An update

Because I've been slack about posting lately, we have lots to report. Let's start with the most interesting news about the kids: They're starting to fight. Or, to be more accurate, Margaret is starting to fight with Teddy while he happily and cluelessly goes about his business. Unfortunately, his happy-go-lucky attitude sometimes brings him into conflict with his sister. For example, watch what happens when Margaret repeatedly decides to put a Lego box on her head...



Papa could just sit and laugh while snapping photos. At other times, however, it's not all fun and games. Today, for instance, Margaret decided to push Teddy a few times. While Teddy suffered a bit by hitting the ground, he didn't seem too fazed by it. On the other hand, the rest of us suffered greatly when Margaret screamed, lay on the floor and kicked her feet during the "time out" that her mother made her take.

In other news, I went to Chicago to watch a Cubs series the weekend before Labor Day. Going back to Chicago and sitting the section 514 with my friends always makes me feel like I'm 28 again because I had season tickets in that section when I lived there. At the same time, however, staying up until 3:00 AM CST to watch the men's Olympic basketball final with my friends without kids makes me feel old when I want to go to bed.

While I was gone, Abby's entire family came to her assistance. I pointed out to Abby that no one comes to relieve me when she's out of town. "Do you want my family to come into town when I leave?," she responded. Touche. While I was gone, they had all sorts of fun, including a trip to a farm owned by one of Abby's relatives in Maryland. I don't think, however, that they had as much fun as I had at Wrigley Field. (Especially because the Cubs won all the games I saw. "Boy, the Cubs look great this year," I thought. Until I realized that they were playing my hometown team, the Nationals, so it wasn't like the Cubs were playing a major league team. More like a AAA or AA minor league team, I think.)

Over Labor Day weekend, we took our annual trip to Philadelphia to visit the cousins. As usual given the dedication that my sister's family has to kid friendly events, we had a great time doing all sorts of kid oriented activities. On Saturday, we went to a concert by the Jimmies, a kids band who plays music that also appeals to parents. This is a huge (and probably fairly lucrative) genre as bands like the Jimmies play music that gets the kids up and dancing while the parents drink beer (not us, although we noted it) and tap their feet at 11:30 AM on a Saturday morning.

Then on Sunday, we went to a farm where we rode a tractor into the fields (such fun!), picked fantastic peaches (our kids now love peaches) and other produce, and ran around a big playground. My reaction was: "I'm glad I'm not a migrant worker" as I got all scratchy while picking eggplant. Followed by "the owners of this farm are geniuses to get us to pay to pick their produce for them."

We came back early today and went to the zoo. We seem to have found a key spot to view the pandas from a lunch spot that is above, and technically behind, the main panda venue. It's generally nice because it isn't too crowded, but we've also had good luck spotting pandas from that spot. The last time the Philly cousins were in town, we watched the pandas jump around in the trees about 15 feet away from us. Which was amazing because, in most of our visits, the pandas have typically been either hidden or sitting still. During that visit, I kept saying, about the cousins, "They have no idea how lucky they are to see this" as the pandas bounded through the trees. The pandas didn't do much this time, but at least we got to look down on one as it did the standard, neurotic pacing that zoo animals tend to do.

But most exciting: We bought two new fish at the PetCo near the zoo. And even more exciting: They've survived the evening. We've let our fish tank sit since the death of the previous batch, so most of the nasty chemicals should have dissipated and some good bacteria should have developed. The guy at the PetCo was astonishingly talkative, but also pretty helpful. "Don't put too many fish in at once. Buy a few and wait a couple weeks to see if they survive." And "You don't want to put tetras in a new tank" but "cherry barbs (the two that we got) are really great for establishing a new tank because they handle the ammonia spikes better." Now, I have no idea if this guy is telling me the truth, but at least I only spent two bucks for the two fish that we got, rather than five for the fish that I thought about buying. As I said, those two fish were alive as of 8:30 PM when Margaret went to bed, so it's better than last time. And, when I turn on the light, they appear to rush to the red plastic plant in the corner. At first, I was worried that they were stuck, but I've decided that they're just smart to hide in a plant that's similar in color to them. Of course, tomorrow I may post that they're dead as well, but I'm holding out hope.