I'm not sure exactly what is going on here, but it's cute.

Fall!

We spent the weekend up at Sugarloaf with both Jon's folks and mine. We had a bunch of great food, some pub time, lots of reminiscing about the music of the 50s. The weather was fabulous and Bev and Harry joined us for the Oberg loop. We always remember it to be shorter than it is, but it was a perfect peak fall colors day and I don't think there were any regrets.

Proper Adults

In October 2007, we brought Murphy home from the humane society. He was absolutely insane. But, because we're equally mentally inept, we thought, "Meh, we'll return him for a HS store credit if he doesn't work out." You know, because anyone with any heart could possibly rescue a dog and then surrender it back to the pound. Murphy freaked the cats out. Bringing him home was probably an irresponsible move; we have so little space and the cats and the birds...but, a dog was on the pre-baby list along with our trip to Germany. Germany? Check. Dog? Check. The cats spent the better part of the next 2 months up in our bedroom in almost constant distress. In the end of December Loki went into renal failure. She had congenital defects in her kidneys not uncommon in cats, but we'll never know how long she would have been healthy if we hadn't brought that damned dog home. $2700 later, we put her to sleep on Christmas Eve.

So, because we are now proper adults- who incidentally have ZERO self control or sense when it comes to spending money on our animals-I just signed Murphy up for VPI health insurance. It reimburses routine expenses and has up to 14K a year in accident and illness coverage. I'll have to read the fine print, but for $37/month, I'll take it. If we spent $2700 on a cat (on a CREDIT CARD no less), who knows what we'd do for that goddamn dawg.

Going to California and leaving Mama with an aching in her heart...

Kai and Jon just returned from 5 days in CA visiting Jenn & Dave, Lang and baby Landon. Grandma and Grandpa Beck were there, too! We also get to see them later this month at Sugarloaf. Here is Lang taking a bath with Kai.


Jon captioned this one, "How far back to Minnesota is it, again?"
At the zoo.
I wish I could have joined them and it was tough to be away from Kai so long, but he was in good hands and didn't seem to suffer. He's been clingier than usual since he came back, but he's a pretty independent little guy.

Concessions

Jon is really great with Kai, more and more so as Kai is getting bigger and more comunicative. Jon (with minimal help from Kai) exercised his creative side here with some sidewalk chalk. He drew the Cozy Coupe, Kai in the wagon, and a hot air balloon. Next week we're going to get a sitter so we can finger paint. No babies choked on tiny chalk pieces during this sidewalk drawing session.

Patty, Mike, Addie and our family went to the Children's Museum. Free 3rd Sundays are chaotic, but just what the budget ordered. Kai was devastated when we had to part ways with the soapy watery tubey ping pong ball exhibit. He has temper tantrums now, you know.

Jon's moving to second shift at Western starting next week. I've taken a lot of pride in being a one car household for the last couple of years, but it is logistically impossible for Jon to work that shift and not have a vehicle. Buses don't run at 2a.m. when he'll be getting off of work, and a bike is only practical part of the year. PLUS, he's going to need all of the sleep he can get because two days a week he'll go to bed around 3a.m. and get up at 8 with Kai.

So, we decided on a few factors that were important to us. OK, two. Price and safety. Fuel economy wasn't a priority because it spiked the price and we'll be using the car about 100 miles a week. And safety, well, for 3k, this is a pretty freaking safe car. The problem? It's a FORD TAURUS. I'm certain that my 18 year old self would kick the living shit out of me if she ever knew I owned a Taurus that I SPENT MONEY ON.