We have had a fantastically gorgeous summer. Even our fall is still quite nice. We had one week of showers, but the past two weeks have been mostly sunny and in the 70s. Now October is here, which means the rains will come soon.
The girls are both doing great. Charlotte is expressing a lot more personality. She's eating as much "solid" food as we'll give her. She especially loves a highchair tray full of Cheerios that she can either devour or throw around and onto the floor. She's slowly learning to sleep through the night. These days she typically gets fed about 4am, but otherwise mostly sleeps from 10pm until 6:30am. The later sunrise is helping both girls sleep later. Charlotte has been "cruising" furniture (or our legs) almost full time. We can see her thinking very seriously about taking a step, but she hasn't done it yet. Her balance is getting a lot better, though. She'll stand on her own without holding onto anything for 10 or 20 seconds now. She's also gotten a lot more verbal and will mimic sounds we make. And she has discovered how to play peekaboo on her own, pulling a blanket up over her face and then quickly exposing her face and giggling. It's slightly cute.
Audrey is quickly approaching 3 years old (four months away). One interesting thing is that she has developed a respect for gravity. She used to be a fearless climber. She still likes to climb, but she now has an understanding of the consequences and gets scared when she realizes she could fall. She has never had a serious fall, so I'm not quite sure how that knowledge comes about. Perhaps she just extrapolates from minor falls.
Audrey has also started playing much more imaginatively. She'll have two toy characters in her hands (usually Dora and Diego) and she'll make up lengthy interactions between them, and between them and herself. She also can finally follow the spoken instruction on her Leap Frog Little Touch toy, and she plays with it for hours during "quiet time" (ostensibly "nap" time).
Audrey gets her hair washed once a week whether she needs it or not. It had gotten to be where if you walked by our house while we were washing Audrey's hair you would think we were murdering her. But we did a little research on the net and Carol tried some other strategies and the last three or four weeks it's been a much more peaceful experience. Most of it seems to be related to the fact that toddlers really dislike having water run over their faces. So if we figure out ways to rinse her hair that don't involve water running over her face or eyes, Audrey is much more amenable. It also helps to make it a game.
Carol is adjusting to a new routine for the kids. Audrey's co-op preschool is two days a week this year: Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning. Carol works with Audrey's class on Tuesday and has Thursday "off" (although she still has Charlotte). Charlotte has been spending Tuesday mornings with Grandma and Grandpa Methot. But in three weeks they'll be flying south for the winter - we really miss all the grandparents when they're gone!
I gave Carol a Visa gift card for her birthday that came with at least two weekend afternoon shopping trips all on her own (i.e. I'd babysit). But she deserves much more than that. Maybe now that the garage is nearing completion I'll be able to give her more time off. She works so hard during the week I feel badly that she doesn't get more breaks. As I've said before, I have a ton of respect for Carol's job and I don't think I would have the patience to do it full time like she does.
Thursday was my last day at the federal government contract job I've been in for almost a year. October 9th I start at Rosetta Inpharmatics. I'm very excited about it. It's going to be really fun being immersed in complicated science every day.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Monday, October 2, 2006
Garage: Exterior Paint Complete!
Labels:
house
After a big push taking four weekends in a row and a bunch of weeknights in between, I finally got the garage all sided and caulked and otherwise prepared for painting and then finally painted. I'm very excited to be over that hump - it was looming over me and I was racing the arrival of wet fall weather.
We thought we were pretty set on barn red with white trim. But shortly before we had to choose, Carol drove by a navy blue house that she liked. I agreed. We painted five color samples on the garage and house: three reds and two blues. We both really liked the darker blue, so we went with that.
I left my old job a day early, taking Friday off. I spent the day doing the last of the caulking and masking. I also rented scaffolding again. Saturday I rented a paint sprayer and hired Jose from the Home Depot parking lot to mask the house. I had started that task, but there was a chance of rain on Sunday so I really had to get the painting done on Saturday. It worked out very well. Jose got the house masked while I painted the garage. I've never used a sprayer before. It only took about two hours to paint the entire garage, including moving the scaffolding.
By the time I finished the garage the house was pretty much ready to go. It went very quickly too, and we were finished by 3:30.
So now the garage is completely weatherproof and ready for winter. It is such a relief to have gotten to this stage. Now I can just relax and work on the interior at my leisure. Carol will like having her husband back on weekends. She was getting pretty burned out on doing 95% of the childcare 7 days a week. And a bonus: we got rid of the teal house color that we have never liked.
This morning the electrician came and roughed in the wiring inside the garage. He'll be back Thursday to finish the interior and also install the new panel and meter on the garage. Then we have to wait for City Light to come and move the "tap" - the main line from the pole. We are moving it from traversing 70 feet from the alley to the house to traversing only about 25' from the pole to the garage. Service to the house will be underground in conduit that we buried at the beginning of the project. We'll be doing the same with the telephone and cable TV lines.
Next up: plumbing the toilet and sink in the studio. Then final framing inspection, insulation and drywall. All in good time...
We thought we were pretty set on barn red with white trim. But shortly before we had to choose, Carol drove by a navy blue house that she liked. I agreed. We painted five color samples on the garage and house: three reds and two blues. We both really liked the darker blue, so we went with that.
I left my old job a day early, taking Friday off. I spent the day doing the last of the caulking and masking. I also rented scaffolding again. Saturday I rented a paint sprayer and hired Jose from the Home Depot parking lot to mask the house. I had started that task, but there was a chance of rain on Sunday so I really had to get the painting done on Saturday. It worked out very well. Jose got the house masked while I painted the garage. I've never used a sprayer before. It only took about two hours to paint the entire garage, including moving the scaffolding.
By the time I finished the garage the house was pretty much ready to go. It went very quickly too, and we were finished by 3:30.
So now the garage is completely weatherproof and ready for winter. It is such a relief to have gotten to this stage. Now I can just relax and work on the interior at my leisure. Carol will like having her husband back on weekends. She was getting pretty burned out on doing 95% of the childcare 7 days a week. And a bonus: we got rid of the teal house color that we have never liked.
This morning the electrician came and roughed in the wiring inside the garage. He'll be back Thursday to finish the interior and also install the new panel and meter on the garage. Then we have to wait for City Light to come and move the "tap" - the main line from the pole. We are moving it from traversing 70 feet from the alley to the house to traversing only about 25' from the pole to the garage. Service to the house will be underground in conduit that we buried at the beginning of the project. We'll be doing the same with the telephone and cable TV lines.
Next up: plumbing the toilet and sink in the studio. Then final framing inspection, insulation and drywall. All in good time...
2006 MS 150 Bike Tour
Labels:
cycling
On September 9-10, I rode the Washington edition of the MS 150 Bike Tour, a fundraiser for the National Mutliple Sclerosis Society. It is a two day ride with 50, 75 and 100 mile options on Saturday and 50 and 75 mile options on Sunday. I rode with Team Copaxone, organized by Maureen "Mo" Manley. Mo is a former elite level cyclists who was selected for the 1992 US Olympic Team before being diagnosed with MS.
I drove up to La Conner Saturday morning and it poured rain all the way from Everett to the exit south of Mt. Vernon. But in La Conner the cloud ceiling was higher and it wasn't raining, although the roads were still very wet. Saturday's route circumnavigated Fidalgo Island, through Anacortes and past Mt. Erie and then over Deception Pass for a loop on Whidbey Island before re-crossing Deception Pass and winding back to La Conner. It was a hard route with constant rollers and some long hills, and wind all day long. We were all tired by the time we got to the 75 vs. 100 mile decision point at mile 40 - we all chose 75. I felt really strong all day, but my legs were tired for the last 20 miles or so. The most notable part of the day was crossing a bike trail bridge over Fidalgo Bay. Apparently the shore birds use the bike path to crack open shellfish, and the path is littered with broken shells. It was like a war zone, with dozens of cyclists pulled over to fix flats. We were lucky to only have one puncture among our 10 or so riders.
Sunday started out clear and beautiful. It was cooler due to lack of cloud cover, but sunny. Sunday's route went through farmland (tulip fields if it were tulip season) and then crossed east of Interstate 5 for a while. Then back under I-5 and along Lake Samish before turning around in the south part of Bellingham and heading south on scenic Chukanut Drive. After that it was back down to farmland for the final 15 miles back to La Conner (another 75 mile day).
We had about 15 riders in our team Sunday. For the first 40 miles we rode 2 abreast at about 19mph. Along Chukanut Drive we split into two groups. but riding along with a team on such a gorgeous day was fantastic. A 10 in terms of quality cycling days. Once back in the farmland three of us went back to help bring the slower group home in the headwind. Even that was really fun.
This was the best organized ride I have ever been on. The registration included a beer garden on Saturday including three beers per rider and a spaghetti dinner, as well as breakfast Sunday morning and hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers after the ride Sunday. Saturday night after dinner there was a presentation focused on MS that was quite touching.
This year's ride raised $1m, which is pretty impressive for 1600 riders. I only raised about $350, but you can bet next year I'll be hitting you up for more. In fact, you can donate right now at my personal MS 150 page. For 2007 I plan to raise at least $1000.
I drove up to La Conner Saturday morning and it poured rain all the way from Everett to the exit south of Mt. Vernon. But in La Conner the cloud ceiling was higher and it wasn't raining, although the roads were still very wet. Saturday's route circumnavigated Fidalgo Island, through Anacortes and past Mt. Erie and then over Deception Pass for a loop on Whidbey Island before re-crossing Deception Pass and winding back to La Conner. It was a hard route with constant rollers and some long hills, and wind all day long. We were all tired by the time we got to the 75 vs. 100 mile decision point at mile 40 - we all chose 75. I felt really strong all day, but my legs were tired for the last 20 miles or so. The most notable part of the day was crossing a bike trail bridge over Fidalgo Bay. Apparently the shore birds use the bike path to crack open shellfish, and the path is littered with broken shells. It was like a war zone, with dozens of cyclists pulled over to fix flats. We were lucky to only have one puncture among our 10 or so riders.
Sunday started out clear and beautiful. It was cooler due to lack of cloud cover, but sunny. Sunday's route went through farmland (tulip fields if it were tulip season) and then crossed east of Interstate 5 for a while. Then back under I-5 and along Lake Samish before turning around in the south part of Bellingham and heading south on scenic Chukanut Drive. After that it was back down to farmland for the final 15 miles back to La Conner (another 75 mile day).
We had about 15 riders in our team Sunday. For the first 40 miles we rode 2 abreast at about 19mph. Along Chukanut Drive we split into two groups. but riding along with a team on such a gorgeous day was fantastic. A 10 in terms of quality cycling days. Once back in the farmland three of us went back to help bring the slower group home in the headwind. Even that was really fun.
This was the best organized ride I have ever been on. The registration included a beer garden on Saturday including three beers per rider and a spaghetti dinner, as well as breakfast Sunday morning and hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers after the ride Sunday. Saturday night after dinner there was a presentation focused on MS that was quite touching.
This year's ride raised $1m, which is pretty impressive for 1600 riders. I only raised about $350, but you can bet next year I'll be hitting you up for more. In fact, you can donate right now at my personal MS 150 page. For 2007 I plan to raise at least $1000.
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