Rain in the Canyon

Southern California is known for its blue skies and it’s no wonder. They are amazing. We see them a lot here. Rain is a rare occurrence indeed.

There is something inside of me that absolutely loves rain. Thunderstorms… thick clouds of fog… gentle drops… I love it all. Maybe it comes from growing up in the lush green woods. Maybe it’s something more elemental having to do with the source of all life. I’m not sure what it is, but when we get a good rainy day, I feel like it’s Christmas.

We have had the good fortune of enjoying 4 nice rainy saturdays since moving out here. When I wake up to rain, I like to put on some nice acoustic music and start cooking something that will take all day. I like to make forts with Senya and give Zuri people food. The house is filled laughter and happiness. At some point we put our raincoats on and go play in the puddles and explore the creek, then we come back in to a warm, dry house that smells of delicious food.

Love

Joy

Beauty

So Much Change

We have officially been living in California for over 6 months now. That might not sound like a long time, but it is incredible how many changes take place in 6 months and how they all add up.

My trusty backpack that I’ve taken on countless trips including forays to 5 continents has finally had to be retired. I’ve also traded in an old computer and an old phone for newer models. I’ve cut my hair and gotten new clothes.

At the time of our move, we had a pickup truck, a honda accord, and an old motorcycle. All vehicles had Pennsylvania plates. The old motorcycle was totaled and replaced with a newer model. The Accord was traded in for a Fit. Both have California tags. We gave the truck to a friend when we moved. It’s strange to realize that we have had 100% turnover in the automobile department and we now drive CA vehicles that most of our friends and family members have never seen.

All of these small pieces of a puzzle come together to form a new picture.

Within months of our move, my grandmother passed away unexpectedly. Recently a dear friend of the family died after a long struggle with his health.

I moved out here and took a new job. My niece started middle school. My baby brother traveled to South Africa on a grant and is getting ready to graduate from college!

When we moved out here, Senya was just learning to walk. Now she is constantly running, jumping, and climbing. When we moved, she knew a few essential words. Her vocabulary is expanding every day and she is experimenting with sentences. She has outgrown most of the clothes we brought out here with us.

I’ve been struck recently how the mere passing of time results in such vast cumulative change. Trying to keep in sync with all the daily happenings of friends and family both here and back home has been more challenging than I thought. Things like blogs, Facebook, and video chats help. So do plane tickets. We got some by the way. We’re heading out east for a visit in a few weeks.

Crazy Fun Dogs

Combine:
•1 veggie dog
• several uncooked noodles
• 1 pot of water

Yield:
• 1 happy kid

Directions:
• See Below

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Sometimes Dads are Wrong

Yesterday when we were getting ready to go to red rock for a little hike, Senya grabbed her beloved rocking horse, “Happy Cow” (she named him all by herself), and said “Dada, bring Happy Cow.”

Immediately and without really thinking about it, I said “No Senya we aren’t going to bring Happy Cow with us. We are going hiking. Let’s just go.”

She looked at me with confidence, said “no Dada, bring Happy Cow,” and then she grabbed him by the reigns and dragged him across the room to the front door and stood there resolutely looking at me while awaiting my response.

I thought about it and I wondered briefly if I should stand my ground and use this as a teaching moment to highlight the importance of parental authority. Then I realized I had just said “no” without thinking about it. Why not bring Happy Cow? What’s the big deal? I recognized I may have accidentally done something rather stick-in-the-mud-ish and I didn’t really want to take a strong stance to defend it.

Upon further questioning, Senya insisted that it would be Fun and that she really wanted to do this. We really had quite a long conversation about it.

The end result….?

Happy Cow Made the Team

The Wild West

This is exactly what Senya had in mind

And she was right. It was fun.

I forgot to mention that, upon convincing me that her idea was a good one, Senya also grabbed her inflatable turtle on the way out the door. Why not? Let’s bring the whole gang. As it turns out, this was a great idea too.

Winter Dirt Sledding 2012

Good Times

Give yourself a hand

Ever since Senya learned to walk, I have asked her “Do you need a hand?” when she approaches an obstacle such as a set of stairs or a rocky spot on a trail. I love holding her hand and guiding her.

She is pretty steady on her feet now, and I am constantly amazed by all that she can do. She is a brave girl and she is always exploring. Still, sometimes she encounters something that is a little too daunting and she reaches her tiny hand up, looks at me and says “Hand?” I love these moments.

This week, I have seen her approach an obstruction, pause for a few seconds in consideration and say “hand.” She then clasps her tiny hands together and marches forward self assuredly.

self confidence

Watching Senya learn to rely on herself has been encouraging to me in a number of difficult situations recently. It is amazing to be reminded of the big truths by someone so small.

Losing Touch

I usually try to keep this blog light, bright, and polite (social media best practices in case you are wondering). And by usually, I mean every few weeks when I find a few spare minutes to post something. Tonight I’m going to change it up by posting some recent reflections that can’t be summed up in a few adorable photos of Senya.

Picking our little family up and moving west was a difficult choice. In reality, it was our best option on quite a number of levels so it might seem like a no brainer, but in fact, it was hard to uproot and leave so many people that we know so well and love so dearly.

Upon moving out here, I determined to keep in close touch with everyone I love. That has proven to be much more difficult than anticipated.

When I wake up in the mornings, I generally try to spend a few precious moments with Senya and/or Lindsay before getting ready for work and running out the door. I drive my motorcycle to work, so a cell phone call is out of the question. While at work, I don’t have a second of down time. I don’t have a single day in the office that affords me time to write a personal email, duck out to make a 5 minute call, or even send text messages. After work, it’s back on the motorcycle, and then home for a few precious minutes before Senya’s bed time. By the time she’s asleep, so are most of the people I never get to call out east. A three hour time difference didn’t seem like much before we moved (after spending time in East Africa and SouthEast Asia, CA didn’t seem that bad), but it really does make a difference. Add to that the fact that we don’t have enough cell reception in our house to make a phone call. It really is difficult to call people to talk. With work being as demanding as it has been (lots of 14+ hour days recently), there isn’t a lot of time left to sit and write a thoughtful email. When we get some free time, we like to cram it with as much family togetherness and fun as we can.

The end result of everything I’ve written above is that I have really started to lose touch with people from home. People I love. People I don’t want to see fade away. I have found text messages on my phone that are over a month old that came in when I was at the office and I never remembered to reply when I had 10 seconds free from work. I have found voicemails from weeks past that I don’t have time to listen to at work and I don’t have reception enough at home.

Whenever I do get the chance to Skype with someone from home or shoot a few texts back and forth, I am always so happy. I always come away thinking “that was great. I really need to make time for that in my life.” Unfortunately I have not lived up to that enough.

If you are reading this and you are someone who considers me close in your life, please don’t give up on me if I haven’t been good about keeping in touch. Please feel free to keep trying to get in touch with me. I sincerely want to get better about this and any reminders you send will be much appreciated. That said, I can’t promise that I’ll be good at it, so please don’t take it personally if I don’t get back to you right away.

I’ll leave you with a funny story. I was recently emailing a someone about this exact topic. I was explaining why I’ve not been good at keeping in touch and apologizing for not treating them in a manner that reflects the closeness that I feel for them in my heart. He replied to my email and informed me that the google ads on the side bar of his web-based email client read “why men pull away.” HAHAHA. Thank you Google content network for reading our emails and serving us such relevant ads.

Red Rock Canyon Park

We have recently fallen in love with a local park called Red Rock Canyon Park. It is about a 5 minute drive from our house and it is the perfect place for our little family right now. It is a gem for a number of reasons. Dogs are allowed there. There is lots of nice flat land for Senya to run around. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous. There is almost never anyone there besides us.

If we are at home and we have about an hour of free time, we can jump in the car and head over to Red Rock. It is wonderful to have somewhere so close by that is a perfect outing for our little family.

We have taken to keeping Senya’s wagon in the car so that it is always with us when we go out. She rides in her wagon while we hike up into the canyon and then she generally likes to “hike” (run) back down.

Given how perfect this place is for us and how close it is, we have taken to going here a few times per week. Here are some pictures of recent excursions.

Hunting for bugs

Found Some

Happy Girl

Taking a Break

Goldfish Picnic

Snack Time

Hiking

Exploring

Fun for Everyone

Cool Mom

Climbers

A sad goodbye

Tonight I bid a sad farewell to a friend who has been with me for 11 years. We’ve been through a lot together. The end of my teenage years, all of  college, all of my “real” jobs, 4 houses, my dating years, being married, pre-kid and post kid… really… not everyone sticks close through all of that.

Before you start guessing the names of my friends and texting them to see if they are alive, let me just tell you. It was my motorcycle (yeah, the one I wrote about a few weeks ago… then one that is my same age and I’ve had forever).

On the way home from work today, I was driving down ocean avenue in Venice. I was in the right lane (2 lanes in each direction) and I was driving along at a normal speed enjoying the sunset golden hour (so beautiful on the coast here).

All of a sudden a car in the oncoming lane made a left turn into my lane and there was absolutely nothing that I could do to stop in time.

I’ve never been in this type of accident and I have always wondered what it must be like. I’ll tell you exactly what went through my head. There was only about a half of a second to react, but this was my thought process…

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Bam.

Just kidding. I have always thought that’s what it would be like, but it wasn’t. This is the true account.

“Oh shoot, there is NO way I am going to be able to stop. I am going to hit that car! Shoot.OK Brakes!!! 70/30 front/back just like the motorcycle safety class said. Shoot. I’m definitely going to hit that car. Is my insurance up to date? Yes it is. I just paid it last month. I was standing out in the yard and called from Skype. Good. Is my registration up to date? Yes it is. I remember putting that 6-12 sticker on the plate this summer. Good. I am really glad I have insurance. I can’t afford a ticket for being uninsured. He’s in my lane. This is clearly his fault. That’s good because his insurance will pay for my bike. I really can’t afford that right now. It will also pay for his car. I REALLY can’t afford to pay for THAT (shiny new cadillac SUV). Oh shoot, I hope this doesn’t hurt too much.”

Bam

Thump

Thud

(that was my bike hitting his car, me flying over the handlebars and my body hitting the side of his car, and then me landing in a heap on my bike on the pavement)

It was a long evening after that, but here are the basics. Everyone around was really nice and willing to help in any way that they could. The driver of the car was incredibly apologetic and did everything exactly right (police, insurance, etc…).  Lindsay rushed to the scene with Senya and Jason to pick me up and help however they could. A police tow truck took my trusty bike to the lot to be assessed by insurance (fairly certain it is totaled). Jason took me to the hospital (Linds wanted to but I didn’t think it would be a good idea for Sen to be in the waiting room all night. Nobody thought it was a good idea for me to drive myself there). I am fine. I have some scrapes, bruises, and sprains, but I’m OK and have no real damage. I’m grateful for that.

Yosemite Day Hike

This past weekend Lindsay and I went to Yosemite in honor of her birthday. I know it is a few months after the fact, but ON her actual birthday, we were saying goodbye our empty house after packing it up to move. There was a hurricane raging outside and there was no power. We both felt that her special day should be observed once we were a bit more settled.

Now that we’ve been here a bit, we were ready to strike out and do some exploring. We chose Yosemite and wow, we were not disappointed! What an incredible weekend.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

A Very Proud Daddy

Today was something of a benchmark day. While we were out hiking in our favorite local park, Senya pointed to the tallest rocky peak in view and said “Mountain.” With just that one word, my heart soared so high, I could have flown right over those craggy cliffs.

What could possibly make life better than that?

Well maybe standing at the foot of that tall mountain and watching a coyote hunt in the tall grass in the purple light of the sunset… that’s what.

Wait, it gets better though. Senya loved that coyote so much. She talked about him all day long (yes, she can say coyote and it’s adorable). She fell asleep saying “coyote” over and over again until she eventually drifted off to sleep.