Taking it Easy

Just a quick update for those of you who, like me, need a frequent fix of Beemer to keep you going. A couple days ago Bree seemed to be strangely low-energy. We thought she might be getting sick - if so, it has yet to show. After we had satisfied ourselves that she seemed to be perfectly fine, we just let her go about her daily business. Just watching TV sitting upright was not doing it for her, so she disappeared for a few seconds then returned with her pink pillow and Nemo blanket, snuggled down and enjoyed the Doodle-Bops in comfort.

Beemer's Birthday - II

She made it yet another revolution around Sol, for a grand total of two. That means that so far Bree has traveled approximately 1,168,000,000 miles. She's quite the little trekker!

She loves her new jacket, by the way - just not as much as we do.

Kudos go to Pulcheria for fixing up Bree's hair. She looked adorable in those little pink curlers, and was very conscientious about leaving them alone until she arrived at her party.

Miss Chievous

In between sessions in an exhausting day full of Trick-or-Treating, Pulcheria decided it was time for a photo-op. The stars of this shooting are (from left to right):


Talen, the skeleton giggling with suppressed anxiety; Ray, his father looking bemusedly resigned; Torin, the bear looking definitely bored; Bree, the kitten delightedly looking for somewhere to cause some mischief.

I've noted before that Bree has an occasional uncanny resemblance to Max in "Where the Wild Things Are," and this observation deserves reiteration, especially seeing that roguish light in her eyes. Comments?

Hello Kitty

As has been well documented, Bree loves her feline friends. So, Pulcheria and I decided that she should share this love with all around her this Samhein. Pulcheria did the costume and I did the make-up (yes, I know I got the easy job, but I can't sew... I'm going to learn how, though!) The adorable result of our efforts is shown here for all to see and admire.

Frightful Fruit

We got a message from the Wild-Bounders that they had grown a few extra pumpkins and wanted us to share in their bounty. We came, we carved, we cackled. When our vehicle deposited us at our domicile, we played with matches and took pictures inspired by Adventures in Iowa and posted them here for all to see.

The Jack-o-Lanterns seen here were captured on digital film thanks to the long exposure setting (I think I over-exposed it a bit - it's my first attempt at such a shot) on our mid-level-point-and-click. They are arranged in the following order from left to right:



Mine (Ahenobarbus's), Pulcheria's, and Bree's.

In Loco Parentis (Nullius)

This last one is just so Talen can ask his golden question: "Where are Bree Maia's Mommy and Daddy?"

Wind Caves (Revisited)

A couple weeks ago (Oct 5th, I think... I know it was a Thursday!) I hiked up to the windcaves with some splendid friends and Bree on my back. It was great fun. Teisha took the pictures (well, most of them) and I was just there for moral support. Not that she needs it anymore. She's come a long way since her accident. At any rate, here are a few precious photogenic gems from the hike.

Here's Bree contentedly munching on a carrot while the mule trudges along the trail. Kindly observe the head-gear she began with, as it will change throughout the course of the trek. This particular bandana is known to Bree as the "happy-hat."

Just a little stop to admire the view of the China Wall formation to the south, across the canyon, while surrounded by an explosion of fall leaves.

Once we arrived at the destination we snacked on some apples, fruit rolls and more carrots (I don't know what precise combination contributed to the war-paint around Bree's mouth). I've discovered that Bree looks decidedly more dashing in my hat than I do.

Here is the whole troup, sans photographer, in a great shot out of the East Cave. Notice Bree's third hat of the day, this time borrowed from Landon, who doesn't look like he minds too much.

Punkin' Shoes

I got contacted yesterday by a good friend, Emily, who lives in Iowa. One of our main sources of contact since she moved has been through Blogger. She wrote me, concerned that I had fallen into a very deep, dark, deadly dangerous pit and couldn't possibly escape, and had been left for dead. Guess that's what happens when you establish a pattern of fairly frequent posts, then drop the ball for a couple weeks. Never fear. All is well, and to prove it, I took these pictures of Bree just this morning.


I thought Sophie would be happy to see that her Pumpkin Slippers are being very happily used back here in Logan, and that Bree's toes love to be in them, although this is probably the last month those little feet can fit comfortably in them. The time to pass them on to the next little munchkin is rapidly approaching. Until then, though, the Jack-o-Lanterns will swing to the rhythm of whatever tune Bree dances to.

Postscript: our hearts and prayers are with Teisha's dad. Hope he has a full and speedy recovery.

Elimination of Repetition

It is well known to those who baby-sit Bree that she's got her favorite movies and likes to watch them while she eats. While this ritual is soothing and enjoyable to her, it must be said that watching "Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie" every day for months on end is intensely irritating to me. Fortunately an epiphany occurred, and with a little help from a DVD-Rom drive and some airline headphones, lunchtime is nice, even for me, now. Only time will tell whether the songs that have been painfully burned into my cranial cavities will ever heal, but at least now I have a fighting chance of recapturing a few of those cerebral convolutions hijacked then hidden in the belly of a whale.

Return of the Kokanee

Well, I was right when I said we went a week too early. Yesterday we went back up to the East Fork of the Little Bear River and the Kokanee were fully red and running. It was Teisha's first excursion since her equestrian accident and she did great; the hills were steep but she navigated them expertly (Teisha is a great photographer whose shots have shown up in this blog several times - look in the archives to see some of her work). I'll try to get back up there before my birthday for some better pictures, since the light was fading by the time we got there yesterday. As expected and hoped, Bree loved the "fishies."

Finally Worn Down

Over the weekend Jan changed Bree's bed over to the "big girl" style (took off the front bars of her convertible crib). She loved it and didn't shown any sleeping problems after the adjustment. Well, today was an exception. She went down for her nap at around 12:30p.m., and was quiet for about 20 minutes. Then she started knocking on her door. Upon opening it the reason was quite obvious. So, I put her down again after changing her dirty diaper, but she just didn't go to sleep. I had the monitor on, and she didn't cry, she just played, talked and tore her room apart in jocund jubilee. At 2:15 she started complaining in earnest, and I let her out, feeling frustrated at her lack of nap but, having been a child myself, I knew it was less than helpful to try to force a nap. So, we played for a while, and at 3 I gave her a banana to snack on while watching Animal Planet, while I hopped on the computer. at 3:15, having noticed the lack of singing/talking, I turned around to see the back of a little Bree head hanging sideways over the side of her highchair. I couldn't resist a snapshot to document the moment.

Bree's First Trip to a Bar

A Sandbar, that is. We went up to Porcupine Dam to see the Kokanee run, but missed it. We're probably a week too early. Bree still had fun throwing sticks, sand and rocks into East Fork, though.

Queen of the Martians

Maimee gave it to Beemer, Beemer gave it to Grammy, Grammy filled it with snacks and gave it back to Beemer. Beemer emptied the crown and placed it on her regal head. Ahenobarbus and Pulcheria proclaimed her Regina Marsianorum per omnia saecula saeculorum, Amen.

Gray Cliff Springs (revisited)

Last June my cute little family drove up to Gray Cliff Springs and hung out. We decided that today would be a good time to repeat that activity. Bree liked it much more this time around.


She splashed in the shallows, walked in the stream, threw rocks and generally enjoyed herself.



She even convinced Pulcheria to get her feet wet and walk down the streambed with her.



It's one of my favorite places in the valley, and I'm glad I'm not the only one in my family to think that it's pretty darn cool.

Corny Girl

This is one of my favorite times of year. The temperature is starting to ease its way down to tolerable levels again; Jan will once again rejoin our family life; and it's less than a day between growing on a vine or stalk to being masticated and digested. As you can see, Bree loves her corn. She liked it before, but has now discovered that this South American grass-fruit is most fun while still connected to it's pod.

Bree with a Bug

A Travel Bug, that is. Travel Bugs are GeoCaching items that travel from cache to cache and are tracked through the GeoCaching website. I've talked about caching before on my Jeep Blog, and am still at it, slowly but surely. On average I find about 50 caches a year (which is a snail's pace compared to a lot of other cachers), and yesterday Bree and I found one just up the hill by our house. We grabbed this Bug from out of it at Bree's request.

Backpackin' Bree (Revisited)

Here's another shot of Bree taken while she was getting the Cadilac treatment on our little walk last week. She's so darn cute. Every stage she goes through I think: wow! This is it; I'd better enjoy it, because it won't last, and it's all downhill from here. Then - to my utter astonishment - she keeps getting cuter, smarter, sweeter, braver, et cetera. If you happen to be interested, here's a shot of Bree riding in the Carrier taken a little over a year ago. What a difference a year makes, don't you think?

Independence Day

SPOILER: The picture immediately below is a photograph of our destination.
























These pictures are from the Limber Pine Trail.

For this year's July 4th celebration, we thought we'd enjoy one of Logan Canyon's splendid (but easy) hikes.

This is the way life was meant to be.

One of the most important ways that I feel the greatness of this country is the freedom I feel when I'm outside of cube-land.

Bree's been hiking before, and she loves it. She's learning, however, that it's more fun to be moving about than it is to be posing for a picture, so if we want her to stay still, the environs must not be dull



Here's the little trekker, enjoying being free of the child carrier. She's like her dad and loves to stop and look at bugs.



And here she is taking a much needed break.


That big old knot makes a great seat. Pulcheria is the perfect adornment.



Bree liked it too, of course, once she saw mommy climbing around on it.



The trek out was a bit speedy, because of the thunder. I was disappointed we didn't get a little rained on, but it was probably better this way. After all, it could have ended up like our last trip to Zion.

Feline Update

Apparently the kittens have received new names (albeit, temporary ones, seeing that whoever ends up adopting them will give them their own cognomens). Here they are in no particular order:

John;
Paul;
George;
Ringo;
Sergeant Pepper (bet you can't guess which one that one is!)

I've been told that this is Ringo that Bree is holding. Who am I to argue?

Quintuplets

Pulcheria and I have become foster parents to an adorable little litter. These guys were rescued from a ranch by one of my co-workers, and Pulcheria and a couple very good friends have been team-parenting them. Aren't they adorable?