China

Meg and I spent a bit of time in China recently -- Beijing followed by a 3 hour flight south to Guilin -- thanks to her job, our fabulous co-parents, my new knee, and the ease of Skype for "seeing" the kiddos every day.

Travel is such an effective way to gain perspective. I'm looking forward to including Anders and Jorja on upcoming international trips -- once they've established a solid nighttime potty routine, a more diverse array of "approved" edibles, and a consistent willingness to sleep past 6am without the assistance of their "It's Okay to Wake" clock. It shouldn't be too long...

Pumpkins

This morning we trekked east for our annual pumpkin picking adventure. We weren't able to hop on a hay ride or feast on donut holes, but we certainly had a great time zooming around the fields, zipping through the hay maze, sucking on honey sticks, and checking out the farm animals.






Admiring the already picked pumpkins.



Straw bale seats.



Anders, Jorja, Nicholas, and Raleigh exploring the farm stand.



I love Fall City Farm.



Beautiful pumpkins...









Eric lovin' the cow.



Scouting for edibles.



Wheeling down to the fields.



Meg in the midst of the kiddos.



Raleigh finds his perfect pumpkin.



Jorja finds her perfect pumpkin.



Meg's workout for the day.



Post-pumpkin picking puddle jumping.

The Case Report

A while back I was awarded the Silver Award for a case report I wrote during my massage school days. Check out the abstract here. Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, anyone?

Check Out Our Moves

Anders and Jorja enjoy a variety of activities -- tae kwon do often reigns supreme. Regardless of where we are or what our intended purpose might be, they often ask us to "check out my/our moves."

Let the moves begin.











Jorja in charge of the trail map.



Sitting with the kiddos.

The Girls

While I continue to recover from my recent ACL surgery, one of the girls has taken it upon herself to engage in a little neighborhood exploration. Hence the following note tucked in our front door.



Thanks Ms. E.B.

Cooling-Off

While I sat idly by -- three days post-surgery -- the kiddos ran around with hoses. Their time was split between spraying each other and careening down the slide while Meg sprayed them mid-run.

Jorja in charge of the hose.



Anders creating a "fountain" effect.









Soaking wet.



Running the ladder to slide (and back again and again and again) circuit.