Tweets in the Meantime

…will try to take some time in the next week or two to update photos online, and maybe write here a little bit. But right now life is bananas, as it has been since the beginning of August really. It’s just work, work, work! But hopefully things will slow down shortly.

In the meantime, I’ve linked my Twitter postings to the sidebar here. I’m using Twitter more and more, especially now from my phone as I’m on the go. It’s not as informative as full-fledged blogging, but it’s a nice balance between no time and wanting to share! Also, it’s great to have a timeline of my life to look back on, especially as I wonder what to blog about!!!

See you soon!

A bird, a Plane? Well, kinda… the Blue Angels!

Good gosh, I thought something just blew up out in front of the building… instead, it turns out that the Blue Angels are in town for the Seafair Airshow, and they just had their arrival/flyover of Seattle. Wow. They are LOUD! (Thanks to Google for informing me that no, Seattle is not under attack).

Proof

It was hot here yesterday. Real hot. The picture proves it… 100 is hot, any way you look at it. Yesterday evening we decided to travel over to Northgate Mall for some free AC. Driving to the mall @5:30pm, the temp gauge read 106! The mall looked like some kind of fallout shelter — it was wall to wall people, of which very few looked to be shopping.

We’re going to try to make it over to the Queen Anne wading pool in a little while. Hopefully it won’t be too crowded, but today is supposed to be a scorcher again, so who knows?! Wish us luck.

mUGHy

Ok, ok… it’s late, and I should be in bed. I know — and to be fair, I am in bed. But, you see, sleep has so far eluded me as I lay here and stew in the unbelievably warm night air. This is Seattle, right?! Because if I had to guess, it feels a little more like ATL at the moment.

All I know is that it’s 1:25am, and the mercury is pegged at 78 degrees, with 60% humidity. Back home, that’s what we call muggy. Emphasis on the UGH. Tomorrow it should be close to 100. Global warming? El Nino? Who knows… but sweating and sleeping are an incompatible combination for me.

Lovin’ Summer

What an awesomely beautiful weekend here in Seattle! The weather was pristine, and we made great use of it! Saturday, we went for a morning hike at Carkeek park, located just a little ways north of us along the Sound. Carkeek has great, well-groomed walking trails throughout the woods, and a kids playground located at the main park area. Izzy enjoyed playing on the teeter-totter and swings, and then we were off hiking again (this time I carried both the girls)!

While at Carkeek, we randomly bumped into the Rutledges again (seeing them 3 times last week, we almost started thinking that they had moved to Seattle)! Cory, seeing a 25′ concrete salmon slide said, “I simply must have a picture of me inside that.” I obliged:

Then, on Sunday, we ventured out after church to Costco, to replenish the stock of diapers and baby wipes. Sometimes, I feel a little awkward buying in bulk — but when you go through diapers and wipes with 2 kids, it really helps to save some cash in the long run. We stopped off and grabbed Costco hotdogs and chicken bakes for dinner, and then seeing as we still had some time before the evening’s Powerhour (Powerhour, the period of time, typically 1 hour, in which both girls get baths, Audrey nurses, Izzy gets stories read to her, and they both head to bed), we drove out to the Magnolia Overlook. This spot has quickly become one of my favorite vantage points of the city, Sound, and Rainier. We were lucky to be able to take a couple of shots with Rainier standing in all its glory behind the city and the girls. Gorgeous.

A Little Love for Audrey

Ok, since Audrey hasn’t really been getting much of the royal treatment lately, I’m shamelessly posting all this jazz of her. Enjoy the pics and vid, and know that we do love both of our children equally!

Glass Dolphins & Real Community

Last night, we ventured up Aurora Avenue to spend the evening with some old Bethel College friends: Andy and Lisa Carlson live just a few miles to our north, and have a wonderfully huge urban backyard to entertain guests. We were able to have a little bbq on a beautifully sunny summer evening with them, as well as with the Rutledges who joined us. Maclain and Izzy, totally enthralled with the multiple boxed gardens located in the backyard, spent much of the evening transplanting mulch and dirt from one box to another. We have the pictures to prove it:

As you can see, Izzy is sporting a beautiful dirt mustache here. Even better, we made the ridiculous decision to give her a bath before we left for the bbq. Seriously, what were we thinking?!

Spending any time with Andy and Lisa is always an exciting experience. These two people constantly remind me that it’s ok to love life with wild abandon, even the messy parts, and to always strive to practice one’s faith (rather than preach it). Case in point: Andy and Lisa don’t live in a great part of town… in fact, they live in a pretty sketchy neck of the woods. AA has a recovery/meeting hall located right next to their home (and fortunately/unfortunately?, most people in attendance aren’t anything close to looking “cleaned-up & sober.” Prostitution, homelessness, chemical-dependency, etc… these are some of the very visceral realities that those living in their neighborhood exist within.

Hear me out — Seattle is a great town for sure. But like any city, there are elements present that most people would rather ignore or avoid, then deal with directly. Initially, the Carlson’s neighborhood would probably fit into almost everyone’s categorical box of “places-you-pray-the-car-doesn’t-break-down.”

Which is partly why Andy and Lisa are so refreshing and amazing. While we bbq’d in the backyard, and the kids ran around ripping up the vegetable gardens, we had the privilege of watching their community in action. Their home is a quad-plex, and suffice it to say their neighbors aren’t the garden-variety suburbanites that many of us grew up around. Ted, a chain-smoking recovering alcoholic himself, believes it’s still 1986 (no, seriously). A consummate weight-lifter, he has a weight set placed squarely in his living room. Also of particular uniqueness, his entire home is adorned with glass statues of dolphins. Everywhere. Included in the dolphin motif are framed, backlit images of dolphins with moving water. I have no idea how it works, but the framed artwork literally has moving backgrounds… crazy. Blacklights, movie posters, and old family photos were also scattered throughout.

You might be wondering how I know all these details about Ted and his apartment. Well, I know because Ted wanted to show his apartment off to me. In fact, Ted gave a couple of tours of his apartment throughout the evening to those willing to accompany him. And throughout, both he and his girlfriend Lilly continually kept bringing out old children’s toys, clothes, etc., to share with the kids and us.

Sean was another neighbor that was at Andy and Lisa’s that evening. Sean lives in a van down the street. Andy shared with me that he’d been living like that now for quite some time, in fact, Sean sometimes would sleep out in their backyard underneath the stars just for a change of pace. Tattooed and pierced, Sean stands about 6’10″… but his personality was warm and engaging. We spent the evening chatting about life … swapping jokes and stories, while sitting next to a fire and watching the kids play. At one point, I was pseudo-lamenting the predicament I find myself in surrounded by girls at home. Sean piped up to share that he has not 1, or 2, but four daughters himself. We discussed the nuances of raising girls, and commiserated together over what we’d do when they came to the age of dating (and just what that age might be?!).

Later that evening, I found myself chatting with Andy about his home, and the culture of its community. Andy shared with me that since moving in, many people in the neighborhood had come to know them, and their home, as being safe. Safe from what, I assume, depends on the individual. Regardless, their home is to some degree providing a central location for them to minister in subtle ways to those they find themselves living around. Whether addicts, prostitutes, the homeless, whoever, Andy and Lisa are finding ways to include, validate, support, and love people who could really use it.

Quick clarification: I think we all could use it (inclusion, belonging, support, love, etc). The difference here is that Andy and Lisa find ways to love those who are usually defined by their associated social stigmas, stigmas that typically would deter many to look the other direction rather than to engage them. Both Andy and Lisa commented throughout the night that no matter how crazy their neighbors (or neighborhood) may seem, that they were finding real community there, with these people who despite their own issues, were acting as a daily blessing in their own lives as well.

All night, I kept thinking that if we all could push past our fears, and seek to care for those around us as Andy and Lisa do (with the grace and love of Christ), how different might our world look?

Andy and Lisa: thanks for setting such a great example for how to love life with wild abandon… even the messy parts.

Lions, Tigers & Siamangs!

We ponied up the dough yesterday for a zoo membership to Woodland Park, which is only about 2 miles up the road from us. As Izzy is constantly talking about animals, replicating the noises they make, drawing animals, etc… we figured it’d be a good investment for the next year, especially as the cost of admission is $16.50 per adult, and $11 per kid. Plus, you are required to pay for parking regardless of membership or no, which tacks on an extra $5 per trip. So for our small family of 4, each trip over (not including gas, lunches, sunscreen, etc), would cost us approximately $50… I’d expect the monkeys to sing and dance for that price (which, as we discovered yesterday, the Siamangs are very close to doing)!

Anyways, with a zoo membership, we only need to go as a family 3 times a year to have the membership makes its value felt. But the best part is that I was able to get an unnamed adult added to our membership, so that when family or friends are in town we can venture over there on the cheap. Plus, it should be a unique location to have one:ones with my PA staff this coming year.

We already have begun making use of the membership, as our friend Levi came along yesterday morning for our zoo outing. Although he says he came along to meet hot nannies, I think he secretly loves spending time with us (especially Izzy). As you can tell from the photo above, Izzy looks like she enjoys hanging out with Levi too.

PS. I realize that this blog, our Flickr photostream, (and frankly) our apartment walls are currently suffering from a severe lack of Audrey! We’re realizing that either a) she’s always sleeping during pristine photo-opportunities, or b) she’s strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn and thus is not available for pictures. So, if you have a great photo of Audrey, send it our way, as we need some tangible photographic proof that we do indeed have a second child. Taylor Sprague, if you’re reading this, I’d love to see the photos you were able to grab of us and the kids when we were back in BF. Holler if you have anything to share!

Way Out West

Our good friends Cory and Katie Rutledge, along with their son Maclain, made the trek way out west and are in town this week. It’s so much fun to be able to catch up with old friends, doubly-so when catching up is super natural and low-key. This is always the case with the Rutledges, and just one element of our relationship that we really appreciate. No matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other or spoken, it doesn’t take more than a minute or two for us to be back to our old jokes, memories and habits. Yesterday, we recalled college memories, contemplated the mysteries of parenthood, and got all theological as we discussed the challenges of living out our faith in real and humble way. All of this taking place in about as much time as it took to walk over across the Fremont bridge and order a latté.

The kids fed the geese down by the canal, we did coffee @Fremont Coffee House, had lunch from Orrapin in Queen Anne (they have the best pad thai), and then they were off to the San Juan Islands for an afternoon/evening of whale-watching. It was a ton of fun seeing them, especially here in Seattle — there’s something unique about being able to spend time with old friends in brand new settings.

The Last 6 Months

Well, I guess if we’re going to be intentional about blogging more frequently, it would be good to start writing… so, in order to start things off proper, I’ll give a *quick recap* of the last few months.

*Don’t be surprised if this post gets split into a couple — I can’t imagine I’ll either A) remember everything worth reporting with only one-go at this, and/or B) have the time to finish this completely before the girls wake up! Ok, on to the recap!

• 6 months ago today, Janelle was pregnant (and ready to pop). As always, she makes pregnancy look good.

• I was in the midst of Winter Quarter @ SPU, and struggling mightily to make the most of the limited amounts of time I had to work with (both professionally and personally).
• Audrey Lynn was born Feb 5th, 2009. Good looking baby, if I may say so myself. Janelle was a champ with it all, and BFF Jenn was super supportive and helpful, coming over in the middle of the night to stay with and watch Izzy while we headed to the hospital.
• 2 kids + 2 full-time jobs + 2 bedroom apartment = 6 reasons to go crazy.
• Janelle’s grandfather, Grandpa Scott, passes away in March: no man has ever had such an endearing smile as he, and although his passing was painful for those he left behind, we took comfort knowing that his salvation was in Christ. Enjoy paradise Grandpa, and save us a seat.
• Izzy turns 2yrs old! Wow, that was fast?! We threw her a party, had a bunch of friends over (including all her favorite resident-students), and then we were subsequently rewarded by her potty-training in about 3 days. Can you say AWESOME?! Granted, we’ve had some accidents here and there — but all things considered, she really trained in under a week and has been a champ about it ever since.
• Janelle turned 29 in March. For those counting, that’s half-way to 58yrs old. Yikes!
• Spring Quarter ensues at SPU. Basically, Spring Qtr is just 8 weeks of non-stop goodbye-end-of-the-year-thanks-for-everything celebrations, dinners, and parties. In addition to everything else expected throughout our crazy-busy 10 week quarters. Suffice it to say, Izzy and I didn’t see a whole lot of each other, and I vaguely remember seeing an infant in the apartment every so often (Audrey perhaps)? School was over June 19th.
• My grandmother, Grandma Vi (Jensen), passes away in early June. One of the sweetest little ladies you’ll ever meet, she had a smile and charm all her own. Grandma wasn’t my blood-grandmother, as Grandpa had remarried in the 70s, but in watching how she loved us nobody would have ever known that we weren’t related. In fact, I think anyone would say that she was about as fantastic a grandmother as any grandkid could ask for. Again, it was sad to see her pass, but she deserved the respite, and we are once again blessed to know that her salvation was assured in Christ.
• June 21st: I begin full-time Daddy Daycare. Although I’ve always said that being an Resident Director has been/is my dream job… this stay-at-home-dad gig is pretty sweet too. I think the girls are enjoying it as well (Janelle included).
• In other, more minor news: Janelle and I are on a city-league volleyball squad, the “Fledglings.” To put it mildly, we are an abomination to volleyball. Period. But, we get out to the beach weekly and get a little exercise in, which is great.
• Izzy is officially enrolled in preschool for the coming fall. I know, I know… there is no way she should be old enough yet for something that has the word “school” in the title… but Janelle keeps telling me it’s true. My little girl is getting older by the day, and definitely ready for some peer interactions. Apparently, hanging out with 18-22yr olds doesn’t meet all the growing developmental needs of a toddler.
• As of today, I have less than 5 weeks remaining before work kicks back up, and we start fall training. Ouch. Summer breaks will never, ever, be long enough.

Well, that’s the gist of it, or at least as much as I can remember at the moment. I realize that there’s plenty that we’ve probably missed, but at least that’ll bring most folks up-to-speed with what we’ve been up to!