Like sand through the hourglass

Well, alas, in my world the summer is pretty much over. The new semester is approaching and the house is gearing up for the fall, not the least because I'm up for review again this year. In preparation, we started Xan in family childcare today where, for now, he is the only child because the place is new. (It's also about three blocks away from home and run by an Ecuadorian woman, which means he'll be getting a lot of Spanish -- a very good thing in our book, heh.) As a testament to his enjoyment there, he managed to finally succeed in getting his toes into his mouth after having explored them for the past few days! Quite exciting!

And where were we the last few days?

Xan says hello to the ocean


Our good friend Steve invited us to his family's house on the ocean in North Carolina this past weekend, which was a nine-hour drive -- but well worth it. It rained a lot, but we still managed to get some time jumping around in the waves. Plus, while I don't have a picture of this, we actually saw some sea turtles coming up out of the sand!! It was wild, watching the little guy (or gal, who knows) flop valiantly toward the ocean... probably to be immediately eaten by a sandpiper or bluefish or something, but still. In any case, Xan was a little unsure of the waves, but didn't really complain too much. In fact, he seemed mostly intrigued by the whole concept of waves throughout the visit and really injoyed sitting around on the deck just listening and watching the horizon. Maybe he missed the traffic at home?

The boys in blue...


Today, I finally managed to get a razor to my face to get at four days of facial hair growth. What may surprise some of you is that I did for a moment consider the notion of a goatee, since I already had some of the growth. (Gone are the days when I could go this long and barely register a shadow. Sigh.) I actually shaved it into the shape and considered myself in the mirror. And then I realized I kinda looked like a former student named John Turner. Not even that: I looked like the pen-line representation used for his production company. Love ya, John, but no. Not to mention the objections from Angela at the mere concept. I shaved it off.