Footprints

2011-01-24T00:46:00.000-08:00

And then there is the story of how Riley saved all year and decided to give his Share money to Foodbank of Santa Barbara. Riley's donation amounted to $17.53 and was proudly delivered on the day before Thanksgiving (which is not the best day to try to find someone at the Foodbank, FYI).

I am so proud of him, and clearly he is proud too.

2010

2011-01-24T00:41:00.000-08:00

Finally, the 2011 New Year's card is out. The longhand version is as follows...

2010 started with a paddle in Bergen, where we were visiting Anna Olsson and her husband Morton. This was followed by ice skating near Amsterdam, with Dru's cousins Antoinette and Johan. Highly recommend winter holidays with friends and family in Europe. Lots of springtime hikes and get togethers with friends. For the last six years, Dru has been hiking every Sunday morning before church. Many Sundays she also actually makes it to church, where Riley is a student in the Catechesis of the Good Shephard. Riley rode his bike to school on street for the first time, and Dru made a video of it that was played during Earth Day's Green Shorts contest. Aunt Ginny and Emily visit. Spectacular wildflowers. Easter in New York, where we get to meet Ama’s new puppy Sophie before heading by train to Boston for Nantucket girl’s weekend. Riley stays in Somerville on a big sleepover without his parents. Lots of wading in Mission Creek, tadpole catching with friends. Amazing Big Sur camping in May. Mother’s day in Portland. CycleMAYnia in SBA. Homemade yogurt, bread and apricot, plum, and fig jams. Family travels to Hanover for 25^th Dartmouth reunion, and Dru finally climbs Moosilauke. Moosilauke serves as training hike for summer overnight hiking trip in Austria, after van Hengel family reunion in Croatia. Ama visits for Riley’s 6^th birthday. Joshua and Riley visit family in Chicago and Miami. Riley plays two seasons of soccer, with Joshua coaching both, while still assessing.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

2010-11-29T01:22:00.000-08:00

Resolved. Blog at least once every two years. It is fun to reread even just a little bit. Yesterday was pretty much a perfect day. Actually, the whole weekend couldn't have been much better.

It started with the day off on Wednesday. I got so many appointments made, tried on glasses at Ochialli, went out for coffee. Riley had a half day at after school program, which made the whole month's tuition worth it. How nice I am finding it to have some time when I can just get things done without the pressure and disappointment of having to defer playing to "when I'm done" or "five more minutes," when I actually needed 15. Wednesday night dinner with friends before Thanksgiving. Mexican feast with Rori, Luca, Bob, Michele, Samantha, Roman and Riley. They would all be leaving to be with family in the morning, and Joshua and I would be heading to the zoo's pumpkin smash followed by a bike ride over to the Mills' for a lovely Thanskgiving feast courtesy of Lazy Acres. Ann and I sneaked in a hike to Inspiration Point via Jesusita Trail first.

Friday, a second Thanksgiving meal with Stewart, Sam, and Stella. How thankful we are for our Santa Barbara friend-families. But before that, a cheese feast with the boys on Jesusita Trail. We ran into a red tail hawk, a gopher, a dog bite. Riley "rememberized" all of Luca's passwords and was able to gain fairly easy access to the trail. Before that Coffee and mutt-mutts at Daily Grind. Riley spent the night at Roman's and we went to see a terrible movie. Morning Glory. Don't bother.

Saturday, cleaning up, starting the preparation for Arcelia to come help clean our house. The biweekly bad mood maker. Also trying to scale back for a lot of reasons. Last time I did this I think I got rid of 75 books and 100 t-shirts. Well, I went through the T-Shirts again, and it turns out my critical mass is down to about 60 t-shirts. I don't know why I think I need 60 t-shirts, when most of them are too huge to consider wearing anymore, but here I am, 60 t-shirts in the bag, 45 to Goodwill.

Rain threatened, but never materialized. The gym was packed, but the farmers' market was not. This was probably the last weekend for outdoor grown tomatoes, so I bought quite a few. We headed over to Phoebe's house for an early mac and cheese dinner, and came home to take the chicken out of our own crockpot to eat later on.

Finally Sunday. I feel like I haven't worked in forever. Will be shocked to go back to the office tomorrow. Ann and I took off on Arroyo Burro Trail at 0615 this morning. We got back to the car five hours later. It was a two water bottle and a snack hike. Sadly, we both only had one water bottle and no snacks. Saw three red tail hawks, and a trail I had never finished before, so that was terrific. We came back into civilization with mittens in our pockets and triple layers of clothing, and felt a little silly crossing paths with people who were wearing tank tops and shorts.

Riley's Christmas Wishes

2010-11-29T00:37:00.000-08:00

Riley's sharing donation of $17.53 was delivered to Santa Barbara Foodbank on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He wrote:

Dear Foodbank,

I save 5% [mama and dada add spare change whenever it's available] of my money all year to share. This year I'm giving the money to Foodbank to help you buy food for the homeless. The last dinosaurs died because there wasn't enough food. If Foodbank buys food, and with shelter, the homeless can live longer. Thank you for what you do.

Sincerely,
Riley

Riley's Christmas wish list has been staring at me for a couple of days now, and since we have finally delivered the sharing money, and boxed up the railroad tracks, Thomas, and his friends (snif) it's only fair that I share it with you now. I'll get an image of the list itself posted soon, but here are the key items on it:

[We removed the Trail Gator as Gin pointed out Riley has already exceeded the weight limit]

Legos!

8076, Deep Sea Striker
8078, Portal of Atlantis
Atlantis Headquarters
Atlantis Shadow Snapper

Faber Castell Coloring Activity Books

Games:

Sorry!
Blurt
Rat-a-tat Cat
Monopoly Kids

Books:

How the World Works (Dohen)
Tarra and Bella (Buckley)

From Chinaberry.com:

#15364, Buddy Talk Conversation Cards

Clothes

(He is 50", 72 pounds, Hanna's size 130 is fitting well)

Striped Shirts

Rain pants

hanna andersson underpants (HE really does want these) Size Medium LF32616 LF32679 or LF 33935, you pick)

2009-08-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

What, I haven't blogged in a year and a half? Well there's been another Dartmouth Summer Get-Together sandwiched by visits to museums in Lowell and Sleepy Hollow. Miquitoes, swimming in the Connecticut and in the Frankel's backyard pond. Fun.

Riley Rides a Bike

2008-03-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

In February we added the pedals to the BMW bicycle Ama bought Riley for Christmas, and this week, on Easter Sunday, Matt taught Riley what riding a bike really looks like. So off he goes! I wanted to post a movie, but I can't remember how...

2008-01-06T18:18:00.000-08:00

Family and Santa Claus were very good to all of us. I hope they were good to you too. Here are some photos of R on Christmas Eve with godfather/cousin Peter and Christmas morning. Terry knit us Riley's stocking and boy did Santa squeeze a lot into it.

Resolved: More blogging

2008-01-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

Riley, Peter, Christina, Katherine and Emily help my mother celebrate her birthday in November!

Get together with TG

2007-09-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

The above picture is of most of the kids of my friends' from Dartmouth. I guess we are getting to the age when we think it is better to take group shots of the kids and leave ourselves out. But, I did manage to get one of most of us as well. This was a fun summer weekend at Diane's farm in Pughkeepsie. Complete with swimming, looking for frogs, volleyball, canoe paddling, and long lingering meals.

Riley Finally Wears a Wetsuit

2007-09-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Riley and I had a fun day at the beach, complete with a bike ride to Isla Vista, a visit with Ann and Gerry, a bluff top picnic, sand castle building, wading, and a visit with Rebecca Ivar and Clair. Delicious dinner at home with Joshua in the back yard.

Summer ends with a whimper

2007-09-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

I am in a foul humor. It's Labor Day weekend and for some reason I am not at Fishers Island. How did that happen? Every year for twenty years I had to chose between doing a canoe race or going home, and I always chose going home. This year I didn't choose either, because I didn't seem to have a choice of either. I am sad that I didn't get us tickets. This would have been the first time in eight months that a trip home didn't involve an attorney or a banker. It would have been nice to simply hang around with the family at the summer place. Lot's of babysitters. Although Riley has been there twice, he says he doesn't remember. Definitely going to plan on a week up there next year, and hope some family will join us. Are they all there because we are not? Some say it's too stressful to have the whole gang up at one time. If us not being there makes it easier for every one else to be there, then I guess that will put me in a better mood. Labor Day in Santa Barbara is something a lot of people are probably paying for, so I'd better suck it up and try to enjoy it. At least we don't have to fight the traffic.

Apa's In Our Hearts

2007-08-17T00:21:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Still images from many sources of Apa, accompanied by poor quailty recordings of his wonderful piano playing. Rily is finally starting to be done looking for Apa in the hospital, but it is sometimes hard to explain how Apa can be both "all gone" and "in our hearts."

The Peace of Wild Things

2006-12-22T12:50:00.000-08:00

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

-Wendell Berry

Borrowing Abby's Raincoat

2006-12-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not getting my New Year's card done, but I sure am having fun going through last year's photos! This is Riley with our friend Emily Kate in NYC this past fall. We are looking forward to seeing her again right after Christmas. We love it when Jeanne, Tim, Meghan, EK and Abby come to town.

Lunchtime Activities

2006-12-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

Riley has been coming to work for lunch every day for two years now. Before lunch we often do some quality work. A reflection of his work is these reflective sticker dots on the cheeks and chin and nose.

Down, Riley, Down

2006-11-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, Mo posted a new blog. (did you know the blogger spellchecker doesn't recognize 'blog?')Now I am wondering when Mindy, Julie and Molly will follow suit. I suppose they are all wondering the same thing about me, so here is a photo from this morning. The dogs were supposed to be following me outside, but instead they did a really good "down." And then Riley followed suit with a good "sit."

And all the while, I was trying to get to the gym. I have been busy studying informal communication in the workplace-- otherwise known as gossip. This going back to school stuff is pretty fun, but I hope I will be taking the time management class soon-- as otherwise it will be impossible for me to get caught up. Off to New York tomorrow for Thanksgiving and Ama's big birthday. This will be Riley's first full fare flight. Wow, it's a lot more expensive now! More soon...

Our bikes!

2006-11-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of one of our bicycles in our City Fleet. Please notice that Santa Barbara is also a "Bicycle Friendly" community!

Happy Birthday

2006-11-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

click here to download

Life has been a lot more full of "no" since October 4th.

We Miss Daggin

2006-11-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

click here to download

This video was taken last summer at my favorite place in the world. Thanks to Mindy for introducing me to vlogging. Now I really do need 36 hours in the day.

Riley has a new job!

2006-11-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

click here to download

(or press on the photo to open in a new window)

Thanks to Mindy for editing and posting!

Islandwood

2006-10-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

Back to school. This weekend I participated in the first of 18 weekend long intensives at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, where I will learn how to make the business case for reducing our collective footprint on the planet. These photos are from Bainbridge Island. A healthy respite from Accounting, Finance, and the Triple Bottom Line.

Mirror Mirror on the Ground...

2006-10-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

Riley and Apa bond

2006-10-09T23:13:00.000-07:00

Apa and Riley had some quality time to bond while we were home in September. It is often that Apa is able to get down to Riley's level, and it was such a treat to watch their sentimental exchange. I miss New York. Can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving and my mother's birthday! We're not supposed to tell, but she's going to be 80! We are a lucky family.

More about what happened to summer.

2006-10-09T23:10:00.000-07:00

I have been spending a little time looking through the photos from the summer. Wishing for some time to say good bye to it. Here is a photo of Riley resting on a rock overlooking the Hudson River not far from where my parents live. This was a great restaurant. Complete with a view of the train tracks on the other side, and with trees hiding the view of Indian Point Power Plant.

What Happened to Summer?

2006-09-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

September ends this week. Riley will be two next week. Before we know it 2007 will be here. Having not had a hair cut in three years, you can imagine how startled I am by the sudden end of summer characterized by fires, dark mornings, and change of season colds. In protest, Riley and I ate out at Palazzio tonight. This is his passport photo. I hope we can use his new passport soon.

I did that!

2006-08-21T22:05:00.001-07:00

What did I do? I paddled around Long Island with Kathy Colin. It is appropriately named. To find out more about our trip, have a look at Phillip's website:http://edunns.net/kathy/pages/update.html. He did a terrific job of taking snippets of phone conversation and making them into a coherent story about our trip. Unfortunately, some of the links are broken. Also unfortunate is that the Long Island Alzheimers Foundation, for whom we made the journey, still hasn't completed the documentation of the trip on their website. Rest assured Kathy and I did it. About 300 miles in about 48 hours over the course of 7 days.

"Life is Good"

2006-08-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Today is September 10. I missed racing Catalina on my birthday yesterday because I came home to New York unexpectedly, due to my father being admitted into the intensive care unit after suffering respiratory failure. That was last week. This week "life is good" as he said after a morning of picking out thank you chocolates for the people who brought him back to it. What a peculiar summer this has been. It will be bittersweet to take Riley home to 1729 again after a few more days of lightening the load around here.

Sadness

2006-08-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

Today Riley and I went with Aunt Ginny and cousin Emily to the airport. Sadly the two of them up and decided to get on one of the planes, and we were left waving goodbye through the plexiglass as Daggan and Emmie's plane became a speck high up in the sky. Although we had more than a week, it raced by, as usual. Unfortunately, I couldn't take much time off, as I had job interviews and GMATs to take, and I am busy saving up time to take a vacation for two weeks. Pictures of their visit and Fiesta activities to come. Hopefully before I leave for my paddle around Long Island, which starts on Thursday. Cousin Katherine and I fly to New York on Tuesday night red-eye. I am racing around collecting as many seat pads as I can find.

Inside my car

2006-08-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

My car is a 12 year old Jetta sedan. Jayda and Cecil fit in my car just fine. Riley fits in my car just fine. Jayda, Cecil and Riley all together are kind of pushing it. Riley imitates Jayda after a long hike up Cold Springs and a jaunt on the beach. I should clarify, Jayda hiked, Riley jaunted. That explains his wet hair and tshirt.

Oo Ee Oo Aa Aa

2006-08-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

Remember the song? Well, Bobo taught Riley this song two weeks ago, and now he basically sings it all day long. Cristina's sister suggested we teach him other songs, so he will blurt out Ee I Ee I Oh, if you sing Old McDonald had a farm instead of Ching Chang Walla Walla Bing Bang.

Speaking of Cristina, she has up and decided to move to Portland next month. Life as I have known it for the last year is about to be over. We are all very sad.

This Week

2006-07-28T23:27:00.000-07:00

Whew. This is the week Christina decided to go on vacation. Last time she went on vacation, we had to go on vacation to, to Florida. Well that trip was two weeks ago. So we couldn't quite justify going back to Florida and decided to try to make ends meet without her. Well, just as we suspected , it is very difficult to make ends meet without her. Monday and Tuesday were fine. because she was here. Then on Wednesday Riley and I had a great time of meeting Amy for lunch and following that up with a great big molasses cookie. We went to the drug store to pick up Mama's ear infection drops (this is a long and sad story that we won't get into now except to say, wear Beanies when you paddle, and don't drop your perscriptions off in the overnigh drop box if you want the pharmacist to actually fill it). We went to the library to kill some time, and discovered the cleanest restroom with no locks is in the children's section. We also discovered that there was a man and his dog doing a juggling show in the Faulkner Gallery. Riley was more interested in slamming the door than in watching the show, so home we went. The Lippizaner horses were in town, and we rode bikes out there to watch. Riley was attentive and well mannered, and the horses appreciated all his clapping.Yesterday the plumbers came to start changing out our old pipes with new pipes. I am thrilled about the idea of having on demand hot water as well as water pressure. The babysitter we hired for the day came two hours late. Two hours after she arrived I was on my way into a job interview. The week ended well, with a wonderful night of Wine Whine Wine. There were sixteen of us here, and we all sat on the front porch to cool off. It was really really nice.

Florida

2006-07-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

We forgot to write about going to Florida! Riley Joshua and Dru went to Miami to check in on Grandma and Grandpa a few weeks ago. Our trip coincided with a trip by Aunt Beky, Uncle Sean, Aunt ChaCha, Uncle Dirk and cousins Dane, Cody, Thorough and Orion. Uncle Danny and Uncle David live in Miami as do cousins Nicole and Lisa. The weather was great. The hotel on Hollywood beach was a real treat, as was the bicycle and pedestrian Broadwalk. And there was traffic calming nearby. I had always heard that there were pedestrian and bicycle friendly projects in Florida, but I had never seen one, so now when I think of Florida, I don't have to think about 8 lane roads with pedestrian signals that don't work.

State Champs

2006-07-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

We spent today at the beach. Although we only live a mile and a half from it, we don't spend much time there. Today was an especially good day to be at Ledbetter because of the Outrigger Sprint Championships. I thought my arms were going to fall off after the heat, but we all agreed that in order to race three turns during the final, we would have to do something a little different, like paddle smart. This strategy worked amazingly well. Unfortunately, although we have the will to prevent being passed at the finish, we didn't have the power, so after leading the whole race, we were passed at the end. We now have beautiful tiles that say 2nd place. We really had no business being way up there anyway.

Riley joined me, and had a lovely morning canteloupe, yogurt, and sand. He got an opportunity to play with some kids more his own size, namely not Mama Dada or Christina. He isn't very good at playing with kids his own size. There was some sand throwing and crying.

I long for the long days we used to spend just lying around the beach, gossiping, and solving each other's problems. Thank goodness Mindy took some pictures.

Mutt-mutts

2006-07-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday is my usual day off. Some days I work my day off. In fact today I worked my day off, but I didn't have to start until 6 pm, and ended at 9. So it really felt like a day off. When we are really enjoying my day off, Riley and I peruse some of the coffee shops in town. Today was no different than yesterday in that regard, as we went perusing yesterday too, in celebration of having the day off for July Fourth festivities. I ask Riley if he wants to go for coffee, and he asks, "mutt-mutts?" And so off we go in search of hot coffee and muffins. Today we brought Cecil and Jayda too, as they need a respite from the stable flies that have been nibbling away at their ears. In fact today we splurged. Two visits for mutt-mutts. Poor Dada, he had to work all day.

Walking the Distance

2006-06-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am not tremendously fond of walking. I find it a little slow and tedious. However, I am very much in favor of walkable places, which include lots of destinations, good facilities like sidewalks, and friendly drivers-- the kind who understand that an intersection doesn't have to be painted with stripes to be a crosswalk. In fact, I make my living, in part, by trying to convince skeptics that you don't have to give up access to the things you like to do and the people you like to see when you use active travel like walking and bicycling instead of driving.

And who can oppose walking when it looks as cute as this?

As it turns out, I was searching about for my name in Blogger, and I came upon a site on urban planning maintained by Randy Crane, with whom I worked for some time on this subject at Irvine. It is called planningresearch.blogspot.com, random thoughts on, of all things, urban studies. And if you go there, you will find the type of things I often think about, and used to actually know quite a bit about. From there I linked to someplace else, and from there, a third place, until I received the idea of finding what businesses are in my walking shed by using an online directory of sorts, Qwest.

So I did this little exercise to see how much access I have from my house. What's access? It's basically a measure of how easy it is to get the goods and services you want. Of course, I am not counting all the things I can have delivered to my house without making a single trip out the door. I wanted to count how many destinations I can easily walk to. I found out that from my front door, in a 15 minute walk, I can access all of the following business types in various quantities described.

Business & Professional Services Consultants (3)
Engineers (2)
Health Care Dentists (114)
Physicians & Surgeons (M.D. & D.O.) (94)
Legal Attorneys (171)
Manufacturing, Production & Wholesale Manufacturers' Representatives (3)
Restaurants, Food & Beverages Restaurants (166)

Now that's quite a lot of businesses at my foot-tips. In fact, I can walk right past 3 coffee shops to get to my favorite, and still have walked only ten minutes, less time than it would take to drive my car and walk from any but the most ideally located parking space. But if I am not looking for any of those services, (it's all well and good that 171 lawyering businesses are nearby, but they are of no use if what I really want is a plumber), what should I do? Well, call one and get him over here, like Joshua did this morning to avert our most current plumbing crisis. Now if I want a doctor, but none of the ones I want are within a mile, I can still get access by hopping on my bike. It's no secret here in town that I choose my health care providers based on their proximity to my house. This is what allowed me to walk home from the hospital after Riley was born.

Forty... the new Twenty...

2006-06-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

Around the girdled earth they roam... only to return back 21 years later for the 20th Dartmouth College Reunion. Much time was spent remarking on how wonderful our boring happy lives are in comparison to various tales of divorces and custody disputes. The food was, in a word, horrible. TG (Capitol T Capitol G) or The Group, gathered at Alison's home in Thetford, which provided much relief from the small talk afforded by acquaintances from our past. The kids hunted for tadpoles while we sipped champagne to celebrate the release of Alison's book Double Eagle. My niece Katherine came with Riley and me, and I had a blast. I hope she did too. We didn't find ourselves old, but did feel quietly un-nerved that our next reunion would be our 25th.

It was very hot. Katherine's car doesn't have AC. Riley complained about being soaked in sweat and being touched by the sun through the window. I was sure we would be spending the real Father's Day in Friendly's eating ice cream and waiting for the sun to go down. But somehow we did it. The drive to New York from Hanover was complete in 4 hours, and we punctuated the end of it with a dip in Ama and Apa's pool and a wonderful barbecue with family. I don't have a picture from the barbecue, so instead I am putting in a picture of our picnic the next day. Riley, Ama and I rode the train down to a little riverside park in Irvington, NY. Apa joined us there. I decided whatever I name next will be called Hudson. I just love that river.

Father's Day a Week Early

2006-06-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

Last year Jayda and Joshua ran together
This year she had to settle for me

Yesterday Joshua Jayda Cecil Riley and I jogged over to State St. to run the State Street mile. This is the event Jayda was born to run. She is the best dog out there by far. She stands at the ready while other dogs are sniffing about. She takes off like she has been shot out of the cannon. If only we could get her a better human. She pulled me 10 blocks and then as we approached the finish line, she started to dally. Not to be passed by last year's winner, I dragged her the remaining half-block to finish in 5:50. Good enough for second place dog with female human in tow. This benefit for the Victim's Witness Assistance Program is an annual favorite of ours. Joshua and I trade off who gets to try to keep up with Jayda. Really for me it is a matter of not being pulled so hard that I lose my footing and get dragged along on the asphalt. At the end of the morning, the whole family reassembles and we jog downhill to a finish line filled with muffins, Platinum Performance water bottles, apples and bananas. Today I am extremely sore. And not only because I had four fillings replaced today, but also because I paddled in an outrigger race on Saturday as a warmup for Sunday's big event.
In the afternoon Joshua and I rode down to see An Inconvenient Truth. Be inconvenienced. Do it for Riley. If you can't go see the movie, check out the website: climatecrisis.net. Don't wait.

Don't Wait

2006-06-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

Why Footprints?

2006-06-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Footprints symbolize the route between where we've been and where we are. Also, I aspire to have good memories and footprints be the only thing left when I leave where I've been. Maybe it's silly, but this is something I've been reflecting on for a while, and now seems to be the time to start a new way of documenting where we've been every once in a while.

For a while I had a website up. This cost some time and money that weren't terribly well spent. Because if you look there (Riley.smugmug.com) you will see that Riley is still a year old. But no, he's 20 months old tomorrow, and every day, I wish I spent more time documenting him so you could all see how wonderful he is.

Where did we come from to get here today? Riley and I rode my bike down to the Big Dog Parade, Joshua, Riley, Cecil, Jayda and I hung out with some dogs, and then in the afternoon we went to the Human Rights Festival. Only in Santa Barbara.

In our crazy house, our son wakes up from his afternoon nap only long enough to eat dinner, take a bath, get in a few stories and head back to sleep. The cycle is about to repeat itself.