Marriage Bliss

Today's our anniversary. Stephan's grandparent's were also married on August 14, except in 1947. Here we are with them in 2004 at Christmastime in their house in San Diego. They both died this last year.

I was looking through our photo libraries trying to find some pictures of us from the last five years. In the first two years of our marriage, we have tons of pictures of me and Stephan doing lots of fun things and we both look good and alert and happy. Then after Penny was born, all the pictures are of Penny with one of us, or just her. And, I swear, I look better in all the pre-children pictures than post children. Childbearing has done something to my photo-taking abilities or maybe just to my skin and hair.

Here we are, five years later and a happy little family. (We have river-walking booties on, in case you were curious. And, the pants around Stephan's neck were wrapped around Ginger to protect her from the swarms of attacking mosquitoes.)

Here we are walking off into our happy future.

Devils Postpile

We went camping last month near Mammoth, California with Stephan's parents and his sister and her family. The Lovstedts camped there when they were kids so it was a fun walk down memory lane for Stephan and Julie. We did several little hikes, one of which was Devils Postpile.

It's this cool geologic formation. Being the daughter of a geologist, I was intrigued by how it formed and how it got these hexagonal shapes to the columns. It really was crazy. Apparently, it had something to do with a lava flow moving down the valley and then it cooled at varying speeds, causing the vertical jointing. Or something like that. Julie's husband, Greg, is a PhD student of geology so he had lots of explanations for what we were seeing.

These are the pillars from the side with the pile of rubble in front.

The whole group.

We took a short hike to the top of the postpile. Here's a view of the tops of the pillars.

Taking a break on top with the girls.

Penny and her cousin Chloe playing with Grandma's walking sticks.

Penny and Chloe resting on a log bench along the way.

Penny and Chloe, again. Check out Penny's knock-knees. Cute, uh?

Meanie big sister

Penny loves making movies with our little digital camera. Here's one she made a few weeks ago. It's hilarious! We're not exactly sure what happened but obviously Penny made Ginger mad and then ran away because she knew she was busted. Whenever she gets in trouble, she runs to this corner next to the back door. The other day she said to me, "I don't wanna be busted, Mommy." Apparently I've told her she was busted one too many times. Funny, uh?

Ginger's face

Ginger makes the cutest faces. Here's just a sampling.

The Prophecy

"Neither can survive while the other lives" was the prophecy for Harry Potter and his nemesis Voldemort. A similar thing happens with my two children. Neither can sleep while the other is awake. Ginger is a wonderful baby and she sleeps through the night, and has for some time. Penny was the same way. Both girls sleep through the night and have approximately the same 8 pm bed time. If you consider each of them seperately it makes for a pretty easy bed time. Sounds like a parent's dream come true, right? Well here's what happens.

When we put "the chosen one" into her crib she can't be made aware of the presence of anyone else in the room or she won't go to sleep, but "she who must not be named" usually doesn't go all that quietly and calls out to us telling us that she isn't tired or needs a drink of water. This alerts Ginger to the fact that she is not alone in the bedroom so she struggles to free herself from her night-time wrap and to peek over the crib and look at Penny in her bed. Eventually she gets frustrated either because Daddy's wrap was too good and has immobilized her (rare these days) or because she was successful and is now looking at her sister begging her to play with her. She starts whining and moving around in her crib, peering over the edge at Penny. Then Penny who has been claiming she wasn't tired for some time sees a golden opportunity for escape and starts yelling, "Ginger's crying in mine ear!" over and over. This encourages Ginger's struggles and her whining escalates to crying. Then it just snowballs and an intervention has to take place because Penny's still yelling at Ginger to stop crying and Ginger's just crying for someone to come play with her. Neither is in any condition to fall asleep at this point so we have to get them both up and calmed down before we can start over staggering the bedtimes enough that they fall asleep individually undisturbed by the other.

I too have seen the future. An epic battle will unfold between my children as they find other ways in which it is difficult to coexist peacefully. Perhaps for many years. Maybe someday we'll get a third bedroom and that will help.

Family picture

Here's an attempt at an updated family photo. These are from Easter. We're not a super photogenic family.

Dirt-biking in the desert, a while back

We went camping in the desert with some friends the weekend after Easter. It was, of course, a dirt-biking trip. No one really camps in the desert because it's a beautiful place. Although it does have some charming characteristics, like the sunsets are great. It also reminds me a lot of where I grew up, Midland, Texas. Every time we arrive in the desert, I have flashbacks to my childhood.

Penny loved "driving" the buggie.

We camped in a tent but used the back of the van for our cooking and such. Ginger looks confused.

Penny with her little friend, Wyatt. They have the exact same birthday, except he's one year older. She loves him.