Ruining the Countryside

Here we are bundled up for the 50 degree rainy weather in NE Arizona. Selah and Casson in the Navajo Hogan. Tsegi Canyon, the view from Navajo National Monument. It was so rainy and windy that we decided not to hazard the hike down to the ruins. Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings, SE of Flagstaff. They just reopened this weekend. They've been closed since a huge rockslide took out the trails back in December. They say about 200 people at a time lived in these extensive dwellings.

The Grand Canyon International Hostel in Flagstaff. A great place to meet people from all over the world. This weekend we met Mary Jane from France, Lucy and Rose from Korea, Reid from Virginia, and a bunch of other people. Mary Jane's father was a prisoner of war for almost five years during WWI, and was freed in Austria by the Americans, so she just loves America.

Dave and Doris Wescott, on Thursday, "The Office night." Selah calling her old insurance company to see what's up with that 200$ claim, dawg? Selah's new skill - bringing hands together at midline, and then eating them, while desperately trying not to.

The mercury in the thermometer on our porch boiled over last week. It just couldn't take any more. Half of the supposedly drought resistant plants that I planted two weeks ago are straw already. Our whole family is a bit desiccated.

Hey Selah! What's Up?

This picture goes down in history. That's the Selah I know. Don't you love the quilt that Casson's aunt Cindy made?

"But I'm Twice Your Age" and "I'm Old Enough to be Your Father" are not always the same thing

Monday around lunch time we went and hung out with Doris, Dave, and their newest grandson, Jackson (5 months old). Doris has lots of toys and energy, so it was a super fun afternoon for everyone. Tuesday morning I went to the women's bible study, so I left Selah in the nursery. Parting with her was really hard. There was a lot of crying, tears, and fussing. Selah, on the other hand, went right to sleep, and was sleeping when I came back to get her over two hours later. The people in my bible study are awesome. Get this: There is one girl younger than me, with no kids yet. Then there's a girl my age with three, a woman slightly older than me with four, a middle-aged woman pregnant with her seventh, another with four, a lady in her fifties with five children - the youngest being two years old, a beautiful senior lady, and a bunch of others that I don't quite know yet. No wonder the Israelites in Egypt were able to grow to such a huge number in only four generations.

Uncle Mike and 'Ant' Kate

Michael and Kate came to town this weekend. This picture is actually just as they were leaving, which is why Selah was a-cryin'. We pretty much hung out all weekend and drank gallons of wine and ate two-foot-diameter plates of food with our hands. It was awesome. Saturday the fair pair saw all their old friends from ASU and watched the ASU/Georgia game. Meanwhile, the three Mathi hung out at Lola's, where we met up with Rachel and talked about the economy. Well, I mostly listened. Then my pal Heidi B. from Osborn ESD came over and we got a bite of lunch at Panne Bianco, and probably also got a bit of heat stroke too. Why is noone using the mist-er systems anymore? It IS still around 105 out there. Not exactly charming weather, yet. Lots of holding and flipping and lifting of the baby, and this smile was not an uncommon thing to see.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and Gelato before Michael and Kate had to take off. They gave themselves a bit o'-the-clock to stop at the ASU bookstores to stock up on Arizona State T-shirts for the upcoming winter season. That's how Michael keeps warm. Nothing easier than supporting your Alma Mater or your local ball club with a patch on your shirt. As you see, Selah's Minnesota relatives outfitted her nicely in this little Twinsie.

Weekend Weather Report

We stayed in town this weekend. Friday night is beyond my memory. Saturday morning is a little more clear. We went for coffee at Lola's and ran into Rachel and Dave on their way out the door. Rachel stuck around and then Dorris and Dave showed up. We had a time talking about weddings and babies.

At home, Casson played with the baby while I finished planting my new flowers. I'm ready for responsibility outside the home, and that's how I got to the porch. Yeah for drought resistant flowers and cacti.

On Saturday night we headed down to Casson's boss' house for dinner. We had a great time getting to know Jeff and his wife, as well as the new law clerk (soon to be lawyer, hopefully), James and his wife Julia. Selah was a hit. What's the protocol for bringing a baby to dinner? Should I have tried to make her sleep in a back room? We went to church on Sunday morning for the first time, ever! At least it was Selah's first time. She hollared out a few Amen's during John's teaching, and wasn't embarrassed to snore loudly when she got bored. Sunday afternoon we watched part of The Right Stuff... highly recommended awesome true story movie. Ed Harris fans the world over love this movie. Last night was pizza and bible reading night... Selah farted during Mark chapter 2, and everyone still thinks it was me, I know it. Next time I'll let her sit nearer to someone else.

Aunt Miss Nadine

Nadine, a faithful friend and blogchecker, came to visit last evening. Nadine has the awesome ability to speak English using only German derived words, of which she taught Selah some eighty or ninety in as many minutes. We had fun placing Selah under her awesome Eric Carl mobile - thanks Monica! (If you google the words mobile and children, you get websites for kid cellphones, not traditional mobEEls). And Selah attempted some rolling over, but as yet only performs sans audience, though I caught pieces of it on camera earlier. I love this picture because just look! a slight breeze appears to have come in from stage left.

Gorilla Faces

Dave and Rachel are Engaged!

As they were walking down the beach in Del Mar, Rachel was thinking how best to let Dave know that it was over and that she had packed up a box full of things he'd given her, and it was waiting for him on her kitchen table. But before she could formulate the words, Dave pulled out a much smaller box than that which she had been thinking about, and one containing a gift that she wouldn't want to give back, ever.

When Dave proposed, he knew he was getting a great girl, along with these two crazy girls, Maggie and Tess.

Then there's Selah. She's a great girl, too. Next is a series of videos that display her awesome abilities as a baby. First, the nolook hand-chew.

Next the "McCain-could-be-a-little-more-exciting-please-but-not-bad YAWN" And some oooh's for McCain. Sorry about my loud and obnoxious "Wows."

Airplane.

Watching the ceiling fan provides hours of amusement.

Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments

After camping, we drove over to the Sunset Crater National Monument. The San Francisco Peaks were surrounded by sunflowers and a big rainstorm was heading in. Thankfully we've got this sweet golf umbrella. We pulled it out as we were looking at the lovely Bonito Lava Flow. Who knew that the Peaks and all the surrounding "foothills" are really extinct volcanos. There are 600 in the area. So we learned about that. Then we drove through the rain and turned off on a side road that turned out to be so fun. The dirt was black, eroded lava rock. Casson drove like a wonder. After getting our weekly dose of concussion, we headed for the Wupatki National Monument, which is a series of ruins dating from 1000ish. They were beautiful, with the most outstanding views all around of the Peaks and Painted Desert, with not a sign of civilization in sight. The first was Wukoki "Big House." And then there was the really extensive ruin, Wupatki itself. This ruin overlooked a gorgeous valley and the Painted Desert. Here we met Marty, a very friendly man from Australia. He's an Australian film star in the upcoming film The Nothing Men, which will come out in the states in about six months. He was loving the southwest after having dealt with LA culture. We assumed that Australia had similar views, but he said that Australias wild country was not comparable to the American southwest. He hadn't even seen the Grand Canyon yet, I wonder how he reacted to that! And, finally we saw the Citadel Ruin, with Selah in her buggy.

Labor Day Camping with Friends

Saturday morning we packed up the car and stopped at the library to get more Louis Lamour for the drive to Flagstaff. We met up with Mike, Robin, and Josh at Biff's Bagels. Casson kept Selah, and the rest of us went off on a nice bike ride through the forest south of Flagstaff. There were wild flowers everywhere! It began to hail and rain, of course, but luckily it didn't get muddy enough to stop our progress. That was my first mountain bike ride in about a year, actually since Flagstaff last Labor Day. Then we found a nice camping spot for the night. Mike read a chapter of Wind in the Willows by firelight, in which Toad was imprisoned. And we heard Casson read the Ugly Duckling in the morning, while we enjoyed hot mochas, chocolated by Nestle's little Abuelita. Selah was not too lucid in the morning, but did hang out with Josh a bit. The three friends left to go ride in Sedona, while the three of us packed up and took off for a volcanic vacation.

Selah and Pasley

Mike and Amy Quinn stopped by on Friday night to share some apple pie and time. They brought Pasley Lane (the "a" in Pasley is short) with them. Brennan and Kivi got to stay with their grandma for the evening. Pasley is adorable, and has the sweetest voice. She's so quiet that the Quinn's even took her into a movie theater without a problem. Anyways, that was a super fun evening passing babies around.

Strobelight Stormynight

Casson went out with Dave and Mike on Thursday night. I won't say why - other than it had to do with Rachel and buying something that might need financing. But the place was closed, so they just kicked it at the Bamboo Club, watching the most dreadful monsoon roll in, destroy Tempe, and roll out, leaving hundreds of downed and uprooted trees. Selah and I watched the storm rolling in from our apartment. The next day, Casson got the day off because electricity was out at his building. Whole power lines were downed. The destruction was epic - at least for Phoenix.

Heidi came over on Wednesday after work. We talked shop for a bit, then about marriage (she recently got married in Mexico), and had a great afternoon.

Selah really knows how to pass out after a full day of cooing and watching me and Casson act like lunatics. Some laughter and other cutenesses.

Walking is Like Riding A Bike, which is hard at first

Honestly, this little girl is interested in walking. Ever since she was born she has been trying to stand, and here I discovered that she has the one foot in front of the other concept already down. She and I spent the afternoon treading a path through the blankets.

A Hand Is Hilarious

Lots of looking around, tracking hands and people, and noise-making. I think she could even be a ventriloquist.

Tio Cesar Comes to Town

Takamatsu Restaurant.

View of Phoenix from South Mountain

Lalibela's

Cesar with Selah

Selah loved the Phoenix Art Museum.

All of us so happy at the Grand Canyon

Cesar in Sedona.

Selah got a little sunburned.

I'm going to walk all over you

Cesar arrived Tuesday afternoon. He and Selah hit if off right away. She loves her Tio already.

As to showing off Phoenix, we've gone to a couple of our favorite restaurants, Takamatsu and Lalibela's. Yesterday we drove through South Mountain Park and got a great view of the valley. Cesar discovered the Lux this morning, and I think today we may go see some of the museums that Phoenix has to offer.

We thought she was a genius baby when she started repeating oooh's and aaaah's two weeks ago. I looked up baby developmental milestones to prove it, only to find that she is right on track. By the end of month two, babies will repeat "oooh" and "aaah" to the hysterical delight of their parents.

"Oh really Plato? Is that what you think? Now, if you'll just hear me out. I find that human nature is more complicated than that. For example..." "Ha Ha, Hey-yey guuuuys. Whatsatchyasay? No no, er, nothing in my pocket. No-thing-at-all. Hey well, good seein ya. We'll see ya later. Gotta go."

Flagstaff

Granny and Grandpa arrived from Texas on Friday morning. We all packed up and went straight to Jerome and then to Flagstaff for the weekend. We spent the weekend in the cool weather, enjoying thunderstorms and Macy's coffee. Selah showed off her head control and her ability to converse with Granny using her gentle and tonal "ooooo" language. She may have suffered a Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS) in her hearing thanks to the constant train whistles blowing.

Hold Your Head Up (Movin On)

Don't call me Bobblehead.

There's No Debate About It: Selah Loves Nick's Hair

Nick is in town for a two week debate camp at the lovely Twin Palms Hotel at ASU. We picked him up Tuesday night and headed to everybody's favorite Ethiopian Cafe: Lalibela's. We got the Exclusive, to which we all did ample justice. Selah went 5 hours without eating...all so that we could have a peaceful meal and conversation. It was fantastic, but a reality nonetheless. Selah was jealous of Nick because he has hair and she doesn't. Question: second cousin, or first cousin once removed? Here's a video of Selah when I explained to her what Fishing Subsidies were.

Simultaneous Lightening and Thunder

I don't know what it is, maybe the fresh air, but this little baby sleeps so well camping. We pulled off two nights in a row this weekend. Look at that awesome crib! It's so easy to bring along and set up.

Saturday we got hit with a killer thunder, rain and hail storm that threatened to flood our tent. Lightening and Thunder were presenting themselves to our eyes and ears at the same moment, and we, being tented under a few big pine trees, several of which looked like they'd been struck by lightening before, decided to wait the storm out in the car. But it cleared up beautifully so that the evening was cool enough to really enjoy the walk around the lake. Casson's bike ride was a bit muddy. On Sunday I ran into Katia again, the woman with the baby girl of Selah's age. Her daughter's name is Natalie. I didn't get a picture of her because it started to really rain again and we had to dive for cover in the car again.