Encore

Well, since I had so many nice comments about Katie's costume, I thought I would post a little encore. Here is a second shot where she is pretending she just lost her glass slipper (notice the expression and the shoelessness.)

Beauty and the Sith

Here they are, Darth Vader and Cinderella. We sure had a fun time trick-or-treating last night. I was surprised at how into-it Andy got. This is the first year where he really grasped the concept of Halloween. He was CHARGING from house to house and did not want to stop, even after completely filling his candy bucket with goodies. Needless to say, we got tons of treats, and must have visited at least 30 houses. Fun fun fun.

Halloween!

We're going out Trick-or-Treatin tonight! Here are our pumpkins. Tomorrow Ill post some picks of the kid's costumes...

Fire Update

Its looking like the fire is getting contained now, at least the one near us. People are starting to return to thier homes. Thanks for all your emails and concerns.

More Fire

Wow, lots has happened since yesterday.

Fires are raging. It's scary down here. 300,000 people have been evacuated from north county. The Ramona fire (Witch Fire) has now burned clear to the coast and is threatening Del Mar. We have friends here who have evacuated from thier homes. Rancho Bernardo (where I work) is burning.

So far it looks like we will be OK, but you never know, and the winds keep blowing. The fire is about 10 miles north of us right now. We are safe now. Ill update more as I know more.

Good web coverage and maps are at:

http://www.cbs8.com/

Fire

Santa Ana winds blew hard today, up to 60 MPH+ causing a number of fires to start across California. Scary stuff for those of us who live out here, as pretty much anyone who has been a resident of CA for 5 or more years is bound to have expeience with some kind of fire. This week marks the 4 year anniversary of the Cedar Fire that wiped out 2,300 homes in SD.

So this afternoon when we saw the conditions and the massive smoke, we were understandably concerned again. We have been watching the news channels for info, and it looks like the closest one is in East Ramona (20 miles away). While the winds are moving it in our direction, so far things are looking pretty good for us and the communities in its path. Hopefully things will be brought under control soon.

The pic above is a shot in the other direction from our house, toward the setting sun over Mount Soledad. The amount of smoke is very thick and creates an eerie dark setting that is a continual reminder of the raging fire eastward. The smoke stretches across the county today. Hopefully Ill have good news to post tomorrow.

Summer 2007 Slideshow

Had a chance to put together the Summer 2007 Slideshow. Clink on the pic below or link to the left to check it out. Enjoy!

'Love' that Hair

So when the world seems stressful and bleak, just link to this little picture.

This is what I have come to know as a 'heart braid'. I'll be honest, I didn't even know they existed until I had a daughter. Now I have determined that they are the coolest thing in the world (to her) and make her feel extra beautiful and ultra-special. I have to admit, I am starting to understand this.

Katie got treated to her fancy hair dew in preparation for a special princess-party this last weekend that I was told she thoroughly enjoyed. While the girls were off being girly, Andy and I set-up our own play-date with my buddy Stan and his 3-year-old, Charlie. We spent the afternoon playing video-games, wielding light-sabers, and eating pizza. I'm not sure who had more fun between Andy and Katie. Actually, I'm not sure who had more fun between Andy and me!

And away they go...

I really wish we had some neat national geographic quality pictures of the butterflies taking flight today but sadly it wasn't in the cards. Every time we got one on a finger and got it to the top of the habitat, they would quickly take-off. I guess they couldn't wait to get some freedom. Katie was totally into it, practically grabbing the little guys in an effort to get them to walk on her hand.

As you can guess from my tone, we released all the butterflies today. I am happy to report that there were no fatalities and all our little guests made it off into the wild blue without any incidents. I must admit I am sad to see them go. It was a nice change of pace having them around and watching them change from day to day.

Thanks again Nana, we really enjoyed this.

The Great Escape

No pics in this post but I have an interesting update from the butterfly front.

I left a small crack open in the netting as I was putting some new flowers in the habatat yesterday. Apparently one of the inmates was ready to make a break for it, and quickly fluttered out into the living room within seconds seeing the opportuity. We raised all the sirens and alarms, spotlights, you name it. Kids were running around yelling, chasing -- chaos rained supreme.

We finally gave up trying to catch the little guy and gave him some space as he was visably agitated and fluttering madly the closer we came.

Later that day, I was working outside fixing the side gate and Katie came out with the butterfly on her finger. "Look daddy!" she said with a big smile on her face. No sooner had she uttered those words than the butterfly took off and made for the sky. Katie was suprised but not sad as she watched her new pet escape.

We plan on releasing the rest of them tonight (they have all hatched now). WIll give you a final post soon.

Butterflies Day 12

Ta Da!

After a few days of quiet transofrmation, our butterflies have emerged! It's been quite an amazing thing to watch, reminding us that there is a lot of magic around in the world, all around us. Sometimes all you have to do is stop an pay attention in order to see a miracle.

We are feeding them flowers with sugar water on top, and they seem pretty happy with the menu. We still have 3 sleepy-heads tat have not yet hatched and we expect them to come about within a few days. Our plan is to then take them out back and finger-escort them in to the great wide open. We will keep ya all posted...

Jedi Viking Commando

This is my son. He is a warrior.

Not just any warrior mind you, a rabid Jedi-Viking-Commando warrior. With sharp teeth and a penchant for accidentally spitting while he makes "SHZZZ SHZZZ SHZZZ" laser sounds.

His Armor: Viking Rainment, 100% Poleyester -- $7

His Helmet: World War 2 General Issue Infantry, Reinforced Plastic -- $3

His Weapon: Blue Star Wars Lightsaber, Very Deadly -- $9


Finding him wearing all this and NOTHING else on underneath -- Priceless

There are some things money just can't buy.

Butterflies Day 11

Pretty amazing. In a matter of hours we watched 6-7 of the little buggers climb up to the top and make their cocoons, all at the same time. It was as if someone rang a bell in there and they all said, "OK, time to go!" As you can see, one little guy is a bit behind the rest, hes been hanging, but no cocoon yet. We are excited for him to 'wrap it up' so we can transfer them to the habitat. This is likely the last pic you will see of the little plastic cups...

Butterflies Day 9

The transformations have started! When I got up this am I went over to our little friends and noticed that one of them was neatly wrapped up in his chrysalis. The others are also hanging upside down and shaking in a weird way... I guess they shake-it up when it comes to makin'a cocoon...

Butterflies Day 7

Its gettin creepy in there...
Hmmmm, I seem to havin some problems uploading pics... please stand by.

Butterflies Day 5

As we continue to follow the thrilling saga of the Sandwisch butterfly experiment, I am happy to report that the little fellas are doing quite well. They have nearly quadroupled in size and are quite active. They are also making some webbing stuff and climbing the sides of the cups. Neat stuff.

Oh and Katie claims that hers are larger than Andrews because they eat more and are older... like she is.

1st Day of School

Andrew had his first day of preschool and Katie is in the classroom next to him. Andrew will be going Tues/Thur mornings and Katie will be there 4 days for a Pre-K enrichment program. They are both doing well and enjoying playing with their friends and meeting their new teachers. We are in good hands at La Jolla Presbyterian Preschool. Trying to get a good photo was quite a challenge especially on my crutches.

Happy 65th Birthday Mom!

Grandma Kari was kind enough to spend her 65th Birthday taking care of me. So, I set up a few things ahead of time to try to make her day a little special. The kids gave her a mouse pad with a picture of them on it. Grandma likes to call this photo, "the quadruplets." Grandma enjoyed her birthday cake exactly the way she wanted it, "lots of flowers which means lots of frosting". We also treated her to a nice arrangement of flowers, a few chocolates and a yummy dinner from CPK. Thanks for celebrating with us.

Thank God for Grandparents

Well, since Steve was working and I was no fun lying around recovering, the kids were lucky enough to have Grandma Kari and Grandpa Dick to take them around. It was their last week before school. They hit several parks in the area, spent time baking cookies, planted new flowers, rode bikes, went swimming, took Andrew for a physical, played dress up and hair salon(Grandma re-created Princess Leia hair for Katie), ate several donuts (Thanks dad), toured the Natural History Museum and walked the San Diego Zoo. Here are just a few photos to enjoy. They all had a lot of fun despite the kids having a little cold. Unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa are still recovering at home from sinus infections. Grandpa says the goodbye kiss from Katie was still worth it despite the sickness.

No Fun Ankle Surgery

I have a quite a few photos to catch up on with everyone. As many of you know, I had ankle ligament reconstruction surgery earlier this month. It has been a long and slow healing process but I owe so many thanks to Steve, My Mom, My Dad, Katie and Andrew. I couldn't have gotten through this time without you. Oh, I guess I should thank Dr. Marshall for making sure I woke up from the surgery. Let's just say I don't like going under. I have been doing a lot of sleeping and lying around. Andrew decided to curl up next to me during one of my naps. You can see my cast in the left corner of the photo. The surgery was three weeks ago but staples and sutures have been removed. I still have the same cast but hope to continue to gain more mobility and am desperately trying to get off the crutches. PATIENCE!!!!!!