Trash art

Yesterday Will had a minor meltdown after I vetoed his proposal to paint his wooden blocks. Once he’d recovered from the agonizing disappointment of not getting to follow through with that scheme, he agreed that it might instead be fun to paint other objects destined for the recycling bin (and not likely to be mouthed on by Owen in the near future).

Will used tempera paint, crayons, glue, yarn and masking tape to construct this “house” made of a plastic milk jug, a paper-covered cereal box, a veggie burger box, some beverage bottles, a vitamin container and a deconstructed box of baby wipes. Now I’m finding it difficult to put anything in the trash. I just saved a toilet paper roll and a wine bottle cork in case Will's house needs extra chimneys or something as well as a squeeze bottle of lemon juice for a temporary bath toy.

What strange stuff do you turn into art or toys?

Bathroom adventurer

Ever since Owen started crawling he’s been trying to sneak into our bathrooms, tantalized perhaps by the fact that each time he ventures in one I scoop him up and set him down in a cleaner, more appropriate play space. Now that Owen’s mastered pulling up, the bathroom is all the more enticing. And yesterday, Owen nearly got a taste of the forbidden fruit for babies: toilet water.

I was on the phone with my mom, with Owen hanging out floorside in the dining room. And within a minute’s time, Owen, capitalizing on my distraction, made a bee-line across the house, through the living room, into our bedroom and then into our bathroom. I noticed the eery silence, did a quick search through the house and found him standing elated at the toilet, dipping his hand in the bowl. We have an if-it’s-yellow-let-it-mellow water-saving policy when there’s no company to offend in our house, so it was only by the grace of God that he got a clean dip. So I’m renewing my resolve to keep the bathroom doors shut at all times – but I imagine it won’t be long before we have a lapse and I find my little adventurer toilet climbing again.

Pickin' peaches

Today we joined my friend Ginny (who makes a habit of going on Wednesday morning excursions with her kids) for a fruit-picking trip to Hudson Farms. It was a hot but fun morning of peach- and blackberry-picking. I have fond memories of picking fruit with my family at U-pick orchards near Grand Junction, Colorado – and I’d like to make an annual tradition of it here.

Will and Creight enjoyed picking peaches side by side, while Owen explored the leaves of the trees from his seat in the backpack.

Will stopped to study each fruit and comment on it’s wonderful aroma. (I think he made me smell just about every peach he picked.)

And Millie snacked along the way, and had the blackberry stains to prove it.
Back at home, Will and I devoured a simple lunch of cheese and tomato sandwiches (with homemade whole wheat bread and a tomato from our garden) and blackberries and peaches for dessert.

Go to PickYourOwn.org for links to fruit-picking farms near you.

Where do you go fruit- or vegetable-picking?

The road home

I'll end our road-trip-in-pictures with a few shots from the journey home:



We logged a long day Thursday, winding up at this motel in Witchita, where Owen and Will played doghouse.



So we had banked enough hours to make it to my Uncle John and Aunt Philia's house in Little Rock by late afternoon on day two of the return trip. We enjoyed a nice homemade dinner and even squeezed in an excursion to nearby Pinnacle Mountain State Park where Will enjoyed some time with Uncle John on a playground while Rob and Owen and I took a 1/2-mile late-evening hike and viewed some mammoth cypress trees.

A couple photos in motion: Dad does the backseat squeeze -- while we sugar-high Will through the last leg of the return trip. (Rob and I spent much of our non-driving time seated between the boys like so, juggling their happiness and hunger as we conquered the Interstate.) Will sang and played a few original "bluegrass" tunes on the new travel guitar:And, knight-obsessed Will explored one of his favorite fast-food playgrounds: a Burger King castle.
(I'm secretly glad to be back to our Lakebottom Park playground, where we can swing and slide and run about -- no cheap chicken nuggets required.)

And we're all alternatively happy to be home and a little sorry our adventure's over. "I'm glad to be home," Will said a few different times within an hour of our arrival, having laid eyes on his toys and bedroom. By the next morning, though, he started longing for our more nomadic days. "I want to go home to the motel," he said.

But we're settling back into our at-home routine anyway.

Roadtrip Snapshots: Part 2

And here's a few shots from our stay in Colorado, which was really not a "stay" at all since we were on the move most of the time -- attending (in spirit at least) two simultaneous weddings and visiting family and old friends (most of whom aren't even pictured here). It was the busiest trip of my life -- and great fun no less.

First, in Eagle (my hometown), an aproned Will plays waiter. He would later -- on our road trip back to Georgia -- purchase a ring pop with his tip money.
Boulder Canyon makes a picturesque wedding spot:My cousin Molly ties the knot:
In the audience, two of my favorite women in the world (at 90, "G.G." -- grandma to both Molly and me -- was a guest of honor. And she loved the celebration.)Dancing with Grammy to cousin Adam's bluegrass band:Sleeping with Daddy to cousin Adam's bluegrass band (3 hours past bedtime)At our friend Travis's post-wedding brunch, Owen develops an affection for sunglasses (with guidance from Priya). He's been swiping mine from me ever since: "Shopping" at REI with my friend (and eternal college roommate) Alicia and her two 2-year-old twins Henry and Clementine (who both have an intimate love for the Boulder city buses -- it made Henry sob desperately each time we had to deboard and watch one of the mighty mobiles drive away):
We met sweet 9-week-old Teagan, son #2 for my cousin Emily. (We are thinking of launching a 2-boys support group. Anyone want to join?)Hanging out with second cousins Max (elder brother to Teagan) and net-headed Jasper (who'd just survived his own family road trip from Seattle to Colorado).

Road trip snapshots: Part 1

We're back intact. As we played our road trip theme song (Little Country Giants' "Fields Are Burning") for the final time and pulled into our driveway last night, well past bedtime, I was already getting nostalgic about our little adventure with the boys. As we decompress, I'm going to take a few days to share snapshots from our two-week road trip to Colorado. So we'll start with the trip out:

Owen and Will befriend Evan and Eileen in the hotel where they'd been passing time until move-in date arrived for their new home in Russellville, Arkansas:

One of the more striking images in the windy hills of Kansas was this field of monstrous wind turbines, each of them swimming circles in the air like slow-and-steady-moving space-age creatures.

Portraits from a Kansas rest area (where we also chased a bunny rabbit and discovered a half-eaten Robin's egg).

Bathtime with cousin Wilson, whose parents live in one of the most enviro-/kid-friendly redevelopments in Denver. The old Stapleton airport is now a community of not-at-all-look-alike energy efficient homes with lots of greenspace and bike paths, a town center and a pool all in easy walking distance -- not to mention the most impressive playground I've ever seen (complete with mini mountains and rivers you can run around in):

Here, there and everywhere

We’re back from a whirlwind tour of Colorado’s front range, where we celebrated two nearly simultaneous weddings; reunited with college friends and extended family; and visited Denver, Fort Collins and Boulder all in the space of five days.

We went to a Friday night meet-and-greet and a Sunday brunch for the wedding of an old college friend, Travis, and enjoyed my cousin Molly’s beautiful outdoor wedding in Boulder Canyon on Saturday. Her younger brother Adam’s bluegrass band Head for the Hills turned the late-night celebration into a fun fast-paced dance festival that only totally exhausted Owen managed to sleep through (as we danced him around on our shoulders).

After the wedding will enjoyed a couple days on his own with Grammy and Grandpa. Highlights included a trip to the zoo where Will decided he is brave enough to observe lions, tigers and gorillas after all. (He went on the condition that he would not have to lay eyes on those scary beasts.) And the lowlight was a touch of stomach bug that hit this morning, perhaps ingested with some Glenwood Springs pool water yesterday. He was mostly recovered after one minor bout of vomiting and a few morning complaints from Will (As in: “Something’s wrong with my body” and “Something inside me is wiggling.”)

Meanwhile Rob and I dragged Owen all across the front range as we visited with old friends and spent a night on our own in Fort Collins. We’ve made a new bedroom for Owen on each of the past five nights and I’m beginning to wonder if this vagabond lifestyle is making him question whether he’ll ever get back home to his crib and a regular nap schedule. The poor sleep-deprived kid has been a real trooper despite the fact that he’s sporting a bright red beard of dry-air-induced eczema that makes me itch just to look at it. And Rob and I have realized that it’s plenty fun bringing along a generally amenable non-talking baby for a weekend “away.” But we're also looking forward to next summer’s Colorado trip, when we’re already scheming about leaving a weaned Owen with the grandparents alongside his big brother while we pull off a full escape, just the two of us.

Tomorrow, assuming Will’s little stomach bug is really long since departed, we’re meeting up with cousins from my dad’s side of the family, including a new arrival, my cousin Emily’s 2-month-old son Teagan; and my cousin April’s family, who were also bold and crazy enough to do a long road trip to Colorado from their home in Seattle.

Then Thursday marks the launch of the ominous road trip home. So it may be Sunday before I squeeze in an update. My apologies for the infrequent posts as we traipse across the country.