Here I am in the fall of 1983 shortly after my first birthday:
And here Asher is in the fall of 2011 shortly after his 2nd birthday:
Some things never change.
Category Archives: pictures
Gold
This is happening in our front yard right now.
It takes my breath away every time that we pull up to our house.
I can’t stop taking pictures of trees–this might be the only time that my phone picture gallery doesn’t like an exclusive tribute to Asher. Everywhere we turn, more. gorgeous. trees. I can’t help it, I feel ridiculously thankful to live in this part of the country this time of year, and as I’m getting older the feeling is just getting more and more intense. This is the time of year that I get all googly eyed over sweaters and firewood and turning the oven on and calling people inside to bring in more light as the darkness of winter creeps closer and closer. Where Spring finds us throwing open doors and longing for the smell of dirt and the open road, Fall turns us back to the nest, back to the home, back to something essential in the heart. And I love that it’s fleeting and that it is to be cherished and that I don’t feel like too big of a dork stopping mid stride to snap a picture. Really, there’s little not to love. Happy Fall, Ya’ll!
Before we get too far from October
I better get these out…
At the first sign of a crispy cool Fall morning we headed up to the local apple orchard to pick (up) a pumpkin, undo the previous week’s good eating habits with apple doughnuts, and slurp down some hot apple cider. Well that’s what I did anyway…if you ask Asher we went up there and saw a tractor, a digger, a big truck, and he’ll concede that there were indeed doughnuts involved.
Asher was very ambitious in his choice of pumpkins:
So Drew came up with these tiny pumpkins and the villagers toddlers rejoiced:
No matter how you slice it, pumpkin patches and children and gorgeous Fall mornings are a ridiculously charming slice of perfection.
park it here
Scenes from an impromptu park date yesterday morning:
Love seeing that smile on Asher’s face, such a great way to end the weekend!
My Mama
Mom and I took a quick overnight trip last weekend near DC to take advantage of the tax free shopping weekend and get some time together. I think of this as our semi-annual pilgrimage to Ikea–why spend more when you can spend less, you know?
We had a great time and didn’t shut up for the entire 24 hours (well, yes, we did take a break to sleep) and mom gave me the inspiration I needed to get back on track with our living room re-do which I’ve lost a little steam on ever since I dyed the couch pink. The couch is on its way to being something that at least qualifies to be called red and all I can say about the rest of the room is that I’ve been a spray painting fool ever since we got back. Scared? Don’t be, I think everything’s turning out just fine. I think.
We didn’t take many pictures while we were gone except for these two. Supposedly Mom wanted to take these for Asher, but I’m pretty sure that she just wanted to sit in that little train. And don’t even get me started about the tiny helicopter that she wanted me to get into…while I appreciate her optimistic enthusiasm for what I can and cannot fit into, the laws of physics exist so that one does not find herself exposing her unmentionables to a mall full of strangers in the name of texting her toddler* ridiculous pictures. I think Einstein published an entire volume on that. Happily, the little red car suited me just fine.
We had a great time, I love hanging out with my mom, especially when hanging with her includes getting to sleep in a little and sip some red wine in a hotel bed. Life’s little luxuries, you know?
Love you Momina!
*This most likely does not need to be said, but Asher doesn’t actually receive texts as he doesn’t have a cell phone (and won’t until he’s old enough to convince me that he’s old enough) and because he’s presently unable to “read” or understand “numbers” or “texting”. Just in case you thought you might need to be calling the reality check police on me.
weight
Song of the Builders
Mary Oliver
On a summer morning
I sat down
on a hillside
to think about God-
a worthy pastime.
Near me, I saw
a single cricket;
it was moving the grains of the hillside
this way and that way.
How great was its energy,
how humble its effort.
Let us hope
it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.
from Why I Wake Early
(Ms Oliver, please forgive wordpress and me for messing with your line breaks.)
Friendship
Have you told you best friend that you love him or her today? You should, and maybe consider laying a big wet one on them too…
This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces Friendship photo challenge…click the button above to learn more and check out this week’s other Friendship pictures!
no offense julie andrews,
Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens are all good and well, but our favorite things are looking more like this:
And this:
And this:
And also some of this:
With a dash of a sudsy duck-dressed-as-a-rubber chicken tossed in for good measure:
And to Mrs von Trapp’s credit, had we seen wild geese flying with the moon on their wings they would make the weekend list too, but unfortunately the only thing that I saw while the moon was up this weekend was the back of my eyelids.
It was one of those weekends…the weekend that we’ll think about in February when the world is barren and we start twitching every time we glance at the bikes in the corner of the basement. Saturday kicked off with my second session at a little running training program that I’m doing, and then we jumped on our bikes for a ride around UVA and then downtown for breakfast. We then headed to the library to inquire about books about airplanes (AIRPEE!! AIRPEE!!) and discovered to everyone’s delight that they have an entire shelf of children’s books about airplanes. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. We loaded up on books (Drew offered to ride with the child and the library books on his bike. Winning!) and then it was home for a collective family nap session. After that, Drew took Asher to see some excavation equipment on a work site while I ran a couple of errands, then we hit a BBQ with friends and then it was bathbednightnight and Drew headed to work (ok, that part was kind of a bummer on our otherwise dreamy day) and I relaxed with a movie, a glass of wine, and visions of a laughing child dancing through my head. My laughing child, more specifically.
On Sunday I took Asher to the airport (AIRPEE!! AIRPEE!! Noticing a trend here?) tolook at planes and placate him before heading to the grocery. We went to the water park with friends in the afternoon and then kissed Drew goodbye as he headed out for work and Asher and I looked at pictures of the weekend and talked some more about…wait for it…airplanes! Have you recovered from the shock of that? Should I splash some water on your face?
I attempted to poll Asher about the weekend to get some input from him about what he liked best and here’s what we came up with:
Favorite thing we did? Airpee!
Favorite thing you ate? Airpee!
Favorite place to go? Airpee!
Favorite Norwegian soccer club? Airpee!
Favorite…
well, you get the idea. But one incidental take-home point from our weekend of smiles? It was all free! Riding bikes, the library, construction sites, the airport, public park…every last bit of it didn’t cost a nickle. These outings are to be savored both because they’re immensely charming and because of course, the timer is ticking on how long Asher will go totally bonkers over a bulldozer on the side of the road.
This however, will always be free and will always make me smile:
Asher is so enamored with riding bikes now that he wants to be ever at the ready, and while he was happy to ditch his clothes, he didn’t want to take his helmet off for quite a while yesterday afternoon. At least that’s the story that we’re sticking to.
Happy Monday!
PS: perhaps you are wondering why a child that is SO obsessed with airplanes came out of the weekend without a single picture of himself and an airplane. The short simple answer is that his enthusiasm trumps the camera. We’re working on it. As soon as he learns to say the word “Airport” I have a feeling that we’re in big trouble.
Priorities
He’s too busy to smile for the camera.
And oddly I find myself thinking I’m too busy for bubble baths…
And so once again the toddler teaches the parent:
we dwell in our priorities and little else.
Beach Baby.
We’ve returned from our annual Walton/Beck family beach retreat and it was…as much as you can fit into the word “wonderful”, it was all that and a bag of chips. (Actually about 10 bags of Zapps chips, and my bathroom scale is groaning under the proof.)
Here’s a brief schedule of events on any given day of our trip:
Wake up
Go to beach
Nap
Go to beach
Family Dinner
Crawl into bed with visions of sand fairies dancing in your head
Awesome, right? We are not burdened with distractions, shopping, anything…it’s all about lounging, digging, splashing, snacking, laughing, and just being together. You know how you mostly always need a vacation after a vacation? Not so in this case; I don’t think that it would be possible to come home from a trip any more relaxed or refreshed, and with a suitcase of clean laundry to boot.
Much like our Easter trip to the farm, Asher blossomed in the presence of his cousins, starting the week as a fearful baby who was concerned about the sand, about his parents holding other children, about being somewhere new, and ending the week helping Drew dig his annual Big Hole in the sand, laughing as waves crashed on him, and rolling on the floor and laughing with the cousins. It’s enough to make (these two sappy, dorky) parents choke up a little. There’s a little boy in there.
This week is really special for us every year because it’s hard to be a flight away from family that we love so much, so being able to be with Drew’s mom and brother and sister and her family is not only really fun, but it’s an opportunity to reconnect and feel close despite the miles between us. We mostly keep it light, but those moments of serious conversation, of laughing so hard, of watching our children play together and knowing that they’re going to be old together one day…well, it’s just good for the soul, you know? It’s a good reminder of the sweetness of family and the joy of being able to love and be loved. It’s just so good.
So, pictures! You know I’ve got about 300 (literally) but here are a few…
The view from our balcony:
Sunset:
Baby pool on the beach in the shade=good times all around.
Jeff brought a YOLO board which we all had a good time learning to paddle on. Standing up and paddling in the ocean is no joke, but it was a lot of fun once we got it. My time on the YOLO board came to a close when I was asked if I saw the 3-4′ shark that was swimming next to me as I was paddling on it. No, I did not. Excuse me while I go barf. 
How gorgeous is that water? As a girl who grew up on Atlantic Coast beaches, I still can’t get over the Gulf’s clear beauty.
Our friend Chuck came by with his twin boys Jackson and Aiden and we even managed to get all of the kids to sit still (for exactly 6 seconds) for a picture:
(L-R: Caroline, Charlotte, Asher, Aiden, Jackson)
Drew’s Big Hole. Why does Drew dig the Big Hole every year? Hard to say, except that it brings him (eh, the children! It’s for the kids!) great satisfaction. When asked about using this hole digging talent to create something other than a Big Hole, Drew counters with, “nah, that doesn’t sound very fun”. Big Hole it is.
The Beck ladies:
Cousins:
All in all, it was a wonderful week. I loved watching Asher especially, which I know is probably incredibly shocking to all of you, but it wasn’t just because I could watch him staring at paint drying and enjoy myself, this time it was because he was such an inspiration. Toddlers can’t ever seem to satiate their inherent curiosity, and so even though Asher didn’t like the feeling of the sand when he first stepped on it, he couldn’t keep himself from stepping on it a second, third, fourth…time until he found that it was actually pretty fun stuff. I shy away from so much if I think that I might not like it, but watching Asher forge ahead into all that life has to offer, well it’s a good reminder that I need to keep trying things and pushing myself a little more because there’s a whole lot of fun to be had out there. Seeing him confidently walking around at the end of the week like he owned his little slice of the world was a great reminder that we are much more able than we often give ourselves credit for, and that it’s possible to change immeasurably over the course of a week if we allow ourselves to. Well, all of that and he’s crazy cute in swim trunks, but mostly the inspiration bit. I love that boy.
Hello Summer!
