Yeah, so, my car was jacked from out front of our house last night. Well, I think it was last night, because it was there when I got home from work (since I parked it there), and wasn’t there this morning when I went out to go to work. It’s really one of the more confusing things - walking out to where you think your car should be, and not seeing anything there.

So, today was spent dealing with the police, filing a report, calling the insurance company, and driving randomly through the neighborhood hoping to run across the car by chance. I only attempted that last bit because the cop who came by to file the report said that there were about 4-5 reports of other car thefts in the area last night, and he suspected a group of kids on a string of joyrides.

Actually, a lady about 3 miles from here called me and let me know that she found the contents of my glove box on her from lawn. I went to pick it up - all wet and grubby, but definately my stuff. My car insurance card, my receipts from Midas and Les Schwab, a CD case, etc. I would have rathered get my golf clubs back, but in the end, it’s just stuff…

…but it’s MY stuff!

Categories: Family
Comments Off

I don’t want to forget about any of this:

It started with a longer-than-needed plan trip to the East Coast (SEA to IAH to DCA). We spent a nice day in DC with the family going to the Country Gentlemen while I picked up Tom from Dulles (it only took him 1.2 hours to get from the plane through customs).

Saturday we drove from DC to the beach, which took us 5 hours instead of the usual 2.5 (due to silly people having accidents on the bridge). We only lost the ladder bunge-d to the top of the car once on the highway.

Once at the beach, we settled in for a fun week. Sunday we went to the beach 3 times — well, Alex went 3 times, we went twice. It was also rainy and a bit chilly — not that that stopped us. Big BBQ dinner (with family photos), and fun on the boardwalk (we won at Skeeball and Horse Races). Then, we watched the silliest “Bat Thumb” movie on DVD and crashed out. The first 56 hours of vacation have been a kick!

Categories: Family
Comments Off

First, a big thank-you / shout-out to Anne (my lovely wife and teammate) for a great birthday party last night. Even though we got shut out of our planned margarita/Putt-Putt extravaganza, the margs were still great, and it was a lot of fun to hang out and shoot the shit breeze with everyone. Afterwards, we went over to Maggie Bluffs and ate / drank ourselves silly (while trying to see how many people we could cram into that booth). So, to all of you who came - thanks!

Then, to cap it off, Anne / Alex / Leah gave me a fantastic “memory book” this morning. It’s kinda like a photo album, but picture a hard-backed, bound book with hand-picked photos (by Anne) with cool comments. Makes me super-glad to have a good digital camera, because some of those shots look SO COOL as 8×10’s. I think you can get more info on the book here.

Alex also made me a picture of him and me, and wrote “Dad I Love You” on it. Well, it was more like “D A D I LV U”, but I knew what it said. All by himself. Made me want to cry right there. Moments like that help me remember why I wanted to be a daddy.

Ok, before I bust out crying right here, I’ll wrap. Thanks again!

Noah

A few notes:

Jason / Cara - here’s a link to the story about the Fox News documentary that we talked about (via bOING bOING).

The league that took over the putt-putt course lives here.

I put some (dark and grainy) phonecam pix up here. Wish we had gotten a “real” picture of the group — we’ll just have to do it again.

+++

Categories: Family
Comments Off

I’m blogging this as a follow-on to my conversation with Anne last night as we sat on the beach at Golden Gardens and watched the sun go down over Elliott Bay and the Olympic Mountains (ed. note - lordy my, I love this place). We talked about our family, and I tried to explain why I worked. I feel like I/we are in the “Work to Live” category. It’s never been about the “stuff” with us, it’s always been about the time.

Proactive Living

Categories: Family
Comments Off

Surprise — Seattle is ranked the “most kid-friendly”. Or is that the “mostest kid-friendliest”? Either way, happy to hear it…

Categories: Family
Comments Off

From bOING bOING

Toilet training, thumb sucking — while those might sound like entries on any of dozens of garden-variety navelgazing weblogs, they’re part of the latest micropublishing venture from Weblogs Inc.. Link to bloggingbaby.com.

Categories: Family
Comments Off

Today was “Take Your Kids To Work” day at my office. Ostensibly, this is a chance for the young’uns to see where Daddy or Mommy or their other parental unit(s) spend the majority of their day when the kids are in school or day care or hanging around the streetcorner or wherever. The thought is that maybe if kids know what fun their folks are having at work, they’ll stop clamoring to watch Finding Nemo and join the work-force instead.

However, Alex and Leah are both under 5, so they’re not going to be joining the working world any time soon (nor should they — don’t get me wrong, I’m not an advocate of child labor or anything like that, so don’t call your lawyer). But, I wanted to bring them to work anyway, so they can at least have a mental picture of where Daddy is all day, and what he’s doing (plus, Anne had something else that she needed to do).

So, here’s the mental picture that they left with (at least, my interpretation of their impressions, since I know that it’s impossible for an adult to fully understand the workings of a toddlers/childs/adolescents/teenagers mind):

• Daddy has a desk somewhere (we didn’t spend more than 2 minutes at my desk for the entire 3 hour visit)

• Every office has a hopscotch game taped onto the floor and streamers on the walls
• Conference rooms are all filled with bowls of lollipops, potato chips, snack bars, fruit chews, and juice
• The objective of the day is to run around all of the aisles and through the hallways, screaming with joy and throwing your new bouncy-ball around
• When you’re tired, it’s common practice to retire to the nearest conference room and watch movies (Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2 to be specific).
• The working day ends when you leave at noon, get chauffered home by Mom, and go take a nap.

Come to think of it — I like that schedule. Where do I get that job!?!?

Seriously, it was GREAT to have the kids with me today. I didn’t get much work done, but we had fun. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

Categories: Family
Comments Off

I love long weekends. Usually I have a full list of activities planned, but this weekend, I just left open to rest and relax. Naturally, that didn’t happen.
This is what did happen:

1 - We took Alex and Leah to see Shrek 2. Yes, it was funny. Yes, the kids loved it. Yes, the kids sat through the whole thing. And yes, Anne and I liked it too.
2 - I fixed the BBQ, hung the herb pots (basil and rosemary) that Anne got, mowed the lawn, fixed the string trimmer (I think it’s fixed — are those sparks out of the motor supposed to be there?), started cleaning the study and the scary study closet, etc etc.
3 - We all went to the Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center on Sunday — great time, and the weather was fantastic!
4 - We camped out in the tent in the backyard. Yes, with both kids. Yes, they loved it. Yes, they actually slept. Yes, it rained on us (it’s Seattle). And yes, the tent is waterproof. Next stop — the great outdoors (somewhere other than our back yard).
5 - Anne and I watched both Lord Of The Rings 2 and 3. Fantastic movies, but dang LONG! We saw them in the theatre, and while the visuals were still the best on the big screen, they’re still amazing in our living room.
6 - We went up to Edmonds for dinner at Emily and John’s house. We had the entire Seattle family (the four of us, Sharon, Paul and Jane) as well as Jeanne who is in from Maui visiting New Baby Audrey. Alex calls the baby “Baby Andre”. We played with John’s bubble machine (well, it’s actually Sophie’s), and we took a spin in the hot-tub.

Yeah, nice and relaxing weekend. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it…

Categories: Family
Comments Off

Baby Gadgets: The Why Cry Analyzer

Well, not that type of crap. But stuff that unscrupulous people (crooks) sell to other insecure people (new parents). Of course, if this sort of thing worked, it would be on everyone’s baby night-table. Hmmm, wait a minute! Didn’t Homer’s brother invent one of these using Maggie as a test subject? Truth is stranger than fiction, or vice versa. Whatever.

Categories: Family
Comments Off

I see that Anne has sent out the main link to this page as a gateway to the photo gallery. That’s great, although I’ve really been treating this blog as my personal dumping ground for notes, thoughts, etc. Wonderfull — welcome.

Really, I just wanted to add a new entry to the blog so that “Doggie Diapers” wasn’t the first thing seen…

Categories: Family
Comments Off