Thursday, September 24, 2009

A Haiku For You

Denny called my work
Emma hasn't seen the beach
Southwest fly us there


So there we was. We have just returned from four action-packed days in San Diego. Turns out that Emma is a great traveler (much like Gozer I assume). The following will be a "pictorial" of our adventures, along with the appropriate comments where needed.


This was Emma's first reaction to the beach



There is so much sand!



Thursday was dedicated to Legoland. We
were there to open the place up. Turns
out there are 40 million Legos on display.


Here we see a couple on safari.


Emma peering out of Lego Lion


We went to Old Town San Diego one night for
dinner and a little Mariachi music.


We tried a couple of different beaches.


We thought it best to hit this one
when the tide was out.


"Wish they all could be California girls..."



She couldn't believe all you had
to do was pick up the phone, and
a nice lady would bring us some
ice cream with whipped cream
and cherries (plenty of 'em).


Emma was so tired she fell asleep before
take off, and didn't wake up until landing.

It was great to get away, and wonderful to get back. Four days was just about right. Falling asleep one night, Emma reflected, "I'm going to miss this city." Ok then.


Tuesday, September 01, 2009

August Appears to Be Over

Just like that. Summer, she's gone. Joe and I used to shop at the Smith's on 9th and 9th and there was a checker there who announced one day, in early September, that "summer's back has been broken." Meaning, I guess, that the really hot days were gone. It sounded kind of gruesome. But Joe and I have used that phrase ever since ("Do you think summer's back has been broken yet?" "I don't know...may have a few more hot ones.")

But you know, it was a pretty mild summer. June was rainy. And did it ever even get over a hunnert in July and August?

So last I checked in, it was Joe's birthday.


The above was taken at Litza's Pizza. I like Litza's. It's very family friendly. You can sit in the way back with a rowdy youngster and not disturb anybody. And we order a child's spaghetti for Emma and she generally gobbles it all up.

A week or so later we went on the ward campout. It's the first time our ward has had a campout so we were happy to get in on the ground floor (inasmuch as we still feel like interlopers much of the time). It was in Scofield, which I'd never heard of. It's past Provo, somewhat farther than we anticipated. It was pretty chilly, but very pleasant anyway. Oh, the smell of fresh, woodsy air. It's a tonic! We chatted with many ward members and felt like we accomplished about six months' worth of getting-to-know-ya in less than 24 hours. How very time efficient. Emma liked staying up late and roasting marshmallows around the communal campfire ("Hoooowwwwl"). She was asleep the second we turned out the lantern in the tent. She woke up the next morning, in the shivery cold uncomfortable camping morning, and moaned, "I want to be home." But once you get up and get some hot chocolate in you, you're glad to be in the mountains again.


Then I got Emma going on some swimming lessons, provided by one Valerie at Dimple Dell Rec Center. Oh my absolute heck, what a jewel this Valerie is! Emma can swim! After three lessons, she could swim. It's been thrilling to observe. I'm keeping her at it, inasmuch as Valerie says Emma catches on very quickly to things. Maybe she can be on swim team! I was a total fraidy cat in the water and probably didn't learn how to swim till I was 7 or 8. Kindly Mr. Carter at the Cove Swimming Pool had to take me under his wing personally and horse whisper me into the deep end. So having a 4-year-old who seems to have a knack for it is kind of a treat. Plus it's such a good total body endeavor for her, which I think she needs.


Em started school on the 17th, Monday Wednesday Friday mornings. She is under the tutelage of Miss Jeri and is learning classic childhood songs ("Good morning to you! Good morning to you! We're all in our places with sunshiny faces!"...I didn't know anyone sang that anymore.) She has also learned "Tommy Thumb is up, Tommy Thumb is down. Tommy Thumb is dancing all around the town. Dancing on my shoulders, dancing on my head, dancing on my knees, then tuck him into bed (kiss kiss)" I told Joe it's worth the admission price just to hear her sing that song.

I like to hear Emma sing. I like how she often misunderstands lyrics ("Blah blah black sheep, henny penny wolf," for example). In "I Love to See the Temple," she used to sing "For the temple is the house of God, a perfect Salt Lake beauty!" I think she now knows the real words, which makes me sad. Although she still does sing, "It is my secret duty!" at the end, which I'm not about to correct.

This past weekend, all of Joe's siblings were in town, which happens less than once in a blue moon, so everybody got together for picture takin'. Nice looking crowd, don't you think?


Well...at the rate I'm going, I should have another post about October 1, so hope you enjoy the mild September days.