Four Generations

(More on our trip later, but we just got the CD of images from my folks,
so I thought I'd pass this one along.)

'little Mark' has graduated

from high school!

While the graduation ceremony went as expected, with appropriate speeches by the valedictorian and salutatorian, Kyle and I found the closing speech (we still haven't figured out what the significance of the graduate giving it was) quite appropriate as well. Though, by the looks of those around us, not everyone appreciated this young man's words. It sounded like he basically googled the current economy, and was spouting off all of these horrible numbers & statistics - largest debt, huge trade deficit, number of foreclosures, first time graduates are expected to have a lower standard of living than those before them, etc, etc. One would think he would end by saying something along the lines of 'only can get better from here' but he pretty much left that off. All I can say is: those kids are lucky to be going on to college. Hopefully by the time they're out this bump will be over.

In any case, congrats to Mark, and good luck to him next year at college!

My future is so bright, I gotta wear shades

For some (inexpensive) variety this summer, we're going to attempt to visit different Austin parks on the weekends. This past weekend we tried out the new Lake Park at Mueller. Not much shade factor, as all of the trees are still saplings, but they've got some awesome playground equipment.

We're looking forward to trying
more of it out in a couple of years.

And for the outing, we of course had to get Zoe her first pair of shades.
Isn't she just so stylish?

If you squint your eyes, you can sort of pretend
the plant in the background is hair...

Bananas and Brown Rice

Zoe's been branching out on her food choices lately. Yesterday was bananas and brown rice. Which sounds absolutely disgusting to me, especially since I'm not the banana fan. BUT - it's delicious! I figured out why, though - cinnamon. I think cinnamon is my all-time favorite spice. You can add it to a lot of stuff to make it taste better. And cinnamon and chocolate? Total melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

Also, we've discovered what most parents discover, I think. The best toys are the cheap ones. As in, the not-meant-to-be-a-toy ones. She can spend 20 minutes (that's an eternity in baby-time) just going back and forth between this stool (started as nursing foot stool, on to baby play-thing/chair, then it'll be a bathroom step-stool - when in a small house, you've got to get miles out of these things! turn it upside down and it even holds other toys) and that box of diapers. Add in a plastic drinking cup or a wooden spoon and she's further enthralled.

As you can see, though I was trying to capture that simple play-time in this video, Zoe was intent on capturing the camera.

Meanwhile, on top of the box you can see a purple rattle thing - that is courtesy of my new favorite parent-support place, Family Connections (yes, they sanitize them, just like at daycare). Valerie clued me in to this one. We just don't have the space for all these books and toys, nor does it make sense to buy them, especially when there is a non-profit which lets you check out all sorts of stuff for free only five minutes from our house! The library card is a $5 donation! They even seemed shocked when I was ready to pay it. The collection of toys, books, audios, puppets, etc etc is wonderful. They have free story time and parenting classes. What an amazing resource. So, do they have these in other towns, or is it just cause we live in Austin, all hippie-like? And it's not like this place is dead - it was packed when I went there. We even ran into someone else we knew.

Finally, I've got to share this Onion article which Kyle forwarded to me. Yes, I like living in Austin. More and more I think it's the only place in Texas for me.

Practicing standing

This was last week. It's amazing what a difference a week can make, as pulling up is totally old hat to her now.

And yes, my voice is still hoarse. It now sounds better than it did in this video, but still not totally there. I can't sing along in the car to the radio. And while that makes Kyle happy, some evenings on the way home from work, it sure would be nice to be able to do so.