Thats what I'm talking 'bout!!!!!

Here is how she looks sitting at her new home.  Much better that in our back yard i must admit.  What a crazy 2 years and 9 months it has been.  Thanks everybody for your help.  All totaled it took about 2,000 hours of work we figured and much of that was from friends.  Still no cost figure yet.  Maybe we will just forget that little detail.  Here are some more pics of the launch day as well as some before and after shots.

My friend Jens loaned me the really cool captains hat.  Notice how nervous I look.  I am actually that tense at that very moment. 

Sorry by the way that it has taken super long to fill you all in on the launch.  You would think that i would be eager to write about such a huge milestone in our lives.  I guess i have been having too much fun with the boat now in the water that there is no extra time to write. 

mushroom mele

yes...in fact, a small portion of tonight WAS spent in the ER, trying to get this girl to drink liquid active charcoal mixed with apple juice!!  

Tatum decided to snack on some of the wild growing mushrooms found amongst the weeds in our garden, and much to our dismay, everyone (including the pediatrician and poison control) thought it worthy of a trip to the ER.   Unfortunately, St. Joes isn't employing any resident mycologists these days, so we all felt it safest to have her drink the yummy charcoal cocktail, in hopes that it absorbs any toxins/poisons the unidentified mushrooms could have had.  

You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but she's feeling fine, even quite chipper, from the  events of the evening.  I think we got anything harmful before it got her.  Thank God.  

 

tatie likes to eat!

yes...this girl just can't get enough.  some of her faves include avocado, beans and rice, sweet potato, cheese and pears. 

  she sometimes enjoys getting them in her mouth too.

the mother of all days

i'm finally ready to share with the rest of the world our most spectacular Mother's Day.  adam surprised me by loading us all up into the car and heading up north to the secret spot on the coast where we got engaged 5 1/2 years ago.  he had the gumption to go shopping!! and prepare a delicious spread of all the goodies you want to buy, but never can justify it (pesto cream cheese and baguette, fancy olives, panda licorice, dark chocolate, ginger beer, yummy co-op delicatessens...you name it...).  

it was an amazing day. a reminder of what life is like for us when we 

simplify and get away from everything else. 

 and we REALLY like it! 

for the hike back out (through the crazy over-grown jungle of a "trail") we figured it would be too much to carry rowan in our arms (like we did on the way down), so we put her IN the backpack, on top of all the food.  

super funny!

  

Launch Date

I know it sounds crazy, but we are going to finally try and launch the boat on June 20th or the 28th.  There is still tons to be done but we started painting last night.  The paint makes the boat look really cool and it finally feels like it is nearing completion.  Here are a few pics. Dustin has also been working on the joinery in the cabin but i don't have any pics of that yet.  More to come.

Political Incorrectness

We were doing a little home school lesson tonight with our friends from Africa.  Rowan was coloring a map of the countries that we have all visited or lived  in.  When we got to Morocco, Rowan said "oh, like Morocco-bama."

top 5

One of my top 5 experiences came to me this Christmas (and I'm just NOW blogging about this, you ask??  you know...this is how we roll..."back-n-front", remember?)

I couldn't necessarily tell you what the other top four are, but this is right up there with weddings and births.

Anyways, it was Christmas Eve Day (in Kansas City) and I awoke to find a quiet house.  Where was everyone??  I looked outside and realized we had a fresh, fluffy layer of Christmas snow!  Perfect!  But to top that off, I saw the very thing any mother and wife could only hope to see at Christmas time (aside from a hot breakfast waiting for her on the pillow next to her in bed). 

There, down the street a ways, was dear Adam, all bundled up and pulling sweet Rowan in a hand-built Mcguyvered sled he had made that morning.  

He had cleverly pieced together a laundry basket, a couple of random pieces of wood, and a rope.  Beautiful!  I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas gift!  Absolutely melted my heart!  

Allow me to melt yours...