Wild

Just a few photos this week (and hey, didn't I tell ya I'd be updating my blog more often?) from a hike we took today at Rouge River. Just flora pics this time, I'll update with fawna (i.e., my children) at a later date.

I love taking pictures of wildflowers, even if my knees get a little dirty. Most people don't even notice them, I think, they are so small and unassuming. Take this red trillium, for example.



Henning actually spotted these, and they were all hiding at the base of a tree, their heads pointing at the ground. I had to practically unhinge my neck to get this.

Trout lilies are a little more profuse and obvious.



Here's another one from two weeks ago, gettin' it on with the local bee scene.



I finally found some Dutchman's Breeches this week, although not as many as last year.



The bloodroot were still out in force, here with passenger!



And finally, I stumbled upon a sign that the alien invasion has already begun on earth.



Click through and look at the big version of this picture (just go to "all sizes"). It is truly bizarre. The little green alien apartment buildings were all over the place! It has begun! Call Tom Cruise!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this tromp through the forest. See ya later!

2nd Birthday

Yes, my little bear cub turned two yesterday.

We celebrated first this weekend with a trip to the zoo (Gramma in tow) on the hottest day of the year so far. Miles of gleaming white Canadian flesh were on the roam, and it all seemed to be at the zoo. We had a great time anyway, although, as always seems to be the case, the adults were more excited than the kiddlins.



Vala certainly enjoyed this turtle, however.



Gavin preferred the machinery, as always. He followed one little boy who had a camera around for like ten minutes, pretending to be interested in whatever the boy was pointing at and talking about, while really just trying to get a closer look at his equipment.

Meanwhile, Vala communed with some wildlife.


And the wildlife communed right back. But the idyllic time was soon at an end, and he waved goodbye...


...and traipsed off into the sunset.


Poor heartbroken little monkey. Mine, not the furry one.

On her actual birthday, I baked a cake from scratch (!) and we had a little teeny birthday celebration, just the four of us. Here is a short photo essay about our day.

"Look! Mama made a cake! Yay!"


"The cake! Mama! Give us some cake!! It's right there!!!"


"We get it. We're cute. CUT THE CAKE."


Ahhh, the joys of photographing children. Ready for another photo essay? I thought you were.

"Oh my gosh. What is he doing?"


"Does he know he's setting my cake on fire?"


"Should I tell him? Nooo, he'll figure it out."


"I hope...."


Well, happy birthday, little monkey.






I still can't believe it.

(as always, click on over to flickr for more zoo and bday fun)

Visiting

I always find that, when I have guests, I actually see the city I claim to live in. Xan and Chris came this weekend (and still are "here", i.e. downtown) for a comic convention, and stayed with us Thursday night. And check it out! Stone-'enge is downtown!


It's about ten feet tall, and yes, the little children were dancing around it. I don't have any decent pictures of this, however, so you will have to wait for Xan and Chris to give me some.

And look, the kids were as astonished as I was...



(okay, they were actually watching a plane land on the island, but hey.)



I don't have a witty caption for this photo. Aren't they cute?

Before this, we went to the Fickle Pickle for lunch. And look, isn't that a famous comic book artist?



Vala is such a big fan. I totally should have kept that menu. Might be worth a mint one day.

And of course, Gavin monopolized Xan's computer as soon as she got it out.



Well, that's all for now. See ya!


(as always, click on a picture to get to my photos in flickr. Just click on "Scifimama's photostream" to see a few more!)

Obligatory Easter Post

It appears I have become a C and E blogger. Well, C, B, and E (Christmas, birthdays, and Easter). But I am truly intending to blog at least once a week from now on, as I am beginning to miss it. Facebook just doesn't feel as personal. Anyway, here's a few pics from our bunny-filled weekend.



Aaaaah, the baskets before the kidstorm.





Yep, that's more like it. She had that Kinder egg unwrapped and eaten before the boy had even come downstairs.





He started out fairly slow, just nibbling on his bunny and gazing over his pastel riches.



The girl and the hopping bunny and chickie.



Candy lego bricks. Let me repeat that. CANDY LEGO BRICKS, PEOPLE.



Egg dyeing, of course. Vala was interested for about, oh, ten seconds tops.



Fun with macro. I love easter!

Gavin is 4 years old!

I am a few days late, but Gavin did indeed turn 4 on January 19th. See?



I made him a cake. And no, I am not blind or palsied, even though it might look that way from the wavy decorating. He enjoyed it, anyway.





And here is one great reason to have children.



Have you ever seen more wonder and delight in the rising smoke from a blown out birthday candle?

I certainly haven't.

Halloween! Ah, crap....

So, I decided at the last minute on the kids' costumes. The boy was dead set on wearing the bunny suit his Auntie Xan got for him last Christmas, and who am I to argue? But I couldn't leave it at that, so I decided that he could be the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and the girl would of course be Alice. I decided this, oh, five days before Halloween. For his costume I just added a little coat I found at the thrift store for 1.50, and then magicked a pocket watch in about five minutes out of a Nutella lid, aluminum foil, and electrical tape. For her costume, however, I sewed a little blue dress out of an old sheet, and a pinafore-type apron out of some leftover white fabric, and then went wacky and decided to knit her some hair (from the Hallowig pattern on Knitty) on October 30th. I raced to the finish with all of it, finishing the hair at 5:42 on October 31. Almost as soon as I finished, I heard some crying from the backyard, but knew the kids were with their papa, so no worries. Cue ominous music. Henning came in with the girl, who was still sniffling, as I was hurriedly putting the finishing touches on our front porch decor. Just as I was finished, and starting to costume the kids, Vala fell face down on the sofa and immediately began screaming. After falling onto A SOFA CUSHION. Cue triple chord signal of tension. She continued to cry, clutching her arm, and I thought it looked kind of...pink, and swollen. I tried to move her thumb. She screamed. I screamed, at my husband, and said something really helpful like "What the hell happened in the backyard??!?!" He told me she fell off the swing to the ground, a distance of maybe two feet. Nothing serious could have happened, right? I messed around with her wrist. She screamed again. I gently moved her fingers. Scream.

I suddenly realized I had a homemade Alice in Wonderland costume that was going to wind up laying in a box until maybe next year, when she will probably decide she wants to be a bear or a race car driver or a Pussycat doll. Or, let's be honest, Alice, at which point the costume will be ridiculously too small.

And so, Vala spent Halloween in the Emergency Room with her Papa, getting a wee little cast on her wee little broken arm, while I took my, now context-less, White Rabbit-garbed son trick-or-treating. See?


Gavin with his Gramma, just before the big event.



Gotta love those ears.

But all was not lost. I just tossed the costumes on the kids the next day, and ran 'em around the park, all to create the following photo essay, entitled "Alice and her broken arm give the Rabbit a hard time."


Alice, complete with cast, races into the park to look for trouble.



"Is that a Rabbit carrying a pocketwatch?"



Following....



...the White...



...Rabbit.



"You wanna go down there?"



"Here you go, Alice."



"I'm supposed to eat this?"



"No way."



"Alice?"


Thank you, thank you. And now for the curtain call. As the White Rabbit, please welcome Gavin!



And introducing, in the roll of Alice with the broken arm, Vala!



Give em a hand, folks! And thank you for coming. Don't forget to tip your waiter!

(p.s. if you are saying to yourself, "hey, i thought she said she knitted some hair! where's the hair?" i have to tell you that, unfortunately, at completion, I had made it too short, and it looked, in the words of Gramma, "a little more monty python than alice in wonderland." ah well.)

Okay, will add blog post soon....

....I promise. No, really!

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of Vala in front of her quilt.