Going Outside to Play (or work)

Spring has finally come to Pennsylvania. Mom and Dad say winter took forever this year, so they are very excited about finally spending time outside. They wanted to do things right this year. Mom says that last year they didn't spend enough time preparing The Yard so they didn't spend much time in The Yard. After the last two weeks I see why they didn't properly prepare the out of doors - it took a lot of work. Luckily this year they set aside enough time to get it right, because I think Mom will really enjoy relaxing in this bright, warm place this year.

The first step in setting up The Yard was to clean. There were things called 'leaves' and 'weeds' and 'rocks' and 'sticks' all over The Yard and The Walk. Mom and Dad had to use rakes and brooms and bags and a loud thing called a blower to clean all this stuff away. Even that didn't work, however, because some of these things were actually alive. I guess that's why it is always good to keep things continually clean - so they don't come to life and stick around for good. Luckily you can hire a weed killer at the store. After Dad had all the weeds killed, Mom bought some more living things to put along The Walk to take their place. She called them flowers and said they were pretty. I guess the way you determine whether the living things should live or be killed is whether or not they are pretty and in the way. Dad said nature is great as long as it stays where we want it.

The next step was to plant grass in The Yard. Up to this point, there was a lot of dirt where the grass should be. Mom and Dad wanted to change that this year, so they bought bags of baby grass and spread them all over. Then they watered the ground hoping the seeds of grass would grow. Dad kept saying, "C'mon grass - grow!" It must have been able to hear him because today Mom and Dad talked about how it was great to finally see some grass where it had only been dirt for so long. Dad said the grass must have liked all the thunderstorms lately. Every time a thunderstorm comes to town, Mom and Dad go outside and listen to it for a while. I don't know why they go outside - you can hear it just fine from inside. The thunderstorms are really loud! They kind of sound like when Dad breaks big sticks, but much louder and with the constant roar of big sprinklers called rain. Mom and Dad say that they used to see this all the time in Oklahoma but never before in Pennsylvania. He got a video of one of the thunderstorms and tried to put it on the blog but ran into problems - maybe he'll get it to post later. In the video (if Dad can ever get it on the page) you can hear Eddy The Dog. Eddy gets really mad at thunderstorms and tries to chase them away by barking.

After working on The Lawn, Mom and Dad started working on the fire pit and movie areas. The fire pit area is where Mom and Dad like to relax at night. When Dad turns on the fire it gets really warm. To keep it warm, Mom and Dad have to keep feeding the fire. Luckily the fire eats dead sticks. During the daytime, Dad uses a chain to saw dead sticks into small pieces. Then at night, he feeds these to the fire. The more sticks the fire eats, the hotter it gets. This warmth can then be used to keep the dark from getting too cold and even to make food taste better. Just last night, while Jay and Hallie watched a movie outside with Mom and Dad, Dad and Jay used the fire to turn a marshmallow into a smore, which Dad said was delicious. The last time Mom put a marshmallow in the fire it just turned into a burned marshmallow. Dad and Jay must have some special fire skills not everyone has. Anyway, the fire pit area was one of the most difficult to prepare because it needed a lot of rocks, which Dad said can get very heavy, especially when carrying bags of them up a lot of stairs. After Dad poured 10 bags of rocks into the fire pit area, he was satisfied and tired, and he worked on the movie part. During the winter, the movie screen had ripped, and Dad needed to repair it. Compared to the rocks, Dad said this was very easy. Finally, to complete this area, Mom and Dad put new lights in the trees to make it prettier at night. Now that the fire pit and movie areas were complete, Mom and Dad could watch movies outside. Their first movie night was a Star Trek movie because Dad was still excited about the new movie they had seen at the IMAX theater the week before. Dad included a short video clip of them watching Captain Pick-hard give the order to engage the Borg.

Now that The Yard was useful again, Mom wanted to make it prettier. The way things look seems to be as important to the relaxation process as the way things feel. Warm is good, but warm and pretty is better. If it is warm, pretty, and sounds nice, it is the best of all. Mom and Dad thought a good solution would be to add a water feature. At first I thought they must have been talking about something similar to a baptism, but then Dad started talking about rocks again. They talked a lot about different plans, and when Dad finally decided what he wanted to do he got really excited about using some of his power tools to create something nice. After they finally got all the materials, he realized he only needed to use one tool, something called a jig saw, but he was still excited about it. He also found a place that had some rocks he really liked, and he spent another afternoon bringing rocks up the stairs. This time, even though he was tired, he did not stop working until the feature was done. Now when they turn it on there is a peaceful sound of water spilled over rocks. For a finishing touch, Mom put something called Irish Moss in the ground near the rocks. She also put some plants around the lighted trees, and Dad hung some plaques on the railroad tie wall to make the area as pleasing as possible. Even Eddy The Dog enjoys the area now, as he likes to sleep there while Mom and Dad read and listen to music. Mom and Dad were finally happy with their out of doors area. They now have a nice place they can relax day and night. I think Dad likes it at night most because of the fire pit and movies and Mom likes it during the day because of the sun, the warmth, and the peaceful sounds. Dad even bought her a reclining out of doors chair so she could be as comfortable as possible. She likes to take naps there and in the hammock (which is like a swinging bed). Even the caterpillars like this out of doors area, as Mom and Dad say they are everywhere. At one point Dad said the caterpillars must like tools because every time he grabs one of his tools there's a caterpillar on it. The caterpillars also like walking in circles - they saw one walk around the same flower pot 7 times in a row. Dad found a life lesson in this: it is good to be busy, but only if there is a point to it. Don't be like the caterpillar and waste a whole morning's energy just to wind up where you started. I think Dad has been reading too much Buddha lately.

Their final project was to clean out the back room of the house. This is the passageway from the kitchen to the fire pit area, so they wanted to be able to walk through without having to step over a bunch of stuff. They took everything out of the room and sorted the stuff-to-keep from the stuff-to-trash. Amazingly the stuff-to-trash pile was bigger, and when trash day came Dad got another big workout by carrying it all down the stairs. It took Dad 8 trips up and down the stairs in order to clear it all out. Eddy The Dog tried to help, but Dad said Eddy doesn't have opposite-able thumbs, so all he could do was stand guard at the top of the stairs and make sure no squirrels got in Dad's way. Once all the junk was cleared out of the room, the organization project began. Mom and Dad got pegboard for most of the walls, and Dad got to use another one of his tools to cut it to the right size. Then they put shelves in the room, and for the very first time Dad was able to put all his tools in one easy-to-get-to place. Now Dad's excited about any other projects that come along because he has a tool room and Mom's excited that Dad's excited about projects. She's kind of sad, however, because most of the stuff they have to work on next is inside the house, rather than out of doors. Now that they are starting to grow grass and finally have The Yard more complete than ever, however, they plan on trying to spend as much time as possible out of doors in the months to come. Mom said next winter may be the hardest winter ever. If that's the case, I'm glad I'll at least get to experience a little summer with Mom and Dad before-hand. With all this work complete, Mom and Dad have been able to enjoy a relaxing Memory All Day. They were able to reflect on all the memories of past summers out of doors when The Yard was not anywhere close to as nice as now. They were also able to rememory all the work it took to get to this point and said that's what makes this day so relaxing, that it is a much-deserved day of rest. I can't wait to someday sit with them in the out of doors and rememory all the summers enjoyed together. But mostly I just can't wait to get borned period so I can finally see Mom and Dad. I still have a lot of growing up to do, though, so until then I'll just keep reporting what I know about the world at this point.

My next blog entry might not be for a couple weeks. Next week Dad will be with RichMan all week, so Mom and I should have a pretty quiet few days together. The week after that we will all go on another outing that Mom and Dad have been excited about for a while. We'll go to Camden, New Jersey to hear Nine Inch Nails play. This weekend Dad also set it up for us to meet the band while we're there, so hopefully I'll also have pictures on my next blog of Mom and Dad with Trent Reznor and Robin Finck. Trent Reznor has actually been on Mom's list of people she'd like to meet for a long time, so she's really excited about this outing. Trent Reznor worked it with the concert people so that fans can bring video cameras to the show, which I guess you can't normally do. So there might also be some good video footage on my next blog entry. Until then, you know where to find me.

See you in August,
A. Dunham

Oklahoma!

Last week Mom, Dad, and I went to Mom's home town Okarche, Oklahoma for Aunt Dianna's wedding, Aunt Vanessa's graduation (she's now a pharmacist - nerdy drug dealer), and cousin Garrett's baptism. It was quite a busy week, so I'm devoting a whole blog entry to the trip. Mom and I left last Tuesday. We got on an airplane (which seems to be a very smooth and fast car that holds many people, none of whom seem to be actually driving) and left Dad alone in Pennsylvania. Mom prepared Dad's stuff ahead of time so he would be able to make it through the week by himself. He always talks about things he takes care of at work, but I think it must take a lot out of him because Mom takes care of many things at home. She takes care of so many things that sometimes Dad can't even keep track of them all (I think that's why Mom has to repeat things to him sometimes - he says he's always just very focused on the task at hand).

We arrived in Oklahoma City that evening (I wonder why I've never heard Mom and Dad talk about Pennsylvania City) and went to eat at a restaurant. They say Mexican food is good in Oklahama, but with it being Sinko da Myo (which has something to do with Mexico - maybe the Mexican Sink or something) we thought the Mexican restaurants would be too busy. We wanted food, not crowds.

Wednesday was mostly devoted to decorations. There was something called a centerpiece that was very important. There must have been a lot of centers because there were a lot of centerpieces, and they took a long time to prepare. When all was said and done, everyone thought they were very pretty. Mom is pretty good at designing interiors, and she gets to use this knowledge to help out with these wedding things. I can't wait to see what she does with my room.

Thursday night we got to go to Aunt Dianna's bachelorette party. It has something to do with the wedding. I think the wedding is all about two people being together, and a bachelorette party is all about a girl being by herself. Part of it has to do with getting gifts to entice her husband, but I'm not sure I quite understand that part because I think he has already agreed to marry her. Anyway, there was lots of talking and celebrating, and I took a nap.

Dad finally got to Oklahoma on Friday. We were at the rehearsal dinner politely waiting for Dad to arrive before we ate, but he took a long time to get there. When he finally arrived Mom was hungry and annoyed because her brothers had taken a scenic route from the airport. Apparently when you take a scenic route in Oklahoma it makes you thirsty because they had to also pick up something to drink called "gold-tops" on the way. Once everybody started eating, however, everyone was happy again, and Mom and Dad got to talk about how much they missed each other over the week and how their day had gone. After that they finished preparing the hall for Saturday's wedding. Until it actually took place I thought that a wedding must be something like a play, because everyone seemed to be very concerned with decorating, preparing costumes, and doing make-up all in one big room. It turns out that a wedding is only like a play when you're in the church. After that it is more like a big party. Perhaps everyone is so nervous about getting the church part right that they have to celebrate a lot when they get it right.

A lot of the time that wasn't spent preparing for the wedding was spent playing with Cousin Maddie. Because Mom doesn't get to see Maddie very often, she likes to spend as much time as possible with her when she's in Okarche. She tries to teach her new things and get her to repeat all the things she knows as much as possible. I paid close attention because I figured she would do the same for me when I start talking. Hopefully I'll be as good at learning new things as Cousin Maddie. Maddie learned that Dad's name was Erik and that his hair goes 'boing!'. She even learned to say my name, but she didn't know where I was when she said it. There are pictures of Maddie attached to the blog. One of the pictures she even took herself when Mom and Dad were showing her how to use the camera (the picture she took of Dad is also attached). There is also a picture of Uncle Mig holding Cousin Maddie who is holding Cousin Garrett (she likes to hold babies and kiss them on the head - Dad says that makes her a natural-born politician, but I don't know what that means). Finally, there's a picture of Mom giving Cousin Maddie a bath in the sink.

On Saturday Dad slept late. He had been tired from such a long day the day before. Mom and I let him relax at the house (and check up on the Nine Inch Nails tour which had begun the night before - once he opened up the Internet Box the Nine Inch Nails tour was all he talked about). We went back to the Hall to make more preparations for the wedding. Mom thought things were under control, but apparently weddings are harder to control than people think. Dad didn't really have a lot to do to prepare for the wedding, but he was very interested in how Mom's brothers were doing on the float decorations. As I found out later that night, a float was a ride for the wedding actors where they got the party started. It involves a lot of honking, cheering, and talking. It also makes everyone so thirsty they have to constantly pass drinks around. Here's a picture of the float being prepared:

The wedding was that night, and Mom was one of the bride's maids. Everyone said she was really pretty, like a princess. They said that I make her glow. I can't wait to see the pictures someday so I can see what Mom looks like when she is glowing. Her sister Aunt Dianna was also glowing, but in a different way. They said that she was glowing with happiness, as she was now going to be married to Uncle Brenden. There are pictures from the church part of the wedding below:

After the church part, everyone goes outside and watches the wedding party get on the float. When Mom and Dad tried telling people in Pennsylvania about the float they encountered a lot of bewilderment and amazement. People didn't understand how the town allowed a party on wheels to clog up the highway on a Saturday evening. In order to help explain things, Dad got lots of pictures of the float, as well as some video (attached at the bottom of the blog):

After the float shenanigans came the reception. It should just be called party. It was a big party with lots of people and music and food and cake. Everybody was excited about Aunt Dianna and Uncle Brenden doing a good job earlier in the church. Also, everyone got to talk to people they hadn't seen in a long time. Dad got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Dunham and Great Aunt Sandy, and Mom got to hang out with Jayme and Brian and Shanna (who I'll see at her wedding the month after I'm born). Here's some reception pictures:

Mom and Dad have some crazy friends. They stayed and partied late into the night. I had time to take several naps throughout the party. Then they even cleaned the whole place up at the end of the night.

The next morning we got up early and ate some breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Dunham and Great Aunt Sandy. It was mother's day, so the ladies got flowers. Grandpa brought pictures of his dad from his military days. Grandpa's dad enlisted in the Navy a month after the Harbor of Pearls, and Grandpa said he looked a lot like Dad around his age. Grandpa Dunham knows a lot about our family history and has traced us back to the days of the Pilgrims (depending on what Dad calls 'the Singletary Mystery') and also found how we are related to President Obama. Dad and Grandpa spent the last part of breakfast talking about engineering stuff, and I fell asleep.

Mom and Dad said good-bye to Dad's parents, and then we all went to church. The church is an important part of Mom's family, as we always spend a lot of time there when we go back to Okarche. Grandma Vogt even plays the organ there. After going to church, we came home and ate a bunch of wedding food, while Aunt Dianna and Uncle Brenden opened presents. They must have done really well in church because they got a lot of presents. Then we went back to church again for Garrett's baptism. This wasn't a party like the wedding. Instead it was pretty quiet. I'm not sure what this one was about, but it must have involved water because Maddie kept saying, "Garrett - water!". Because the baptism was a quiet event, though, Uncle Mig eventually had to take her to the back of the church. She was really excited about Garrett and water. Here are some pictures:

The next day we had to fly back to Pennsylvania. Since we had some time, though, we all drove out to Uncle Mig and Aunt Terri's new house in the country. It was very quiet out there, and Dad said his friends in Pennsylvania would be amazed at the view out there - flat horizons through all 360 degrees. Here are a couple pictures of Oklahoma pastureland, where the wind comes right behind the rain:

We spent the rest of the day traveling home. We got home later than we originally thought we would because one of our planes had a bio hazard on it, and we had to wait for them to give us a different airplane. Mom and Dad were actually just grateful that they didn't have to sit next to a bio hazard. Another outing, another adventure. I got to learn a lot about weddings and floats and cake and baptisms. Actually, I didn't really learn much about baptisms. But I did learn a valuable life lesson: sometimes your flight is delayed, and it may make you upset, but at least you aren't going to sit next to a bio hazard - so things all seem to work out in the end.

I'll leave you with a video from the float.

See you in August,
A. Dunham

Our Latest Outing

I guess the word outing is strange for someone who never leaves the cramped quarters of the womb, but I can still tell when we are in a different environment than home. Home is usually pretty quiet. Mom will sometimes put on some music while working around the house (and her music is often prettier than the louder stuff Dad likes) or drive around to various real estate appointments, grocery stores, or shopping areas. The loudest thing at home is usually Eddy The Dog who barks instead of talking. Dad attached a picture of him to this blog. Whenever there is a loud noise outside, Eddy The Dog barks furiously in order to drown out the noise. He also seems to either predict the future or control people with his barking because sometimes people show up in our house right after he barks a lot. When we go on an outing, however, things can get pretty loud. My first big outing was while we were in Oklahoma over Christmas, but I was too young then to even recognize things such as sound or light. I mostly know about it because I've heard Mom and Dad talk about it a lot since. We spent some time in Okarche with Mom's family where Mom and Dad spent a lot of time playing a game called Pass the Pigs. I can't wait to play it with them someday. They also spent a lot of time trying to get Cousin Maddie to dance, which actually got pretty loud at times. Then we spent some time in Ponca City with Dad's family where Dad brewed beer with Grandpa and Uncle Greg (and Cousin Lily, but I don't think she helped much), while Mom and I shopped with Grandma and Aunt Karen. They played a lot of games there, and I got to experience my first Oklahoma thunderstorm, which they say was pretty loud. We then went to Tulsa where I had to be kept a secret because I was still too young for everyone to learn about me (I was around 6 weeks old at the time). Mom and Dad watched an Oklahoma State football game with a lot of their friends from school they hadn't seen in a long time, but I have heard that the game didn't go too well. I still look forward to watching some Oklahoma State games someday, no matter how the team plays. We spent New Year's Eve in a land called Bricktown where we heard a loud country band called No Justice followed by a crazy band called The Flaming Lips. Mom says she was once on stage with the Flaming Lips, but I don't think it was at this show. Then we finished the trip back in Okarche where Aunt Vanessa also had a baby in her belly. I'm going to have a lot of cousins to play with someday.

Our next big outing was to hear a band called Frightened Rabbit in a little shop in Philadelphia with Mom and Dad's friends Jason and Hallie. This show wasn't very loud, but the people there sometimes got loud. Mom was now telling people about me, and everyone was very excited when they were told. The guy selling tee-shirts for the band was so excited that he gave Mom an extra tee-shirt she could wear when I got bigger (which would make her bigger). Mom and Dad got to meet the band at this show, and Dad talked to them about what they thought about the United States with Obama as president. They had funny voices because they were from the Scott Land.

The next month was probably our loudest outing. Mom and Dad took me to hear the Ting Tings perform in Philadelphia. The band that played before them was called Hottub. They were three very loud and crazy girls that sang a song about a manbitch making someone a sandwhich. I don't really know what all that means but Mom and Dad and Jason and Hallie think it is funny and say it a lot. The Ting Tings also had funny voices, but in a different way than Frightened Rabbit. Mom and Dad said they were from England. I think Uncle Kenny might also be from England, but his voice doesn't sound funny like the Ting Tings.

Also in March Mom and Dad took me to Vegas to meet up with more of their friends from school. They decided to stay at the Mandalay Bay so Mom could enjoy some warm outdoor weather. The winter is very long in Pennsylvania, and Mom wanted to bask in the sun. We spent an entire day at the hotel pool with our own private cabana complete with a dedicated waitstaff. They say you can live like a king in Vegas, but I think Mom felt more like a Princess. She and Dad even got massages at the Luxor spa (Mom got a special kind of massage because of me, and I think she really liked it). Dad said he talked politics with the Asian woman giving his massage and thought it was funny everytime she pronounced Obama like Omaha, Nebraska. He said that Omaha, Nebraska is already making some important changes that have even affected Las Vegas. This Omaha must be pretty impressive. Mom played some games with Jack Black, but said she wasn't as lucky with Jack Black as she had been in the past (one time Jack Black won her $600, which Mom and Dad used for watching movies outside). Dad played with crap and was very lucky. He got over $400 from crap, and his friend Kyle won over $200 from one of the tables of crap. His friend Chad found a lucky table of crap that gave him around $700. I don't know what this crap is, but it sounds pretty exciting. Mom and Dad also got to see the fountains at Bellagio for the first time on this trip. They'd been to Vegas before but for some reason just never made it to Bellagio. It sounded like the show was pretty impressive, but I guess it's one of those things you have to see to appreciate because I definitely did not appreciate the music of the first show (a country song about 'this kiss', not really something that makes me think of beautiful fountains, whatever they are). The other highlight of the trip was something called Fwa Gwa. I don't know what that is, but Dad and his friend Jared laughed about it the entire trip. Must be pretty entertaining.

The next week Mom took me on another outing to Oklahoma to meet my new cousin Garrett (the last time we met he was in Aunt Vanessa's belly, just like me). Vegas made Mom excited about warm weather again, but when we got to Oklahoma there was an ice storm. This made Mom upset because she thought it was supposed to be warm. Unfortunately it never got warm the whole time we were there. Luckily for me Mom is warm, so I'm always pretty warm. For her to stay warm she needs things called heaters and coats. She didn't want to use heaters and coats. She wanted to wear flip-flops. This same week Dad told her that Pennsylvania was having some warm weather and he was able to wear flip-flops. Mom wasn't too happy about what she called the irony. Aside from seeing Garrett we also went to a party for Aunt Dianna and future Uncle Brenden. It had something to do with them being together someday, but they were already together at the party, so I don't quite understand what the party was about. Everyone was happy, though, including Mom (even though she still wasn't warm). A picture of her with Cousin Maddie and Cousin Garrett is attached.

The next outings didn't come until April when Mom and Dad both celebrated their birthdays. Mom turned 27 and Dad turned 30. For part of Mom's birthday we went to the basement of a church in Philadelphia and heard Ice Palace, the Cloud Cult, and Margot & The Nuclear So and So's perform. This was a pretty loud place, and Mom had to sit down in the hallway for a while because I make it hard for her to stand in one place for too long. I liked the music of this show because it was pretty. Mom and Dad got to meet some of the Nuclear So and So's, and they signed some records for Mom and Dad's collection. Dad buys a lot of records and has two turntables so he can play two records at the same time. He practices mixing them together to create new songs, and he says that after I am born he'll take me to a Halloween party where he will mix his records in front of people as DJ Hazbro. There's a picture of his mixing station attached. I can't wait to see what these records look like. I hope they look as pretty as they sound. When Mom and Dad are driving somewhere they put the records into something called an iPod, but the music sounds better when the records are in the turntables. Turntables must be the newest technology because not everybody has them. Jay and Hallie just got their first one in April and are excited about how good their music sounds now. I hope that when I am older everyone has turntables so music will sound good everywhere.

For Dad's birthday we didn't go to a show, but we did go to the Grey Stone. It is a place where people talk so much they get very thirsty. They have to keep getting drinks all night long so they can talk more and more and louder and louder. Mom must have had at least 5 glasses of water, and Dad had a new type of drink called Corvosee Yay. It must be a fun drink to be called Yay. He also had beer, but I don't think it was the same beer he made with Grandpa and Uncle Greg. This one was called Ying Ling, so I think it comes from China.

The next week, however, we did have another outing in Philadelphia. We heard a band called Travis, although I don't think anyone in the band is actually named Travis. This band was also from the Scott Land, but their voices only sounded funny when they talked. They also had really pretty music, and it wasn't too loud because we were in the balcony where Mom got to sit down and Dad got to enjoy something called Newcastle Brown. That night we stayed in one of the King of Prussia's hotels, and the next morning Mom and Dad shopped in his mall. The King of Prussia must be an extraordinary man to be able to provide such accommodations. Mom actually got to pick out the camera that day that will be taking all the pictures for my blog. I can't wait to see the pictures someday. Mom and Dad really seemed to like how the camera made them look. Later that day Dad got to eat one of his favorite sandwiches called Pastrami and got to visit a whole store filled with records. While Dad was looking at records, Mom read a book outside next to a crazy woman who was talking to invisible people. The lady kept shouting bad words when people didn't give her change. Mom's book was about meditation, but I don't think it was working too well because the lady was yelling the whole time. That night we heard more bands from the Scott Land. I want to visit this place someday, as it must be filled with beautiful music all the time. The bands were called the Twilight Sad and Mogwai. The Twilight Sad had the Scott Land sound in their voice even while singing, and Mogwai didn't ever sing at all. They just played loud and powerful music. If I had ever been able to see anything but soft glowing light and darkness I probably would have had lots of pretty images in my mind because of it. Instead I just tried to remember the prettiest color glow I'd seen so far. Someday I will recognize this as a shade of purple.

This brings me to our last outing. Friday night we went back to the church in Philadelphia where we heard the Cloud Cult. This time we were in the sanctuary instead of the basement. Mom liked this because she was able to sit down on the pew during the show if she got tired of standing. Dad liked this because he thought it was fun to drink Ying Ling in a church sanctuary and he thought the sanctuary was a beautiful place to see the band perform. The band was Bat for Lashes, but I'm still confused about whether that is the band's name or just another name for the lead singer, a girl named Natasha. She has a very pretty voice, and I think it would be wonderful to be able to sing like that someday. First I'll have to figure out how to use my mouth to make sound. I don't understand how people do it. Jay and Hallie went to this show, as well, as they were the ones who actually introduced Mom and Dad to Bat for Lashes. At the end of the show they all waited around for a while so they could meet Natasha and get her to sign their records. Dad got a picture of Mom and Jay with Natasha that is attached to this blog. There's also a few other pictures of the sanctuary, the show, and Jay and Hallie enjoying some Ying Ling in their pew and a video of Bat for Lashes performing Glass near the beginning of the show.

The next day Dad got up very early to spend the day playing paintball. Mom took the opportunity to catch up on some rest, as she has found it hard to get good sleep lately. I think I might be partially responsible, but I'm glad she was able to find some rest, as it makes me feel better too. Then after Dad got home and rested some (he said he was sore in muscles he didn't even know he had - I guess even after you are born you are continually learning new things about yourself) we went to visit Mom and Dad's friends Bryn, Tamara, and Matt. They must live at a place like the Grey Stone, because everyone there also talked so much they had to keep getting drinks. We all went outside at one point and lit a fire. I don't know what this is, but I know that it was warm and had a pretty glow. Dad took a couple pictures of this, too, as he is excited about playing with the new camera and likes to test out the different modes with different lighting conditions. There is one picture of Dad attached that shows how tired he was after a Bat for Lashes show, 3 hours of sleep, a day of paintball warfare, and an evening at Bryn and Tamara's. Mom said he also took some funny pictures of her burning marshmallows, which are also attached. I can't wait to see those someday.

So that pretty much sums up all our major outings so far. I like when we go on these little trips, but I also really like the quiet restful times at home, especially when Mom puts on her music and gets good rest. Mom and Dad say they will be going back to Oklahoma again this week for Aunt Dianna's wedding (part of the 'being together with future Uncle Brenden' party where I think he officially becomes Uncle Brenden), so I'll probably have another good outing to write about next week.

See you around the end of August,
A. Dunham