Call me Greece Lightning

My Dad works in construction and there was a period of my life when he was bidding on several jobs that took him out of town. This wasn't my family's favorite arrangement because it meant that Dad would go out of town for work and return home only on the weekends.

But then one summer this arrangement spelled Pinetop, Arizona. Before we kids could blink, Mom and Dad had made arrangements for an apartment/townhouse for the whole family to accompany Dad on his weekly excursions to this exotic destination. The townhouse community abutted a horse pasture and a wooded reserve.

Honestly, some of my favorite childhood memories were generated from that summer: hiking through the "Friendly Forest," purposely falling in the creek, shaving my legs for the first time, getting a horrible perm, swimming in the community pool, Rachael chewing on broccoli for 30minutes straight, feeding carrots to an ancient-looking horse. All of it happened in Pinetop, Arizona.

Then a few years later Dad submitted a bid for a job in Hawaii. I don't remember all of the details, but I have a very vivid memory of wearing a plastic lei and practicing the hula with my sisters, of Dad jumping up and down in the kitchen and shouting "Yiiii" in his enthusiasm. "Hawaii," my father said, "is just around the corner." Lightning had struck twice, I reasoned...once again Dad's work transformed before our eyes into the possibility of another fantastic summer vacation: a summer vacation with way more bragging rights than Pinetop, AZ.

But what we had mistaken for lightning, it would turn out, was merely a lot of static. The contract fell through for reasons I don't remember and the leis were relegated to our costume collection.

With this narrative as a backdrop, you can imagine my simultaneous skepticism and excitement when, a few months ago, Landon told me that his work was considering assigning him to a three-month audit in Europe. My response was more or less, "Cool. I'll act enthused when it's written in stone." Well, don't break out your chisel yet, Copernicus, but Landon has officially been assigned to Greece...Kifissia, Greece to be precise (I'm told it's just outside of Athens). With Landon in Greece for three months, I'd be foolish beyond insanity to stay here in Colorado. So Griffin and I will be traveling with him. Woot.

The upshot of it all is: If you ever wanted an excuse to visit Greece, I am happy to serve as just such an excuse. We'll be there from May 25th to the beginning of August sometime. Grab your passport, I hear Greece is lovely in the summer.

P.S. Yes I'm planning to chronicle our Greek journey on the blog. So if you can stomach touristy photos feel free to check back every so often.

Making up for it..

So I knew the moment I committed myself to posting once a week that I'd fail to follow through. I don't know why I made a public resolution that I was so sure to shirk. Anyway, I have LOTS of stuff to post about so I figured I'd do two posts this week to make up for my lackluster posting as of late. First and foremost, I'm posting some pictures from Griffin's baby blessing last week. He was looking oh-so-dapper in his white tuxedo.

A special thanks goes out to Grandma Griffin for altering the outfit so that it fit, because before she fixed it it looked like the poor kid was wearing a pillow case.

Griffin got in several naps while family was here. These two pictures showcase his napping...and Rachael's and Grandpa Griffin's as well.

And I can't resist one more picture. Man, this kid is adorable!

Baby Mullets and Other Nonsense

I'm trying to post at least once a week. And of course now that I've said that, if I miss a week I'll have guilt heaped upon me by Griffin's clamoring public. Anyway, over the last week or so I've had several moments where I was unfortunately forced to ask the question, "Are we really this silly?" Listed below are the events that inspired such deep introspection.


1. In the picture below, Griffin sits in a 'Boppy' pillow. For those of you who haven't seen one before, they are fantastic and a must-have baby item as far as I'm concerned. The tag on this pillow (a pillow designed for use while nursing or for baby to sit in) reads: "Care should be exercised near open flame or with burning cigarettes."
Really? We really needed that warning printed on a baby pillow? In my opinion a more apt warning would have been:

HEY STUPID, DON'T SMOKE NEAR YOUR INFANT!
ALSO DON'T LET YOUR BABY PLAY WITH FIRE!

But maybe that's just me

2. A kind and wonderful person gave us a Christmas gift for Griffin that included baby socks. We love the person who gave us these socks. They are cute socks that will keep his toes warm. We will use them and love them. However, I see no need for the non-skid feature so predominantly advertised. I mean, I know that my child is a prodigy, but let's get serious here. I don't know of a single 0-6 month old who needs better traction on the soles of their feet.

3. Griffin was born with lots of hair. I love his hair and have a lot of fun with it. Recently however, I've noticed that the hair on the back of his head is growing a little long-ish while the hair on the top of his head is shedding slightly. The unfortunate result...Griffin now sports a baby mullet. I'm going to have to trim up the back before too long or he'll start looking skeezy and listening to 80's punk rock.

4. The caring and concerned new father that he is, Landon signed Griffin up for dental insurance. I'm not exactly sure what a dentist might have to do in a baby's mouth, but I suppose it's nice to know that we're covered if Griffin happens to get an impacted molar.

5. And lastly, the other day as I was listening to the radio, the local radio personality woman was congratulating her guest on being the "valid Victorian" of her high school. I know that a valedictorian is the person who graduates at the top of their class. But I imagine the Valid Victorian can only be the person who dresses in authentic Victorian-period clothing. There may be a new trend afoot.