet of water. I never could get enough of diving to the edge of the wall and peering down… into the deep blue. Imagine peering over a Grand Canyon wall underwater at 90 feet of depth, that’s kind of what is was like. Stunning. I’d say it took my breath away, but the SCUBA manual is pretty explicit in its recommendation that divers “not stop breathing” while underwater. (I’ve always found it strange that PADI is compelled to explicitly instruct and remind people to do that).

(Floating above the 4000 foot abyss on the outer wall of Cayman)

Of the thirteen dives we did, the most memorable was when we rented underwater diving scooters. The scooters are designed to be held in your hand and propel you through the water, allowing you to move much more quickly than you could by diving normally. Before entering the water, the dive instructor told us the scooters could be placed between the legs to allow our hands to remain free. It’s hard to describe this… but we got in the water, turned these things on and, once we got the hang of it, it was as about as close to flying as I can imagine. The whole experience seemed other-worldly. The sensation of gliding up and over the reefs, through rock canyons and tunnels and holes in the rocks was a thrill that I will never forget. It may have been the most exciting and fun thing I have ever done. It was like living a National Geographic IMAX movie. I highly recommend it to any fellow diver reading this post.

I won’t go into any of the other details in diving, because like a lot of things in life, you “had to be there”. But here are some underwater pictures (courtesy of Jason)

You can’t dive 24 hours before flying home, so on the last day we rented a car and drove around the island (which didn’t take too long). I’m sure Cayman has its merits as a destination, but after four indescribable days of diving, I could not have been more bored checking the place out. We did find a good hole-in-the wall stand that served delicious Jerk Chicken.

Also, there is a curious little section of the Island named Hell.  This fact alone can incent tourists from nearby cruise ships to spend sums of money to take a taxi ride through Hell, which can take all but 1 minute to do.  In honor of the stupidity and banality of the locale, I myself had to take some picture... the post office in Hell, the gas station in hell... Yes, even the Church in Hell. 

Anyway, I can’t wait to go back… or at least get back in the water and dive. PS if anyone is looking for a good dive buddy, Jason Harris could not be better company.

Tickle Tackle and other Good Times

  Oliver and Elliot have invented a new game called "tickle tackle." I think we will have to post a video of it because any description will not do justice to the mayhem that ensues. Basically the boys roll around on the floor and wrestle. What Elliot lacks in size and strength he makes up for in agility, stamina, and enterprising tactics. He's definitely got some bulldog in him.  His signature move is the open-mouth slobber attack. Oliver will shriek, "Ellie's EATING me! Ellie's EATING  me!!"  Sure enough, Oliver will come away with wet spots all over his pajamas from where Elliot face-planted.

I took these pictures this morning because I finished making these pajamas for Elliot last night and I'm really happy about the way they came out. He wasn't the most cooperative model so I don't have any great ones but I actually love this photo (above) because it captures something of their distinct personalities. It looks like Oliver is really mad but he is giving Elliot an emphatic warning that if he keeps on trying to crawl off the bed he's going to fall and get hurt. He is saying, "No, Ellie. Dat DANGERSUS!!  Elliot is laughing because he wouldn't know DANGERSUS if it jumped up and smacked him in the rear, which it will one of these days. This kid is fearless. Oliver on the other hand is very cautious and won't attempt any stunts that he isn't 100% sure he will survive. 

    

These are the pajamas I made from the Amy Butler's Little Stitches book. I think they are too cute to wear only to bed so they are going to be play clothes, too.

Oliver loves to pretend he is a "construction worker man" at  the "sandbox park".

 

My mom got Ollie the coolest bike called a Skuut. It's a balance bike so it has two wheels but no pedals. The plan is that he will get used to two wheels and skip training wheels altogether...we'll see. Oliver loves it and we've gone on several mile-plus walks with it.  This was this morning at the sandbox park.

Piedmont Farm Tour

Last weekend we visited a few of the farms that sell at the Durham and Carrboro Farmer's markets. There were 40 farms that participated in the  Piedmont Farm Tour  but we only got to three: Chapel Hill Creamery (farmhouse cheeses), Fickle Creek Farm (pasture raised beef, lamb and pork, free range chickens and eggs, pigs and vegetables), and Maple View Farm (heavenly ice cream). It was really hot and that was about all the troops could handle without naps. My dad was in town and had ambitions to see all 40...in the end he was satisfied with 3 but wished that one of them had been Celebrity Dairy, the goat-cheese maker in Silk Hope, NC. Well, there's always next year.

It was interesting to learn what these farmers are doing to raise healthy animals and crops without artificial inputs like chemical fertilizers, pesticides, hormones and routine antibiotics. Specifically the process of rotational grazing is absolutely fascinating. The ruminants (cows/sheep/goats) go and graze a pasture for a few days and leave behind their cow pies, etc. When they have eaten down that pasture they move out and on to "greener pastures" (either to those green pastures in the sky or to actual greener pastures). The chickens move in next in their mobile chicken coops. They eat the grubs and scratch around in the cow pies, thereby spreading that stuff around and helping work it back into the soil. The chickens poop out awesome nitrogen-rich fertilizer, too, so that when the farmer goes to replant that pasture the soil is good and ready to grow more grass for the cows to eat. Cows/sheep/goats were designed to eat grass, not grain, so they stay healthy and don't need the routine antibiotics that cows that are fattened on grain in crowded feedlots are given. Pretty cool stuff.

It was fun to see where our food comes from and meet the people who are running these farms. It makes me even more committed to trying to eat locally. Ryan is pretty skeptical about the whole "locavore" thing...he reminds me frequently that if we were to eat locally sourced food exclusively that would mean no more mangoes or pineapples. That's a tough reality. I don't think I could do that. Also, really, I don't think Diet Coke grows too well in this climate. So, I will make some small changes and try to support these local farmers but I don't think I can go all the way. 

 

I love this picture of Oliver and Ryan in Carrboro. Ollie is such a Daddy's boy. He is the first one he calls out for when he gets hurt or is scared in the middle of the night. Ryan points out that it may have something to do with my typical response time (can I help that I am a sound sleeper?) but I think that Ollie knows that his dad would leap tall buildings for him. What lucky kids!

We actually went to Maple View Farm the weekend before with our good friends Ali and Mitch. Here are some pictures of that outing.