Mike, Jill, Lucy, & Wubie!

We had an interesting fourth of July weekend, though not in the best of ways. Wubert had been under the weather lately, so we ended up taking him to the vet a couple of times over the weekend. Fortunately, the old guy is doing better now and is getting back to his normal vocal self.

We managed to catch a fireworks show in Milpitas. Though Lucy enjoyed it, I think she had more fun dancing on top of my car trunk during the show!

Actually, that’s another benefit about having a beater as a car; a 3.5 year old can form her own mosh pit on it and I don’t even care (though I did make sure she didn’t break the rear windshield—I don’t want my car to look too Sanford and Son-ish!) She also got a kick out of trying to name the colors she saw in each aerial explosion.

Once we got back home, Lucy immediately checked on Wubie to make sure he was OK. He was. It’s about 2 am right now and it sounds like the three of them (Jill, Lucy, and Wubie) are engaged in a snoring and wheezing contest in the next room. Everyone’s OK for now and tomorrow is a day off. These are the good times.

We were lucky to spend this Father’s Day with family at one of our favorite places, Filoli. Lucy got to romp around, dance and sing with her grandparents, and cause a ruckus in the café. We had a wonderful time. Here are some of our adventures.

The tree house…a room made by hanging branches

Trying out cameras…she sure has some trusting relatives!

lounging by the pool…phew it was a hot day.

(Anyone else notice how much auntie resembles G’Mommy these days…almost thought it was her in some of these pics. maybe it’s the hair…)

dancing in the ballroom with grandpa

cavorting in the café

My Dad spent over twenty years in the military. During that time, my family did a lot of moving around and life was a series of military posts (Fort Sill, Fort Huachuca, Fort Ord, etc.). When dad was stationed overseas, mom had to take care of the six of us. I see old pictures from that time, celebrations of birthdays and holidays. Dad had to miss many of those special times, and it pained him considerably.

“Tell the kids to write me,” he’d tell my mom. My sister Cindy says he told her to write about everything that each person in the family was doing, because he wanted to feel like he was there.

She remembers dad sending us souvenirs from overseas, including a large spool of orange silk fabric that mom and all the girls made into matching dresses.

My family has lots of stories about that time. They’re full of love and perseverance. However, the best story was that my dad got to come home. Many families never got that happy ending. They got a visit from a stranger instead.

I can’t even contemplate how our lives would have changed had this happened to us. This is a day to give thanks to those who didn’t get to come home.

Easter (2010) from Mike C on Vimeo.

Here’ a video from yesterday’s Easter get-together at Gma Vita’s place. Though it was a cold and grey day, we managed to get in an egg hunt before it got too wet. Lucy was very excited about participating in her third egg hunt. She’s an experienced walker now, no longer the semi-balanced toddler who wobbled about during our last two Easter celebrations:

• Easter, 2009 Video
• Easter, 2008 Video

Though some couldn’t make it this year (there was no way Nicole was missing Wonder-Con), we still made sure no food (including pie!) went to waste. We hope everyone had a great Easter and are already looking forward to next year. Lucy is already back in training for the 2011 Easter egg hunt!

Christmas, 2009 from Mike C on Vimeo.

I wrote a post for last Christmas that included pictures but never got around to making a video until now. So here it is, a video of our Christmas 2009 get-together with friends and family.

Note: if the video stutters, click on the “HD is On” button so that it changes to “HD is Off.”

Music used:

• Christmas Time Is Here by the Vince Guaraldi Trio from A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Theme from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack
• Dinah by Django Reinhardt from The Classic Early Recordings, Vol 1

We took a few pics on Valentine’s Day. Here are a few of ‘em…

Here’s a pic of Lucy and I with some cool cards she made with her mom. It looks like some bed-head made it into this pic!

Here’s a pic of us playing Lucy’s current favorite game. Wubie always pops up whenever we bust out the board games. Also, a close-up of a Valentine’s Day card.

Feeling inspired, Lucy ran up to her easel and drew “Mommy Holding a Valentine.” She was very proud of it. Her style is changing so much as she grows up, getting much more representational.

Above you can also see how Wubert got “volunteered” for our newspaper pirate hat show.

More drawing, along with a visit with Gma Vita (where we found some time to watch a bit of Pawn Stars.) If you look close, you can see that Gma is holding her own card.

More hat pics.

Below are a few Christmas pics, including a few from our Christmas get-together at Gma Vita’s place. More pics can be found here.

Here’s Lucy on Christmas eve preparing some snacks for Santa and his reindeer before she heads off to bed. She put a lot of thought into what she picked out, especially for the reindeer. Her final decision: reindeer would want carrots. Lots of carrots.

Christmas morning. Lucy awoke to find a fully assembled train set in front of the tree. Score! After some gift unwrapping, she was also greeted by a trio of dolls, an easel, and a stocking full of treats.

Speaking of treats, the snacks she’d left out the night before had been eaten—and it wasn’t Wubert (we checked.) Santa and his reindeer must have been pretty hungry on their busiest of nights!

Later, we went to spend Christmas day with family at Gma Vita’s. While there, Lucy got a chance to help her cousin Rachel on a hunt for lemons in the backyard.

When they couldn’t find enough lemons on the ground to fit their needs, Rachel used a rather large stick to persuade the lemon tree to part with a few more yellow fruits. THWACK! Lucy helped with the gathering.

Later, it was lots of food, family, gifts, and thanks. Though we missed Larry & Nina (Texas) , and Tisa and Jim (Hawaii), we were lucky enough to have Sam and family make the drive from Oregon.

Like always, we noticed how big all the kids are getting. We also noticed how many of the kids are now full fledged adults (yep, it happens fast!) Thanks to everyone for a great Christmas and Christmas Eve. We hope to see everyone again real soon. Lucy will bring the lemons.

Lucy got a reply to her letter from Father Christmas…

She was particularly enchanted by the drawings of cat and dog…

They look just like the ones in her book!

Her first question upon seeing the letter was a matter-of-fact ‘what did he say about the train set’….I guess she’ll just have to wait and see.

Thanksgiving, 2009 from Mike C on Vimeo.

Here’s a Thanksgiving video we shot at Gma Vita’s house. We missed Nina and Larry (hope you had a great TDay in Texas!), Sam and family (how’s the weather in Oregon?), Tisa and Jim (any updates from Kauai?) and Mario and family (I finally saw the Star Trek movie—it rocked!) this year. However, we made the best of it here in California. We’ll post some pics shortly.

After you watch the video, click here to see pics from last year’s Thanksgiving to see how much the kids have grown in the past year.

• Music: “I’ll See You in My Dreams” from Strictly Guitar by Merle Travis

PS: if this (294 MB) video runs too slow for you, you can try one of the following:

Right-click here and “save target” or “save link” to your computer.

We were reading one of Lucy’s fave books, Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs, when Lucy decided it was about time to write her letter to Father Christmas.

We got out her letter-writing kit, and with some prompting, she dictated to me:

Dear Father Christmas,

I like your reindeer. I would like a train set. And Wubert would like a dry towel.

(The dry towel being for after he got out of the tub and was a “soggy moggy.”)

I left the room for a moment, and when I came back, she had started to write another letter in her own hand. So I left her to it.

She used all the stamps on her letter, just in case.

A bit later I wandered back in to see Wubert in the midst of creating his own letter. I suspect he did not want a dry towel after all…and was making his wishes known.

We sent the letters out the next day. We’ll keep an eye on the post and report any interesting mail.