we had a beautiful sunny easter and i've got lots of pretty pics and funny videos--but i thought i'd post this post-easter respite first. after everyone left after brunch and we were left with half opened eggs and fluffy chicks owen grabbed a blanket and pillow off hte couch and said, "i need to rest." enjoy his big-boy dialogue:
i really need to figure out how to do open captions on the video-- but owen's end goes something like this:
you're on the couch. i'm on the floor.
(mom: why?)
cuz i need to.
i had too much candy.
(do you love easter?)
yes!
(what did you do?)
i find eggs and i open them.
(how many eggs?)
42 eggs!
too much candy. . .
click! click!
we finally broke down and bought a new camera (there is no recovering from a swim under the san clemente pier)--and we love it! we went back and forth about replacing the leica and found this lumix (made in the same factory as the leica, with the same lens, but packaged in a panasonic box for half the price--so far it has surpassed our expectations: awesome interior lowlight shots, bright, crisp outdoor pics, great video, and it fits in my denim jacket pocket!) and owen may be the new photographer in the family. "click! mommy i take your picture! sierra, sit, and click!" the camera is either his two fingers angled just so, half an easter egg, an empty paper tower roll, or the ubiquitious stick. here are a few of our favorite "test" shots from the week:
this was taken at laguna beach last week with bright noontime sun. i love the bright colors of his cool new rash guard and board shorts and the contrast of his fair skin and that auburn hair. sigh, he's no longer a toddler eating sand, but a big boy using his dumptruck to build beach roads:
this was taken at laguna beach last week with bright noontime sun. i love the bright colors of his cool new rash guard and board shorts and the contrast of his fair skin and that auburn hair. sigh, he's no longer a toddler eating sand, but a big boy using his dumptruck to build beach roads:
and here's the coolest new feature--under the "scene mode" you can choose "food"! my foodies out there will appreciate these random shots from our kitchen and fridge:
here is a series of screen captures from a video of owen doing the "thomas roll call" with his take along trains. this is another cool feature that we'll be playing with--the ability to see right on the camera screen-by-screen images of videos. again, the "intelligent auto" feature makes use of a backlight to give better indoor flash pictures.
and you can bet that i'm excited that we'll be able to flash tomorrow when the easter bunny comes!
this week: surprised by pirates and singing about integers
tom sawyer's island is now officially "pirate's lair"which means that there's a smarmy johnny depp look alike swaggering around the old fort and the frontiersman that once took you over on the raft to twain 's boyhood isle are now wearing eye patches and saying "how about some gold me pretty?". but it is a stroke of disney genius, because suddenly that dusty dated excursion has come alive with hollering boys playing hide and seek in the caves under the old fort--i mean abandoned pirate ship. the creaking bridge is still a favorite--owen, of course says to me halfway through: "mommy, they need to fix this bridge. it's not very straight. AND it's very bumpy" indeed! (owen, of course, also didn't think much of the old yellow submarine whether or not it had nemo. )oh, and did you know that there is a sheep named george and several goats at disneyland? i guess in all my wanderings i had never stopped at frontier ranch--the cleanest petting zoo you'll ever visit. well, except that george did nearly poop all over nana's white tennies.
you can get double dr. seuss dvds at costco-- we LOVE the green eggs & ham, although it is a bit like the people who did the score for fiddler on the roof approached mr. geisel and said hey--your book would make a great little musical. the cat in the hat, however, kinda creepy.
on the topic of musical dvds we bought from costco-- how fabulous is Mary Poppins! owen and i had the best friday night movie date giggling at dancing penguins and singing chimchimcherroo (and really i can't get enough of sister suffragette).
and, of course, if you haven't already checked it out--they might be giants do numbers. it's not such a stretch for the guys who did "Ana Ng" and "Birdhouse in your soul". it IS catchy (the four song is the sweetest and i know S & J and Uncle R are still singing High Five!). and hey, owen can count to a hundred, add 8+8, knows that tuesday follows monday, and tell you that girls don't like french fries. This podcast does look like fun.
but of course it all appeals to me, after all i'm part of the child raising generation that thanks god we missed barney and remembers singing "don't drown your food!" after school before memorizing ickle me pickle me tickle me too. . .
more
by demand.. here's some more pics...
A view of the parking lot at work (no Rolls Royces to be found):
Another view of our work "container"... The bridge in the background connects the islands of Haramsøy (where the ferry docks) and Longva (where I work):
A shot of the island of Longva from the back of the boat.. the Rolls Royce site is somewhere in the middle of the island:
A nice church (probably Lutheran, 90% of Norwegians are) on the island of Haramsøy:
Longva
This will be sort of a long post with plenty of pictures. I have finally tooks some snaps of the site where I am working because a) the weather was finally nice and b) there was enough daylight on the commute home... so here we go:
We'll start with the site itself... here's a view from the entrance:
Towards the back of the site, they installed a "container" (over christmas) to house our group.. the newer building on the right:
We're backed up right to the water and here's two pics of the view... those red houses are boat storage:
Here's some houses across the street.. typical Norwegian community:
Next, the commute home... Getting off the bus.. it's a 15 minute ride from the site to the ferry dock:
Here comes my ferry:
Boarding the ferry:
Shot leaving the dock, with a car ferry (headed to Brattvåg) in the background:
the friday five
this week's friday five is tough, because owen has become master of why and connecting cause and effect. he asks disarmingly perceptive questions and is able to make connections in ways that constantly catch me off guard. here are five of the top moments--which also includes a michael moment.
1. i spent most of saturday lying about on the couch due to a neck spasm-- so on wednesday when i had a dr. appt he said rather astutely: "oh, you're going to see the doctor because your neck still hurts?".
2. "mommy needs to go to school to pick up some papers." pause. "oh? you dropped them?"
3.after apparently browsing the "hits of the 80s and 90s" on wikki for the pub quiz nite m. says to me: "i now know the exact year i stopped listening to music. it was 1993." i'll let him say more on that if he wants to--but i thought it was so wonderfully quotable.
4. "mommy, i love you." pause. "because. because. ummm. because you're my guy!"
5. if you've seen the video clip below you can see that o's signing skills has increased exponentially. he doesn't stop signing and pauses mid-sentence to work out how that might be done with sign language. last night after a long day on campus and playing with papa he was ready to go home (because sierradog needs him) and he said, "mommy, lets G-O home." only he very carefully signed G with his left hand and O with his right and held it up for me to read. (that's right up there with the "mommy, look! that spells DOG" reading great grandma's throw that said "God Bless")
no love for the yellow hotel
it was suggested that it was my wording that skewed the poll results overwhelmingly to the room with a view and a tub. but i think that it was actually on par--the cozy hotel was just that: with a questionable buffet and access to the laundry in the basement but it was an apartment-sized room with a friendly staff (and somewhere we called 'new home' for the equivalent of a semester); the apartment is equally attractive and unappealing because it doesn't have a breakfast buffet and it's teeny with a bed up by the ceiling; and the business hotel is the cleanest, swankiest but you're having breakfast with a bunch of dudes who travel all the time--who apparently like to take american-style baths ;) apparently it's all about breakfast. anyhow, we're booked at the latter which is also five minutes from the ferry dock and did i mention the bath tub?
oh, and yes, the poll on the right is really pure fiction--but please do play anyhow. it is clearly not taking into consideration traveling with a three year old which pretty much nulls all those options. look for that poll next week.
the fid boys
yipppeee! i'm click clacking on my new red dell and it's so gorgeous and shiny and best of all my wireless works and the hard drive no longer needs a ruler, duct tape and an industrial clamp to boot up. sooo, enjoy these fun pics at california adventure with uncle ryan. and yes, it is that sunny in february ;)
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