home run

Given that my date only cried once during our time together, by my standards I'd have to say my outing with June was a smashing success. Our trip to the ballpark really couldn't have gone any better. June spent most of her time testing the spring-backed chairs and shuffling her sippy cup from one cup holder to the next. She wasn't particularly interested in the game, or even Wool E. Bull for that matter, but when a helicopter flew overhead, she ran down to the end of row for a better look; the gentleman sitting there looked a bit baffled as this tiny child pointed skyward and tried to explain to him, in her unique way, that he should be excited too. Although she didn't have a hot dog at the game, she still enjoyed a proper all-American lunch: grilled cheese and apple sauce. She was just delightful. We made it all the way through five innings- far exceeding my expectations. When we left, the Bulls led the Richmond Braves 1-0. Turns out, the Bulls scored one more and won 2-0. Not a bad start to the day. Junie's now sleeping happily, and I'm waiting for the interest rate decision from the FOMC. Assuming she's agreeable to another date, we'll probably go for a run together this afternoon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Update: She said yes! With dozens of dogs to "arf" at and buses to "beep" at, June seemed to enjoy our run-- our second date of the day. I think this relationship might have legs.

five good things

1. This morning I attended the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Spring Breakfast at the RBC Center in Raleigh. Jeff Saturday, center for the Indianapolis Colts, was the keynote speaker and delivered an uplifting message about his athletic experiences and his walk with the Lord. The event was a fundraiser to help send high school athletes to FCA summer camps. Before my senior year in high school, I attended an FCA football camp at Albion College that continues to have a profound impact on my life. It's exciting to think about other young athletes enjoying a similar experience.

2. I met my girls for lunch today at Elmo's Diner. While the latter part of my morning was spent staring at directionless financial markets, they had spent the morning with friends at the Museum of Life and Science. It's always a treat when I get to see them in the middle of the day.

3. I enjoyed perfect weather while running this afternoon-- sixty degrees, a light breeze, and nothing but blue skies. Knowing that 95 degree heat is just around the corner, I'm savoring these last few days of comfort, especially one like today that was 15 degrees below normal.

4. Before dinner, June and I ran around in the grass and chased a few dogs on Duke's east campus. I saw some friends from my Tuesday night running group (I used to be a regular, but now, for one reason or another, my attendance is rather sporadic). After talking with them, we tried out a new playground at a church across the street from campus (I know it's hard to believe... there are, in fact, still playgrounds in Durham that June has not yet test driven). Anyways, we both had a smashing time, and the weather was still perfect.

5. June and I have a date tomorrow. While Adrienne is at work, Junie and I are going to play hooky from our respective responsibilities and attend our first Durham Bulls game of the season. An 11am start and a forecast for sunny skies and 72 degrees should make it ideal conditions for a June-friendly outing-- and June-friendly means Lloyd-friendly. I'll try to take some pictures, but there's a good chance I'll have my hands full. It will be interesting to see if June attempts to stab Wool E. Bull in the eyes again...

the variety show

In general I try to refrain from too much gushing or unabashed admiration of the cuteness of my own child....a little unseemly, no?

But sometimes, I just can't help myself. I almost can't stand the cuteness of the way she says the word "puppies" (occasionally reduced to staggering, clutching my chest, and collapsing). I make her say it about 50 times a day. For now, she's indulging me, but soon a day will come when she's totally over it.

Thanks to Lloyd's lightning quick reflexes, it is now digitally immortalized. Another new word that kills me: "raisins", which comes out exactly like "reezees". Here are those, plus a grab bag of tricks and goodies from a very typical day at home:

Shouldn't we all maybe say puppies that way? Isn't it sort of exactly the right spirit of the word?

our bouncing baby girl

can i get some help over here?

"Uh-oh...uh-oh...uh-oh..."

That's how June woke us up this morning. It wasn't a crisis, but she said it with enough gusto to let us know she needed some assistance. She had thrown all of her stuffed animals out of the crib, and when I entered her room, she was staring helplessly down at her toys that now rested on the floor. As I put the four or five stuffed animals back into her crib, I got carried away and, much to June's delight, I buried her under several of the other stuffed toys that stay in her room. Unfortunately, the two pictures I snapped failed to capture the joy and cuteness of the moment. Instead, the pictures appear to have captured the after effects of a stuffed animal induced bender of sorts-- the type of thing you might be warned about on an after-school special.

splish splash

To me, nothing is more entertaining or rewarding these days than taking June swimming at the Y. Adrienne and I took her there last week, and yesterday I had her there on my own. She just squeals with delight. Her frantic foot stamping is something to behold. She launches herself down the kiddie slide with reckless abandon, she occasionally pauses to study the other swimmers, and when she loses her balance and submerges herself, she remains utterly unfazed. Of course, leaving the pool isn't always welcomed, but it's easy for me to deal with a minor protest when so many giggles precede it.

Winter camping. In April. In North Carolina.

So, here's what happened:

To our amazement, our backpacking adventure started with snow. A local outfitter dropped us off at the north end of the Art Loeb trail as the flurries started coalescing into big, fat flake-balls. The forecast predicted Sunday night would be the coldest and there may be some light snowfall. So off we went in the warmest gear we had packed and our rainjackets.

The plan was to spend 2 nights on the trail and hike through the 30 miles back to the southern trailhead, where we had parked the Volvo. Things didn't go exactly as anticipated, starting with a time-consuming scramble to find a ride to the trailhead after the outfitter we originally planned to use informed us they could no longer operate a shuttle. I will go ahead and spoil the surprise and tell you we had a great time and everything was totally fine (and be warned: portions of this tale definitely make us sound foolish/deranged). But there was a bit of excitement and a tense (haha--tents?) moment or two along the way. Here's my version of events:

Steep, rocky, rugged and beautiful terrain, all the more so with a dusting of snow.

Still just a dusting--nothing to worry about, right? Just an ephemeral, whimsical bit of fun to add some vividness to the telling of the tale....

...except that it kept on snowing and snowing, and as we ascended the side of the mountain and started along the ridge, the wind picked up, the terrain became steeper, rockier, and more treacherous, and the daylight started to wane.

We pressed on in search of a campsite further along the trail to compensate for our late start Monday afternoon. But, finding none and feeling the acute need to find a safe place to spend the night, we turned back and retraced our steps for at least a mile to go back to a site we had passed quite a bit earlier. Demoralizing as it was to turn back in the opposite direction, it was the only prudent decision under the circumstances (but wouldn't you know it? The next morning we discovered a campsite not 300 yards beyond where we turned back. Oy.)

With a huge sigh of relief, we rediscovered the campsite and threw our tent together still with some daylight. At that point there was nothing to do but zip ourselves into our sleeping bags and try to warm up, so by 7:30 pm that's exactly what we had done. And we did not emerge from the safety of our bags for the next 12 hours. For dinner it was trail mix, mini snickers bars, and sad, cold pb & j sandwiches on whole wheat pita, eaten from inside our bags, only sticking our arms far enough out of our bags to assemble and consume that humble meal. Not the hearty rice skillet camp dinner I had planned, but edifying enough.

The wind continued to howl like a banshee around us up there at 6,000 feet on top of that ridge, and as it grew dark, we could hear snow falling and falling on the tent as the hours passed. It must have gotten down to about 20 or so degrees, but thanks to modern sleeping bags, thermal layers, fleece hats, and an extra pair of socks (truly the difference between feeling cold and insecure and feeling quite comfortable), we survived. We were even quite toasty snuggled safely inside and protected from the wild weather outside. Lloyd remarked ruefully that our 3 season tent was by definition ill-equipped for our unexpected winter camping, but it held up like a champ. We woke in the morning to find this:

Wow. Snow, and lots of it. More than we'd seen in Durham all winter. But, the sun shone bright and full of promise, and having somehow stayed dry and warm all night, our spirits buoyed and we surprised ourselves by deciding to go on (at my lowest moments the evening before I was imagining hiking down the 6 or so miles back to the trailhead and begging a ride back to our car, retreating to Asheville, finding a nice hotel with a spa and fancy restaurant...). We also knew the forecast predicted a warming trend (although it had also only predicted scattered flurries, so, we took that with a dose of skepticism).

Mmmmm, hot chocolate. Make you feel like a million bucks.

Lloyd's fancy rigging job of the vestibule of the tent.

Winter wonderland.

Within an hour of starting out we were pleased with our decision to continue. And by a few hours in we were rewarded with stunning views of the surrounding mountains and valleys and congratulated ourselves on our hardy natures. Definitely worth the price of admission.

For the record it did warm up; by late afternoon only patches of snow remained except in the darkest, most densely wooded areas.

A few more exciting moments still awaited us, including a wrong turn at the end of day 2 that left us confused and also quite lost. But just when we were starting to worry that the end of the day was fast approaching and we hadn't found the camp shelter the map said we should have already come across and we were facing the possibility of having to find flattest spot to make a camp for the night...the trail intersected with a little mountain road and we waved down the first car to come by.

Fortunately, its occupants were two of the kindest, most generous human beings ever. All we hoped for from them was information about where we were to get back on the right trail and make camp for the night. But when they offered us a ride back to our car, at least a 45 minute drive, totally out of their way, we took them up on it. The gentleman was an experienced outdoorsman who sympathized with our plight. So, in a matter of moments we went from the low of realizing that we were most likely lost and had no idea where to go or when we might get there, to jubilation at the sight of a road and the possibility of solving the mystery of where we were, to complete euphoria at being in a nice little Honda Civic en route back to our Volvo. Lloyd and I had hamburgers, french fries and beers for dinner and set up the tent in the same Pisgah National Forest campground where we had spent the first night before starting our hike, at the southern trailhead. Then we collapsed in absolute exhaustion.

And there ended our assault on the Art Loeb trail. With our late start on day 1 and the time we lost because of weather on days 1 and 2, we had already realized we wouldn't be able to finish the 12 or so mile hike we had left to do the next day to get back to the car (even without a costly wrong turn). But we did about 20 miles in a day and a half and saw incredible scenery along the way and generally really enjoyed ourselves and our adventure. Sitting here writing this in the well-appointed warmth of the kitchen, I wish we could have another go at it right now. As it is, that will probably have to wait a while. But we're determined to have another try at hiking the full trail through. Maybe next time in June, when the rhododendrons are in bloom?

Back at home, it was an incredible thrill to get flying hugs from June and kiss her sweet head after our first trip together without her. She and Grandma and Grandpa had had a wonderful, happy, warm time here on Green Street, a fact for which we were tremendously grateful. Thanks, mom and dad. You're wonderful grandparents.

*****

In other news, a big shout out to our friends Katie and Wade and Jennifer and Chris who between the 4 of them welcomed 2 beautiful baby boys into the world last Monday, April 14th. Asa Thomas and Grover Henry, we're so glad you're both here! Congratulations to you all on such an amazing event! We all 3 can't wait to meet you!

pleading for an extension

hello friends,
lloyd and i are going away for a few days....all by ourselves! grandma and grandpa will be hanging here with june at our house while we escape to the mountains for a few days of camping and hiking. long overdue photo spreads will be posted upon our return. i know, i'm way behind--still to come are photos from nana's visit, easter, and aunt lauren's visit, plus new photos from grandma and grandpa's visit and our trip to the mountains. we'll be back wednesday. have a great week!
xoxo

doggie dentist

Please don't call Family and Protective Services on us. I swear we're loving parents, but if you look closely into June's toy bins, you might think otherwise. It seems a universal fact of parenthood that despite the fancy music, the blinking lights, and the tremendous developmental benefits that expensive new toy offers your child, they will invariably gravitate back towards the tupperware, the remote control, or in our case, these wonderful items...

Wine cork, beer coasters, a scantily clad hula dancer, a lighter (it's empty!), and a syringe (no needle!)...

Sure, it's just a velcro wallet, but I think you'll agree, it's undoubtedly the most disturbing of June's toys...

I'm thankful that Dan Aykroyd's SNL character, Irwin Mainstay, was a fictional one. I can't help but think that, if it existed, "Johnny Switchblade" would be one of June's favorites.

a throwback

June is fast becoming the Babe Zaharias of our day; she has steadfastly resisted the modern day pressure to "specialize" in a single sport. Despite early comparisons to single-sport stars like World B. Free, Happy Hairston, and Kerri Strug, it appears that she will not allow herself to be pigeon-holed into a life spent solely on the balance beam or the hardwood. And yes, she's already shown signs of a good arm for softball and a strong kick for soccer, but like Babe Zaharias, June is showing promise in some less glamorous sports. For instance...

Yo-yoing...

Bowling. Yesterday was June's first trip to the lanes. She showed skill and charisma reminiscent of Ernie 'Big Ern' McCracken (Kingpin movie reference for those in the dark)...

And this is my personal favorite because it illustrates June's deep respect for her ancestry. My dad was born in Canada and I'm sure he'd be thrilled that his granddaughter is showing an interest in Canada's national pastime: curling. Youth curling leagues appear to be few and far between down here in the South, so we'll just continue sweeping the wood floors until we can get June some ice time.

Long Time

Whoa. That was a long break. For a while we just weren't feeling inspired. Then, for the last week, we've had a whirlwind of houseguests. Here are some highlights from the last 2 weeks:

Chapter 1. June and Aaron at Duke Gardens in Durham


Splashing in a little fountain. What else to do in a fountain?Chapter 2. Cousins from Tennessee

There's something about this that's very 100 years ago to me...I can almost imagine the three of them making the journey over the Appalachian Mountains by train or stagecoach or something to visit us here in North Carolina. As it is, they made the drive in my cousin Lori's red sedan. These are her two kids, Cole, 10, and Paxton, 6. Here they are in goofball mode....


...and in sweetheart mode.

We all had a really swell time together and it was wonderful to get the chance to spend quality time with Lori and the kids. Paxton and June formed a special bond that was characterized by June wanting to do everything Paxton did about a nanosecond after Paxton did it. And Paxton playing with June, picking her up, trying to make her laugh , and so on. Also, herding her, as you see here.
Paxton sat on the steps in the back of the house...and June immediately copied her. The kids decorated Easter cookies, then demolished them in less than 24 hours. June was allowed to have one cookie. She enjoyed it tremendously.



June's intense look. Taken at Elmo's Diner. What would we do without Elmo's? We ate lunch there both days Lori and the kids were here. Very kid friendly, fast service, big menu with lots of healthy and veg options and lots of greasy spoon stuff, too. And my favorite huevos rancheros anywhere. I'm always a little embarrassed to be showing my face there again. Paxton said it was the best grilled cheese ever. See? Elmo's. And my dad is never here an hour before he wants to know when we're going up there. We'd all go hungry without it.
If you're reading this on the northern side of the Mason-Dixon, please don't hate us for the beautiful days we had. Beautiful enough to spend the afternoon outdoors with nothing heavier than a sweatshirt. Paxton made some very beautiful drawings for June. I'll truly be sad when the rain comes again.
Action shot--Cole, Lloyd, and a frisbee. Please ignore the sorry state of our lawn...the only thing I can say in its defense is that it's pesticide- and fertilizer-free. This is what an all natural, zero-effort lawn looks like:
The house was much quieter after Lori and the kids took their energy and their fun back to Knoxville. We were sad to see them go. And it wasn't until after they were gone that I realized I didn't have any pictures of the moms, only the kids. Isn't that how it always goes? Next, Lloyd's mom arrived the day after they left. That post will come soon...

All the Dirt on June

March....time for yard work. Everyone gets dirt worked into the clothes, the treads of shoes, under the nails, everywhere. Truly, June has never been granted the opportunity to get as dirty as she did on this past Sunday.

Here she is helping me in my little raised plot of dirt (today I put in seedlings of mustard greens, spinach, chard, collards, romaine, and bibb lettuce. Check back for a progress report on that). She has her own set of kid-sized garden tools that are still comically out of proportion to her height and require motor skills she hasn't quite mastered.
But she's a determined little lassie, I assure you. She stuck it out with that shovel and moved a few molecules of dirt at a time.
After a while, yard work lost its gleam and it was on to the birdbath, filled to overflowing by the nearly 3 inches of rain we've had in the last week (praise the Lord. It's been a dry, dry time down here, in case you haven't heard). Here's an action shot: splash!
More exploration....
So, June has gotten funny about having any article of clothing taken off; she wouldn't let me either take off or straighten her hat. We're getting pretty good at just going with it. More difficult is when her clothing opinions extend to what I want to wear...I have 2 pairs of shoes that I can't wear around her because she just totally flips out.
Dirty....muddy.....wet.....happy....
....ditto.....
Here's an old favorite, the rain gauge. A wonderful little gadget to take apart and reassemble.
We didn't get all that much work done, but we got very dirty and we were very happy. That is, we were happy until the time came to strip off all those wet, dirty clothes. That's when the tears got going (I'm telling you, she's just funny about that, and most of all about the shoes! Don't try to take off her shoes!). Oh well; she's still a sweet pickle through and through.

June Louise: toddler, trash collector, good neighbor

These are the items June collected and handed to me during our ramble at East Campus this afternoon--some exceptionally interesting trash:
to wit: a wrapper, both sides of a bubble tape dispenser (surely you're thinking the same thing I am--they still make that?), the bottom of a red plastic cup (oh tattered red plastic cup, what a tale of collegiate debauchery you could tell), and some other odds and ends. Not pictured: twigs, acorns, old dead brown leaves, and dirt worked so far under June's fingernails I thought maybe it might enter right into the bloodstream. Also not pictured is the storm grate that was the source of much curiosity and many delighted squeals.

* * * * * * *

This is a special aside to our friends in northern places: here is a little glimpse of what is soon to come. I know, it must not feel like it sometimes, but it is coming. And though you probably envy us our four consecutive mid-60's-to-70-degree days, we will pay our dues come July and August, trust me. I'll post some more photos then, when the world is brown and parched and yet, paradoxically, oppressively humid, and every living thing is suffering with heat fatigue. But for now, it's all birds singing, swelling buds on the branches of every tree, and that unutterably delicious feeling of possibility. Some harbingers:
1. Pansies
2. Daffodils