juxtaposition

First, here we are in a park near Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Next, with Jim in Muir Woods. (Courtney may not have the most standard pronunciation.)

Then, at the beach by the Golden Gate Bridge.

Finally, just before we left in Chinatown.

We arrived back to freezing conditions, then snow on the first day of spring. It was fun to play in the snow today, though.

dancing

'you will find out when you get there'

This is mostly for Joe, the proud owner of Mojave the mammal. We are three weeks into our return to NYC and enjoying it so far. Excited to have Lenni arrive today and to have Jim around for a few more months.

Elijah's first trip to Mt. Rainier

We took our first trip to Rainier as a whole family today. Eden quickly found  a good stick.

Which then became a good sword.

This is at shadow lake, a really neat spot by Sunrise that we'd never been too before. I think the thing at the end with little Tahoma peak is awesome.

At this point Eden has long given up on walking and is starting to get a bit goofy. Note the great camerawork while holding Elijah in one arm.

We decided to try one more brief (but very vertical) hike down to Sunset Lake. We'd never done this one either, but Eden really likes lakes. Note that I call it Spirit Lake in the video, which is not accurate. Spirit Lake is by Mt. St. Helens, which Eden still references several times per week as the place with the scary movie. Today she decided that someday when she was bigger she'd go back and try the movie again so things are looking up. We didn't tell her that Rainier is an active volcano.

Luckily we have no video of the trip back. Elijah screamed for a while before he and Eden both fell asleep, but shortly Eden woke up screaming because she'd peed and needed new pants and underwear. Elijah woke up and yelled for most of the rest of the trip. Things are going well for him otherwise and he really liked the parts of the trip that didn't involve a car. When we got home he seems to have doubled his rolling skills after straining against his car seat restraints. One day that giant baby will devour us all.

another Aquasox game

We went back to Everett to see the Aquasox again- this time without Courtney and Elijah but with the Butlers. It was hotter and sunnier this time but Eden was more interested in the baseball. Also, my camerawork is slightly improving- I even catch the foul ball going behind the stands.
My video of Elijah playing the piano didn't come out well, but we'll get some good video of him at Mt. Rainier sometime soon.

Oregon Coast

Mt St Helens was on our way to the Oregon Coast, where we visited cheese factories and went to some scenic points. A couple notes on this first video, first you might want to know that Eden later determined which animal caused the hole in the fence (a giraffe). Two, this dance is a bit different from the Mt. Rainier dancing up and down, in that it means she needs to pee.

This video was supposed to be of the birds flying below us along the cliffs, but quickly turns into a video about proper stick use. Note that you can both see the camera move when it is hit by the stick, and even briefly see the stick in the frame at one point.

Mount St Helens

So on Sunday we all went to Mt. St. Helens for the first time. It was pretty great, though Eden was pretty scared of the movie they showed about the 1980 eruption. She looked at the mountain pretty suspiciously from that point forward.

3 months

Elijah is out of is '4th trimester' and ready to face the world. Here he is today celebrating on his mat with his bugs. He is getting much more engaged with his surroundings.
In other exciting news, Eden is potty trained.

Aquasox

At Eden and Elijah's first baseball game. Also pretty good evidence that I have no future as a MLB camera operator. He looked safe to me.

Eden holding Elijah

Eden does a good job with her little brother most of the time, though sometimes she doesn't do the right thing and quickly promises, "I'll never do it again!" Next up, getting her a better sense of what the word 'never' means.

more stuff has happened

It has been a while since I've posted to this but things have been happening. Grandparents and uncles have visited and are visiting, pounds have been been gained, tantrums thrown, and furniture rearranged.

To start though, here's the main reason I ever write a blog entry- a visit to Mt. Rainier.

Eden was grumpy at times (such as when she wanted to go on the snow), but she has a great grumpy dance.

The bridge that leads to Eden and my favorite place, the grove of the patriarchs. 

Eden has started to really like running, and shortly after this video was taken stopped denying the existence of the number eleven. Now to just convince her that my Courtney isn't my mom, and Aunt Star isn't my dad.

A guest cameraperson took this video on the fourth of July. This blog entry is a little lacking in large and focused video of Elijah so I'll have to post again soon.

video from la isla and peps

Happy Memorial Day! Today we hung out with some of Eden's buddies from PEPS, each of whom has their own little sibling. Eden had a fun time.

Last Tuesday we all went down to Ballard to eat at La Isla, go to a toy store, and get some ice cream.

thursday, May 16th

We had a fun day- dropped Eden off at daycare and went to a fancy lunch downtown. Elijah slept through most of it but I think he had a good time. Then the Garnevowels's entered the 21st century and got a TV that does not rely on cathode ray tubes. 

After picking up Eden we all hung out for a while and Eden read her book. 

Elijah squirming

Here's a video that Lenni took the other day. It is a pretty good example of how Elijah gets himself worked up due to hunger, wetness, etc.
This is slightly different than the way Eden used to (and currently) gets herself worked up.

the house

Elijah was wise enough to bring a gift for Eden, a big Cedar playhouse with a working doorbell, a kitchen, and a bunch of windows. It also had a forty page instruction manual and took a very large number of hours to construct, but it is done now.