Five years of fun

Actually it's been more like seven years, but yesterday, on our fifth anniversary, we spent some time looking back at all the experiences of our five years of married life and decided that it really has been a lot of fun.  We started this blog over three years ago (can you imagine?  Three years!  I mean, whatever did we write about before Calvin was born?  Ourselves?) and looking back through the site archives is a bit like perusing a family photo album.  It's true what they say about the road map of life, though;  just like a road map, which highlights only the most interesting stops, twists, and turns, the blog (and our photo albums, for that matter) shares mostly the amusing stops along our life route,  but not much of the road itself.  So what of the road?  Forty years from now, when we sit on our front porch rockers and reminisce about the good old days, will we remember only those recorded moments?  Or will we remember just as well sharing coffee over the newspaper on Saturday mornings, taking family walks to the mailbox in the evening, or taking turns washing the dishes while the other lords over bath, book, and bed time?  Really we already know the answer to this;  it is already hard to remember how we filled our time when we were just a family of two, the day to day of that era, gone only two years ago, has already slipped gradually from our memories.  But every once in a while something will remind us of late nights playing Trivial  Pursuit, or of luxurious weekends spent reading aloud by the pool at our old apartment.   Whether we remember them as vividly or not, really it's the every day, the small moments, that make up the meat of our lives, and we are going to make a conscious effort to enjoy, photograph, and record those moments as often as we do the more momentous occasions, so that we can remember what these days were all about.

We were behind, but now we're caught up.  Lots of new pictures in the July 2008 Album!

If you plant it, they will come

This beautiful black swallowtail visited our purple butterfly bush while I was watering the butterfly garden yesterday.  Somehow I feel rather triumphant about this.  Too bad Calvin was napping at the time...

Two year portraits

We got them taken on June 17, but just got the digital thumbs today.  These four are our favorites, but there were nine total shots, which you can see in the Two Year Portraits photo album.

 

A day behind

Happy Fathers' Day!

 

Yes, we know we are a day late, but what with the dance recital and spending an afternoon on house improvements (for the house  we have on the market), we christened today Fathers' Day Observed and spent the morning at our favorite zoo.    It has been a highly unusual year for us, the early part of the spring having been filled with the move, and this was actually our first 2008 Detroit Zoo trip.  We have become very attached to that zoo, having spent so much time there over the years, and feel, in some ways, like it is home for us, so it was a wonderful feeling to return and visit our animals.   It's a lot more fun, too, now that Calvin is older.  He knows the names of all the animals, even if he doesn't always get them right (no, the Guanaco is not a llama), and according to him they all have an accompanying sound (ever heard a kangaroo?  They apparently say "boing boing").  We were even fortunate enough to be visited by a  swimming polar bear while in the underwater tunnel, an occasion that left Calvin straddling the line between fear and curiosity.  He was brave enough, though, to reach up and touch that big, black polar bear foot, something not every two year old can lay claim to having done.  We should also give mention to the aardvark, who was not only awake, but busily digging holes wherever the ground was undisturbed.  He was Calvin's favorite sighting of the day, and likely ours, too, since we've never seen him do anything but sleep (a pastime we have come to respect more and more over the last two years).

Zoo pictures are in the June 2008, too album. 

More than just tulips.

Tulips are in full bloom everywhere that they've been planted that the squirrels haven't found.  Though the bulbs we planted at our old house never really did us the favor of growing buds, our new garden surprised us with several different kinds and colors of tulips this spring.  But if we can see tulips anywhere, then why do we have a tradition of driving two hours to the city of Holland, Michigan, to attend the annual tulip time festival?  Well, there is the fact that there are few places closer to us where one can find so many tulips in one place.  And part of the answer has to be the annual offer of a free place to stay right on beautiful Lake Michigan, which makes for a great mini vacation.  But to get to the heart of the matter, you'd have to know that Calvin is about as Dutch as a little (over half) Dutch Boy can be.  Heritage, genealogy, tradition - all of these things are very important to us, and the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan is more than just a celebration of those pretty flowers;  it is a celebration of the Dutch heritage that is still strong in the area.  On Monday we visited Dutch Village where we fed goats, tried on wooden shoes, watched a Klompen Dancing demonstration, then tried our own feat at it, and enjoyed a traditional Dutch meal.  Monday evening, after walking the beach, we spent in Centennial Park enjoying not only the beautiful flowers but also another Klompen Dancing performance, this one by high school dancers from the area who filled the streets surrounding the park.  Calvin loved the dancing, and we loved seeing so many young men and women involved in keeping this part of the heritage alive.  And today we spent in Windmill Island Park where we climbed to the top of and learned all about the country's oldest working authentic Dutch windmill, De Zwaan, tiptoed through rows and rows of beautiful tulips, ate another authentic Dutch meal, and listened to the street organ while playing on the wide lawns of a replica Dutch village.  The weather was fabulous, and the crowds low thanks to it being mid-week, all adding up to a great mini-vacation.  The only downside?  Our garden of tulips looked suddenly quite modest upon our return home.

A profusion of Tulip Time pictures can be found in that album.