Peter Rabbit

Annika's first encounter with a live rabbit happened while we were camping in the Olympic rainforest.

Late again.

I meant to publish this post on Fathers' Day. Seth was supposed to get them before he left the Philippines in June. That' s how long these pictures have been sitting in blogger saying, "Post me, post me." But between personal projects, VBS, and homecomings, I just haven't had the time. So it follows that some of these are pictures only a father (or grandparent) could love. However, I flatter myself that they're all pretty darn cute.

It is summer, and so we spend a lot of time in the water up here. Annika prefers the bathtub because she doesn't have to wear clothes in it.

We have a swimming pool too, but everytime she gets in it, . . .she thinks she has to strip. Check out how nasty that water is, and she's willing to be naked in it. It never fails but that she gets in the pool and takes the clothes off. I suppose I should be thankful. It cuts down on laundry. And she evidently thinks that swimsuits have other purposes.

Laundry basket boat. We've all done this at some point or another.

First pigtails to stay in. They lasted fifteen whole minutes! But then she figured them out, and now she won't let me anywhere near her if I have a hairbrush in my hands. Our favorite sport: table climbing. The quilt I'm working on. There was a point when I thought quilting was the apex of domestic activity, way above the level of a part-time domestic diva like me. The truth is, it's not as hard as I thought it would be. I now have the top pieced, and I am beginning to quilt the whole thing together. I'm quilting by hand, which is a little tedious but also somewhat addictive, like crocheting.

Making Ernie ride the horsey. Boy, she got a kick out of that.

Annika singing along to Veggie Tales. You have to listen closely.

That's about all for now. Seth is home, and when I post next, I will include some pictures of our aborted camping trip.

Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob!

Annika has discovered Veggie Tales. Or rather, I got her three Veggie Tale dvds, little dreaming how quickly she would take to them. I always promised myself that I wasn't going to be one of those moms who inculcate my children with imaginary role models (are there any moms out there who do it on purpose?) like Disney princesses or Dora the explorer. No fancy character bedspreads. No "Cinderella teaches the ABCs." My kids were going to develop their own personalities. Well, her personality likes Bob the tomato.

For those of you not familiar with Christian children's media ( I don't think there are many among my audience, but you never know), Bob the Tomato is a computer animated tomato who translates Bible stories into cartoons starring other computer animated vegetables like Larry the Cucumber, Jr. Asparagus, Dr. Archibald Asparagus, Jimmy and Jerry Gourd, and the Grapes of Wrath. I was in high school when VeggieTales first came out, and it was so quirky that they let us watch it in chapel even though it was aimed at a much younger age group (in some respects at least).

Every morning, after breakfast, while I'm getting the day ready, I put in a VeggieTale. She asks for them by name. "Mommy, Tales." And she sits on the chair in front of the computer until the video is done. She sings the theme song. "If you like to talk to tomatoes. . ." "Matoes." "If a squash can make you smile. . ." "Smile." I got her on tape. And when I turn it off, she gets really upset and yells "Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob,Bob." This morning, when I turned it off, she wouldn't be happy until I drew her her own Bob and Larry. And she named them. "Bob" and "Laiye." I think we might have to follow up on this trend. Just a cute picture.

Pinewood Derby results: pathetic.It went all of eight feet. It didn't even get off the curved part of the track where the cars build up gravity. Not that I competed. The adults didn't compete. We had our own races while the results were being tallied. Pastor Dave made a big announcement about how I'd always wanted to build a car and this was my big opportunity. And my car went eight feet.

We've had a lot of rain here lately, so much rain that our wading pool is full, and I never turned on the hose. Annika loves water and has no regard for temperature, so yesterday we went outside, and she played in the pool. Then she discovered that she was wet and took off her shorts and diaper. So I convinced her to put on a swimsuit. Doesn't she look like an aerobics instructor from the 80s?

That's about all for now. We haven't heard from Seth lately, but we assume all is well. God bless everybody.

A dream deferred.

I really shouldn't abuse the record of serious experiences that give rise to good poetry by comparing them to trivial things like that which follows, but this month, I've gotten to do something that I've wanted to do since childhood, something that I'd almost given up on. I have the opportunity to build a pinewood derby car. Pinewood derby cars are blocks of wood that contestants carve and paint to resemble cars, usually race cars. Contestants compete by rolling them down a wooden track. The cars are powered solely by gravity, kind of like small soap box derby cars. Boy Scouts and other kids' clubs hold annual races, and some of the competition can get quite fierce.

When I was a kid, only the boys got to build pinewood derby cars. The kids at my churches went either to Cadets (Calvinist Cadet Corp) or G.E.M.S. (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior/ Calvinettes). The Cadets got to make pinewood derby cars. The Calvinettes got to decorate cakes and learn things like counted cross-stitch, an activity I abhor to this day. I never quite forgave the Cadets for learning to make derby cars and operate saws and tie cool knots.

It just didn't seem fair. But my current church takes a more liberated view. Both the boys and the girls get to participate in the pinewood derby event. And this year, so do the adults. My pastor overheard me griping (note to self: don't gripe around the pastor; he might take steps to rectify the situation, and then you have to do something. ) that I'd never been allowed to make a car, so he said, "Why don't you make a car?" So now I'm making a pinewood derby car. My car is modeled on my real car. I designed it and cut it out myself. It's big and boxy and painted gold. I don't really have a convertible, as shown above, but I had to make this car a convertible because it already had part of it removed. You can see the seat and the soft top and the inside of the windshield from this angle. I haven't put in the details yet. Those will come later when I have more colors of paint. Wheels and axels will be stuck in those little slots that you can barely see, and it will fly down the course. At least I hope it will. I'll post pictures of the completed car before the competition.

Lots of pictures.

I want to get these out quickly so Seth can download them. We just went to my parents' house for a week, so we had lots of picture opportunities.

My dad loves tigers. He has two that are just Boogaloo's size. She took them everywhere. The activity of choice for the weekend was planting. Dad made Boogaloo a sandbox which thrilled her to no end. Boogaloo learns that marker can flavor tea (that's what's in the bottle). That's not jam. That's ink. Some of the gorgeous skies over my parents' house over the weekend. I love watching the storms roll through the Valley because the sky is so broad that you can really watch them roll through. Boogaloo running through the sprinkler. Boogaloo discovers hiding. She thinks that if she can't see us, we can't see her. Boogaloo and Auntie Abby coloring (and wedding planning). Boogaloo in her own sunhat in our backyard.

Boogaloo with her umbrella and her kitty in our backyard. She doesn't like umbrellas for rain, but she likes them for sun.

Hat and pjs.