Welcome to our adventures. I try as best as I can to document the happenings here in our family - everything from the shenanigans to the spiritual, from the kid to the kitchen, from the cat to the catastrophes. We believe that adventure can be found in everything we do...even in the mundane tasks of the day. When we set our minds on things above in gratitude to God, we find the strength to approach life with a sense of purpose & adventure. The adventure may not always be what we have planned...but isn't that what adventure is all about?

Other Stuff We Do

Friday, March 30, 2007


Abby is all about bats right now. She's learned about bats in alot of different places including school, the Oakland zoo and her "Animal Fieldtrip" program. Her knowledge is being conveyed right now in all of her pictures - she draws bats all the time now. Here is a picture (that she took w/ her camera) of a picture (that she drew). This is a typical bat picture - it represents the fruit bat structure at the Oakland zoo (two sort of tower things on either side, with the bat hanging off the net that is attached). The circle things coming from the bats mouth represents "echolocation" - this is how bats find their food (high pitched sounds that bounce off their prey and lets them know where they are). At the end of the "echolocation" is a mosquito that the bat will be eating. In this particular representation of the bat world, I'm not sure what that thing is on the left - although Abby said that it's the person taking care of the bats. I guess if you're going to take care of bats, this is what you have to look like.

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Tuesday, March 27, 2007


We have an old (emphasis on old) digital camera that Mike brought home from work a year or two ago (it was earmarked for the trash). Up until now, Abby used the camera to pretend to take pictures (and sometimes she pretends to take pictures without a camera). Last night, Mike decided to throw some batteries in it to see if it actually worked (maybe being able to use the small LCD screen would give Abby an extra special "pretend" feeling). Sure enough, it worked. The camera also just so happened to use an SD card for memory - and lucky for Abby, I happened to have an 8mg one in my junk drawer! The planets aligned and a shutterbug was born. After a minute or two of instruction, she was off snapping (and staging!) photos! We are amazed at her steady hand and ability to center her subjects. And it's also interesting to see what she finds photo-worthy. Oh, to be 4.



CLICK HERE TO SEE ABBY'S PHOTO ALBUM!
Monday, March 5, 2007

TapWater made their way up to the Bay Area on a mini west coast tour. We love our TapWater guys!! We got to see them twice (at the same place - Giodorno Bros in San Francisco) and had a great time. Abby danced her way into the hearts of most of the patrons there. Her and Auntie Anne cut some serious rug, man! The TapWater guys got to spend one of the nights here at Club Amaro in their motor home....Abby got to stay up VERY late that night. She had a tea party with Anne & Steve and played some card games. Stay tuned for some video footage of Abby dancing to the groovy tunes of TapWater...

As a result of a diaper-changing injury (!!) - Mom has been seeing Dr. Laura (the chiropractor, not the psychologist!). Abby went with me for the first time last week. Dr. Laura asked Abby to be her helper and had her do a few things. Today, I had to go again and asked Abby if she would like to go with me. Her response was, "I am going to be the "firepractors" helper!"
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Scene 1: Dad and Mom are laughing about something in front of Abby. Abby's response, "Hey, what are you guys peckle-ing about?" We determined that she was trying to say "chuckling".

Scene 2: The Saturday morning sleep in....Abby hops in bed w/ Mom and Dad and has some cuddle time. Abby says, "Lay it on me sistah".

Scene 3: After a 3 hour conference call about databases and the like, Mom hangs up the phone only to find Abby sitting at her laptop talking on her princess cell-phone. The conversation is this, "are you going to upload the database?.....yeah......yeah......yeah........FTP it."