We’ve got our books on CD.  Right now we’re completely engrossed in Robert Louis Stephenson’s Treasure Island.  I’m loving the flowery language and the larger-than-life characters.  The little ones are having a hard time following, so I have to stop every track or two and give the Cliff’s Notes.  We’ve got our snacks.  GORP and granola bars.  We’ve got our laptop and DVDs.  We’ve got our Nintendo DS.  We’ve got a camera.  We’ve got our music.  Lots of Beatles and this year’s Springtime Mixtape.  After SC, we hit Disney for a week.  The kids will have a blast.  My mom and stepdad recently moved to Florida, so they’ll come to Orlando for a few days, as will my ex-step-mother-in-law (Anna’s dad’s second wife who we still enjoy visiting with).

Then we crawl back home in utter exhaustion.  Sadly, Christine couldn’t make the trip, so we have to spend 16 days apart.  Things are going better than ever with her and that makes 16 days a heck of a long time.

Wish me luck, swabbies.  This captain is on the lookout for any whiff of mutiny on the S.S. Hotaru.  I wouldn’t like to be breaking out the irons.  May the winds be at our backs and the rum flow freely (well, not while captaining the ship).

Mother’s Day 2008

Originally uploaded by Jason Dufair.

Planting flowers at Anna’s grave. It was a cold and rainy day, but I believe it’s a good tradition. The kids picked out some nice annuals and a new sunflower sculpture and angel windchime.

Yes, Ian is wearing one croc and one cowboy boot

Here are some pics from skating with Barack Obama. I hope he does well today. All you Hoosiers and Tar Heels, get out and vote! And vote for Barack! I think he’s a regular guy trying to put America’s best interests above his own. And he stands by his principles; he opposed the war since before it started. Vote early! Vote often!

(Oh, yeah, I shaved my goatee off a few weeks ago too. Whee!)

Happy Holidays, all.

Transcript for video #1: Emma: “I’m not tired!” Me: “Well, what are you?” Emma: “I’m not peachy pie too.” (I call her peachy pie).
Transcript for video #2: Emma: “I’m not tired!” Me: “You’re not tired? You gotta take a nap.” Emma: “I’m not tired!!!” Me: “Ok” (which, in dad language, Ok translates to “tough luck, here’s your blankie and your ba-ba”

This is a tree that grows a few feet away from Anna’s grave. It’s three trees, two separate species, that have grown into one. I see it representing my three kids who are looking over their mom, watching out for her.

When Anna’s sister and I picked her gravesite, we knew what area of the cemetery she had wanted, but she never chose an actual plot. Who could? We were out there in the pouring rain, V and I, huddling under one umbrella on a Thursday morning in early August, 4 days after she died, trying to find a good spot. We went on both sides of the hill and just had a hell of a time trying to make a decision about this entirely unwelcome undertaking. Without warning, the rain let up. We both looked at one another and knew the spot we were standing in was to be the spot.

I’m not superstitious, but I do think Anna chose the spot for us. It had to be by the tree. One Safe Place. We just couldn’t have known until we knew.

Over time, Anna’s body will become part of and give life to that tree, just like her body created, gave life to, and nurtured my kids.

More about this tree coming soon…

We rode to the library this afternoon (only about 1.5 miles) to return some books and donate some old VHS and DVD movies. This is my recumbent bike with Ian’s trail-a-bike connected to one of the seatposts and Emma’s baby trailer connected to the trail-a-bike.

Yep, we got drenched later by that rain cloud in the background. It was a fun adventure.

We finally wrapped things up around 11:30 as it was time to go car shopping. I diped her up and got everyone ready and into the car. I had to run in to grab the diaper bag and my shades. As I’m going back out, I look down at the carpet and I’m like “Damn. The cats must have shit on the carpet. I wonder if they’re getting sick or something. The litter boxes are pretty clean.” Then I look again. “Hmm. That didn’t come out of a cat. Oh, no. Eeeeeeeeew!”

The fun of potty training.