Duck 2008 Video

Nothing produced about this video, just a few captures of what my girls do at the beach...


Duck 2008 from Tim Martin on Vimeo.

The Crab Whisperer

20080625-59-15407.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Lindy has found her gift, and it is crabbing. She caught no fewer than 8 crabs in the one night we went. Of course, she had great help from Drew and others, but she pulled them out of the water herself. And she was awfully proud.

Freckles

20080623-59-15358.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

I love Aspen's freckles, and they are always on display at the beach. Aspen had so much fun playing with her cousins; she just really seems to love these trips.

Duck is done...

20080624-59-15387.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Well, we had a fantastic week at the beach again this year. We're home now, and able to post pictures again, so I'll start a stream of them over my next several visits to the computer. Here you can see the spunky Oakley in one of her visits out of the water.

"Mommy & Daddy can!"

So, I was saying good night to the two older girls just now. It started with Oakley...

Oakley: Daddy, I was just going to ask...
Aspen: [preempting Oakley] This headboard is getting annoying.
Tim: Just move your pillow down, it won't bump it.
Aspen: OK.
Oakley: I said to Aspen, "I wish you could sleep in my bed." And she said, "I wish I could, too."
Aspen: No, I didn't.
Oakley: Yes, you did.
Tim: You wish you could snuggle with Oakley, Aspen?
Aspen: Yes.
Tim: Well, that's sweet. It wouldn't be good for sleeping though, OK?
Aspen: OK.
Tim: In Italy, though, I'm sure there will be nights where you guys share a bed, so you can snuggle then.
Aspen: OK.
Oakley: Are we going to have bunk beds?
Tim: Yes.
Aspen: I wish we could have them for more than one night.
Tim: Why, so both of you can sleep on top?
Aspen: Yes.
Tim: We will.
Oakley: Yes!
Aspen: How many nights will we have them?
Tim: Three.
Oakley: Who will get to sleep there the third night?
Tim: I don't know, we'll see.
Oakley: Mommy & Daddy can!

"Where's my floaty?"

Having trouble downloading pictures here at the beach... so, for now, just words.

Oakley is the adventuresome one this week. She was on an inflated ring amongst the waves today. She got stuck in the break and got absolutely tossed on her head. It was enough that everyone watching noticed and I went running, camera in hand to get her.

Her first words when we dragged her out of the water?

"Where's my floaty?"

We have arrived...

At the beach. And it's excellent. We left early this morning, and were paid off in spades for the effort. Basically, we got here by about 3:30 and had a fantastic short day at the beach. The swimming conditions are literally the best I can remember in my 12 or so years at Duck. Waves are there, but not too big or crazy. The bottom is almost entirely sand.

Aspen, Oakley, and I spent a good hour in the water rolling around and playing. Each year, the ocean decides for me what my "game" will be in the water. This has been the case since I was 10 years old or something. Some years it's body surfing, some years flipping over waves, there was even that year I decided to try that thing where you slide on the thin layer of water on the shore. For me, that was called "falling on your *ss".

Well, this year's game is bowling. I go out to the point where I can body surf, and point myself in the direction of my daughters, and see if I can run into them. Good clean fun was had by all.

I am now exhausted, and heading for bed.

The Card

20080615-56-15159-2.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Two things that I think are cool with this card...

First, the text: "I love you Mommy. Your the best. I love your bread. And jam. I love you. Oakley." This is cool because we discovered that she had sought out the book "Bread and Jam For Francis" in order to spell everything right. In some ways, I think that's cooler than if she knew how to spell it herself.

Second, the house. Note that there are three upstairs windows, under our red roof. The pink one is Aspen's, including the almost always closed curtains. The purple is Oakley's, curtains open... she opens them at about 6am each morning. And Lindy's... no curtains at all.

Pretty awesome, I think.

The Envelope

20080615-56-15159.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Oakley sent this excellent card to Jenn this week. She often gets up before the rest of us, and does things like this on her own.

Jenn asked her how she knew the zip code, and she said, "I've heard you say it on the phone, Mommy."

(The card itself follows in the next post.)

The Harvest

20080614-55-15157.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Yes, so far it's an expensive berry, but we did it. Success, assumedly, will taste sweet, for someone, in very small quantities, but we haven't figured out for whom yet.

Bacon

In case you missed it on my twitter stuff, this was Aspen's quote last night eating dinner...

"Bacon is so good to me, it's like dessert."

Papa would be so proud.

"I said it"

A few months ago, Aspen came home sporting some new jokes learned at school.

Aspen: What's your name?
Tim: Daddy.
How do you spell it?
Tim: D - A - D - D - Y.
Aspen: I said, "It." I - T.

Well, Lindy brought her own flavor to it today.

Lindy: How do you spell your name?
Tim: D - A - D - D - Y.
Lindy: What's your name?
Tim: Daddy.
Lindy: I said, "It".

Update: Just now, I overheard Oakley and Lindy playing "Babies", where Lindy is a baby, and Oakley is the mom.

Oakley: What's your name?
Lindy: It.

Where did the strawberries go?

Well, I'll tell you. I've got a family that can eat some serious strawberries. Thus far, they have been eaten as part of jam, sorbet, frozen yogurt, parfaits, shortcake, and countless other things. And do we like them? Yes we do.














Lastly, an old picture... can you tell who it is that like strawberries so well at 9 months?

Snakes...

I forgot to mention earlier that I killed a snake tonight. We've been seeing them hang around our driveway and whatnot, and there was one on the concrete part tonight when I drove home. I decided that was close enough to the house that I didn't like it, and I wanted to know what kind it was.

So, I jumped out of the car and followed it into what we call the "cedar closet"... the cedar trees in the front yard. Ultimately, I threw big rocks at it and pinned it under a rock. It struck the rock a few times, and I was able to go get a hoe and finish the job.

I went inside and brought the girls out to check it out. It was, um, well, it wasn't dead quite yet. So, we had to finish that job first, and then let them check it out. It felt weird to all of us, even giving me the heebie-jeebies.

The conclusion is that it was a black rat snake measuring about 32 inches in length. Fortunately, they are not poisonous and they even help control the rodent population. I would prefer, however, that they stay a little farther from the house.

And no worries, I will not become Jeff Corwin or the Crocodile Hunter. I can't fathom picking up a live snake.

"I was just offering."

Tonight, we had dinner on the screened porch, and had recently finished. Aspen and Lindy were wrestling on the floor inside, and Oakley was finishing up her strawberries. (Yes, we finished the 16 quarts from last week, and yes, Jenn bought five more this week.)

Oakley stood up to go inside, and started to hand her plate to Jenn.

Jenn: You can take your plate in.
Oakley: Do you want me to take your stuff in?
Jenn: You can if you want to.
Oakley: No thanks, I was just offering.

True to form...

I just got back from San Diego tonight, and went in to say goodnight to each of the girls. Their respective reactions couldn't have been more true to form.



Oakley, sleeping on her stomach, acknowledged me quickly, told me she loved me, and went back to sleep.



Aspen did the same things eventually, but her first reaction was the funniest. I leaned over to hug her, and before either of us had said a thing, she was already hugging me back. She couldn't have known who I was yet, but she is just a natural hugger.



Lindy... also typical. I woke her, and the first thing she said was, "I want another drink, Daddy." This, of course, is the only reason I ever go in her room at night, when she has requested another drink.

A penguin, up close

A penguin, up close, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

What does ____ drink?

(A quick family related post for all of you who are wondering why this blog has been all about Tim lately.)

So, Lindy often asks about what things drink when we're at dinner. I believe this is an effort to get out of drinking her cup of water. It doesn't work. The conversation below is not verbatim. It's a collection of her thoughts and our responses from the various meals.

Lindy: Do rabbits drink water?
Tim: Yes.
Lindy: Do they drink juice?
Tim: No, all animals drink only water. They don't have juice.
Lindy: All animals?
Tim: Yes.
Lindy: No, they don't.
Tim: Yes, they do.
Lindy: Ticks don't.
Tim: Touche.

Watching the surfers on Mission Beach

Watching the surfers on Mission Beach, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

This sign is on the ferry to Coronado. Go Oakley.

This sign is on the ferry to Coronado. Go Oakley., originally uploaded by flamingobear.

San Diego

San Diego, originally uploaded by flamingobear.