superflatmonkey

Time is a cunning little thief

It is sad business to see how infrequently I post to this thing, no? 

There is that sad bit about London leaving preschool, some crap about autumn then— BAM—a year has passed. 

But that is how it goes. Really. And I know it will only get worse. I need something to anchor me in the moment.

So do you. I'm just saying.

Hobo Picnic

So because there was this Mother's Day tea, they had to do something for Father's Day, right? Of course. Well, they didn't have to, but it sure was nice. I think that our neighborhood is really uncommon in that the fathers are really active in both the school and the community. Most of us work from home so we are as available to be parent helpers as the mothers are. 

Anyway, we had this hobo picnic on Monday the 8th of June for all the fathers and I think that all 23 of us were there. That really is nice to see. 

Interestingly about London's school, Llewellyn, is that it is right next to a giant funeral home/mortuary/mausoleum compound. Yes, compound. it is huge and old. Palatial, but in a creepy Don Quixote meets Edgar Allen Poe kind of way.  So as we were walking past this facility on our way to the park for the picninc—that is 4 kindergarten classes, 100 kids—a giant truck pulled up and started unloading caskets. 

Good fun.

He is growing up so fast. 

**That present you can see on the table in front of London was my Father's Day present. It is a beautiful stepping stone with his handprints on it. 

Understanding Sustainability

Did I tell you about the sustainability conference that we put on?

Well, putting on a conference is a lot of work. This one focused on sustainability as it relates to the humanities, which is, of course, going to be interesting because it is very hard to grasp on some levels. 

Anyway, it was good. We had people come from all over the world. Carolyn Merchant gave the keynote. It did not rain. 

As lead up events we had Kim Stanley Robinson talk as well as Tim Morton—both fantastic! 

**These are all my designs. More can be seen at http://publichumanities.pdx.edu. They have been keeping e quite busy on the design front. 

London's Sixth

So London is now six. Pretty cool. The whole kindergarten thing and whatnot, well it's just amazing. 

But as we live far from our larger family groups, mine mostly resides in and around Tampa, FL and Sarah's mostly in Colorado (we're in Portland, OR) we haven't had much in the way of birthday parties—certainly nothing large or fancy, 4 or 5 kids, tops. 

But with kindergarten came a friends, lot's of them, and they all live in the neighborhood, which is a very cool thing that I didn't have growing up. Anyway, we had to invite them all. There is a lot of pressure involved in this mostly because London wanted to have the party at our house. Already we had gone to parties at pools, gymnastics centers, OMSI, etc., so we had to make it as cool as that, but in our house. 

I think we pulled it off OK. The theme was Star Wars, as that is all London cares about right now, so we decided to make Jedi cloaks and lightsabers for all. That is a bit of work.

Luckily I found that kids of this age are very series about hitting each other's lightsaber as opposed to going for the kill, so we really had no injuries, which might be a minor miracle. 

I made the lightsabers out of fluorescent light tube covers, which I just stumbled across at the Lowes. I trimmed them down to an appropriate size with the garden pruners (I don't have a lot of tools), duct taped the first 8 inches (black duct tape), filled the tube with various things to get color (the best choice was rolled up strips of construction paper), and placed the caps back on. They were wonderful and quite strong!

Sarah made the cloaks out of squares of thin brown or black cloth (they got to choose) that were then safety pinned in such a way as to provide the young jedis with a hood. 

Anyway, great time. Lots of kids. 

Happy Birthday London!

Well, London is now 6. 6! Can you believe it? 

One the one hand 6 doesn't seem very old. Heck, he only just gave up his chompo 3 years ago! But 6 is a long time when you think about how long it has been since he was born, when you think of how long it has been since you were able to be irresponsible and it was kind of alright. 

Those six years passed so quickly, but I am not sure if what bothers me is that before I know it I'll be in my 40s or that before I know it he'll be 12. 

Anyway, he is six and awesome. Smart as ever. Quick. Reading like a pro (pro reader?); loving school; being a great big brother. It really is pretty special.

So this birthday of his happened during spring break so we pushed the party until the weekend before my birthday so that more of his friends would be able to come. So far we have 16 "will be attendings." Yikes.

This picture is from Red Robin. Sarah had to work on his bday (don't worry, he got his presents early) so I took him for a sundae and a song.

Rowan's First Birthday

On Rowan's first birthday we decided to go camping with some friends at Silver Falls—one of our favorite car-camping sites. As it was in late February and cold, we rented a couple of cabins, a couple of warm, toasty cabins. 

Even now, as I write this some distance from the occasion (it is now July 8), I have forgotten some of the most important features of the trip. 

1. We had a dog! I almost forgot about this evil little beast (evil because it was so cute and so mischievous). Obi was his name (after Obi Wan, of course) and Rowan just loved him. London, not so much, but Rowan sure did. We don't have that dog anymore. He went back to the breeder.
2. I left my new Sigg coffee mug there. Seriously, I just got it!  

But it was a blast! Hardly anyone was there so the boys really got to have a lot of fun (loud, crazy fun).

I Think London Grew 2 Inches Last Night

Seriously. He's 5 years old so, naturally, he has jeans that are size 5. And, like everyone else, I assume that if there is to be any growing that growing will happen sometime during the bedtime hours of March 29 as it rolls into his birthday morning. That makes sense, right? The jeans are size 5.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to find two inches of white socks were jeans should be. He wore these same jeans yesterday! So clearly I was right on the belief that the growth will happen overnight, but I was shocked to learn that I must have been remembering his birthday wrong all this time. Well, I think we're still going to celebrate it on the 30th of March, just because we are used to it now. 

The Christmas Snow 2008

So I'm writing this rather late. Yes, a bit tardy to the party, as Skipper would say. So it is July 2009 as I attempt to look back to our crazy snows of Christmas.

To be quite honest I don't remember very much about it. What I do remember is that from Thanksgiving break until Christmas break London hardly went to school at all. 

Oh, and it is kind of coming back to me. Yes. During the week before Christmas, the only day that was clear enough to get out was Christmas Eve, and that just barely. I know because I had to go out in it.

We had purchased London this observatory set that we were pretty excited about, but a search on Amazon revealed to us that NO ONE liked it. Sucktacular. So I had to go out. 

The roads had clearly only welcomed the biggest of trucks—and even those with chains—over the past several days because the frozen grooves in the road were about a foot wider than the Corolla's wheel base and the mounded snow between those grooves was grander than my clearance. 

It was a rough and long trip to the toy store and, in the end, the replacement gift wasn't that good either. 

The snow came back that night. It snowed on Christmas. Sarah was supposed to work on the following day but her car could not get out of the neighborhood either. 

Her work was providing transportation to stranded workers but it took five hours for her to get there the first time she had to call a few days before Christmas. The day after Christmas she shared a cab with some coworkers. They just had to hike to the main roads for the cab to get them. Good times. 

But I don't want this to sound complainy. In fact, it was wonderful! We just played in the snow and anticipated Santa's arrival. It really was wonderful.

I'll have to get Sarah to add her memories here. Maybe between the two of us we can paint a better picture. 

To see more pictures of this christmas, click here.

Fall is Great!

Fall in the Northwest is incredible! The Leaves, the sunshine, the color—breathtaking! 

First Day of Kindergarten

So today was your first day of kindergarten and you woke up excited. 

You walked down the hall without a stitch of clothing carrying both King Frog and Wario yelling for me to get up. When I opened the door you looked at me with a big smile and said, "I'm going to need to have lots of fruit for breakfast so that I can have energy to play and play and play."

We went downstairs and I cut you up some apples and a banana and poured you a glass of milk. 

Your mommy quickly came down, she had gotten up early to shower, and we talked to you about how you were feeling. All excitement, no fear. I was afraid, then, that you would be disappointed that there wasn't going to be as much playtime as there was at your preschool so I tried to gently point out that it was school and, though very fun, there was learning to be done. 

"Oh daddy, don't be so silly," you said with eyes that shone with anticipation. I gave you a hug. 

We drove up to Llewelyn because we had all the supplies. First we went into the cafeteria to buy your lunches and then we went to put all you supplies in the bins (community supplies). Still thrilled.

Then we went out on the playground to wait for the bell. There you went bravely off to play but there was trepidation in you looks. 

The bell rung and you came up to me and we walked in together and when we hugged goodbye I could feel your heart beating so hard and fast that I didn't want to let go of you, my dear sweet boy. But you went and sat down and we went outside and spied on you through the windows (with half or more of the other parents). 

Sarah and I didn't know what to do with ourselves so we went on a run, a run which just happened to go up by your school.

Then we went to the market and bought the stuff to make you your favorite dinner, oh, and a cake.

When we picked you up you looked sad, disappointed and tired. True, it had not been as much fun as you thought it would be.

You didn't really like group time or the amount of time you had to spend in it and you had an uncomfortable period in which you felt lost outside.

I ask, "Did you miss us?"

And you said, "I really, really did. Especially when I was lost outside. I just wanted my mommy and daddy so much."

Shit, right? That goes right to your heart. 

Anyway, it turns out that they ushered you out to the playground when you were done eating but your teacher wasn't there and you didn't recognize any of the kids. I'll talk to your teacher tomorrow to change that until you are more comfortable.  

But when we got home you and I played and played right up until bedtime. That was nice.