I flew to Phoenix yesterday for a cousin's wedding reception/celebration (the wedding itself was an intimate affair a couple of weeks ago). Had a great night visiting with a table full of cousins.
This morning I flew back to Colorado. Dana's mom is visiting us this week, which should be fun. Jessica is already loving it.
Tonight at dinner, Jessica was looking at a cup with pictures of some chefs. "What are they doing?"
Dana answered, "It looks like they're cooking."
Pause.
"Where's the microwave?"
We took a trip to a Pumpkin Patch yesterday. It was chilly out, but we had fun. Jessica took the opportunity to make some Halloween faces.
Let's see:
Why, a person could actually live in this house, if necessary.
I don't believe I've mentioned it here before, so let me say it now: we're moving to Colorado.
This is where I might like to write a few paragraphs about why we're moving, why we're excited, why we're anxious, the funny things that occur to me about the whole process, and something very profound about the whole event.
Truth is, I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment trying to get ready. The moving company called today to confirm the truck will be here Monday morning. So I'm going to cut this short.
You know how everyone at some point in their life has to learn why you don't walk right in front of a grown person on a swing while they are at the top of their backswing and have no earthly means of stopping or slowing or swerving to avoid hitting you in the forehead an knocking you to the ground?
Jessica learned that lesson today.
UPDATE: The grown person on the swing was not me. Nor Dana. Nor anyone we know.
Ken: 7/10
Dana: 7/10
Ken: 6/10
Dana: 6/10
Ken: 6/10
Dana: 7/10
We took a brief trip to San Diego this week. Dana hadn't been to Sea World in around a year, which meant it was time.
This wasn't Jessica's first trip to Sea World (we went last summer), but of course she could appreciate many things in a whole new way now. She really liked all the shows, and visiting many of the animals. (Note to self: take a video of Jessica demonstrating how penguins waddle for the blog.)
One highlight was "Breakfast with Elmo". Jess has never watched a full episode of Sesame Street, but she has watched a number of the short Sesame Street video podcasts, and she has many books and other toys through which she has been introduced to Elmo, Ernie, Bert, Zoe, Big Bird, etc.
She was so excited to see these characters walk around during breakfast. When she first saw Elmo, especially, her eyes just about popped out of her head, and she repeated his name in some register only dogs (and furry monsters, perhaps) could hear.
In her typical cautious fashion, while Jessica was super excited to see these friends and watch them interact with other children, she wasn't crazy about the idea of getting too near any herself, much less getting her own hug. We did get some pictures with Elmo and Big Bird, though being that close to them made Jessica too anxious to really smile.
While Jessica was sitting in a high chair at the breakfast table, though, she had nowhere to run when a character approached. She leaned back a bit, but did very well during some interactions with Zoe, Cookie Monster, and Bert (who were all very friendly and handled it very well). Bert picked up a napkin and wiped Jessica's mouth. She gave a smile, and Bert gave her a hug.
I have now downloaded 42 apps for my iPhone. I am ridiculous.
I'll start with the bottom line: my name is kenzinn, and I am on Twitter.
If you are already on Twitter, please feel free to follow me. I'm not terribly prolific or consistent, but I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of what might make a good tweet (tweet = a post on twitter).
If you aren't on Twitter, and perhaps aren't sure what Twitter is, let me try my own feeble explanation. Twitter is like a mini-blog service, where each entry is limited to 140 characters. If you sign up for a free Twitter account, you can select to "Follow" any other Twitter users, and your Twitter home screen will list all updates, or "tweets" from people you are following.
If you aren't really interested in anything like Twitter, I don't really blame you. I'm not quite sold on it yet as anything that will change my life, but it's huge in some tech circles.
Anyway, you can also see my most recent Twitter updates in a new section I've added on the right hand side bar of this blog.
For what it's worth, there will be probably be some things I say on Twitter that I also post here. So if you follow both, forgive the repetition. If the repetition bugs you, let me know. Anyone following both deserves to have their voice heard.
Ken: 5/10
Dana: 5/10
Our two year old daughter recognizes her Mommy and Daddy's Miis on sight. Should I be worried?
Ken: 6/10
Dana: 7/10
"The next time you're going to do anything or say anything or buy anything, think it over very carefully. When you're sure you're right forget the whole thing."
Last night I watched "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" (thank you Netflix), a 1948 movie starring Cary Grant. I don't know for a fact, but it sure seems that "The Money Pit" is a remake of this, with Tom Hanks in the Cary Grant role.
I'm not going to say "comedy gold" or anything, but there were plenty of funny moments, and it's fun to watch an older movie now and then.
Ken: 8/10
Dana: 8/10
UPDATE: Turns out it was a 5.8 a few miles east of Diamond Bar. That's the most shaking I've felt in quite a while, though.
UPDATE UPDATE: I guess I should report that everyone here is fine, and there wasn't any damage. This is going to turn out to be not much of a news story, but it sure felt like something. It went on a while; I'm hearing 20-30 seconds, but reports are all over the place right now. Every local news outlet, and then some, are talking to anyone who will tell their "this is what I was doing when it happened" story.
UPDATE^3: Reports have now downgraded the magnitude to 5.4.
This is pretty darn cool. (Note: the audio here does contain some mild profanity, as the person holding the camera is rather blown away by what he sees. If that might bother you, then hit "mute" and watch it anyway.)
(Via 37signals.)
This morning we saw the Occidental Children's Theater do this summer's show, "Han Solo and Gretel." It was great fun.
In case you don't know, and I've somehow never told you, here's how the Occidental Children's Theater works: each show consists of 4 stories. The first 3 are folk tales from around the world. The 4th is an original tale, developed through improvisation beginning with just the title, which always combines a well-known story with some very different story or genre.
The stories are performed by a cast of 6 actors in an open outdoor area, with audience seated on all sides. There are no costumes or sets, and the only props are six staffs and six scarves. Using only these, the actors create buffalo, birds, frogs, exploding frogs, cottages, castles, thrones, gates, waterfalls, trees, sacks, entire forests, rice fields, and so on, all through creative physical movement. The best part is, while the cast leaves no question what it is they are creating for you, this style requires that the audience engage their imagination. This is no summer-blockbuster-popcorn experience (not that there's anything wrong with that, either).
I'm biased; I was part of the Occidental Children's Theater for three summers, about a hundred years ago. Still directed by Oxy Theater professor Jamie Angell, the OCT is going strong.
