Famous!

The Mayor was captured by the Bing car while walking to work several months ago.

The Mayor has his backpack off because he's just putting his phone away after calling the Hobbit Wife to tell her that he was photographed by the Bing car.

Dinner Time

We have been doing a little bit of rearranging to accommodate another hobbitling at the kitchen table, now that Mr. Eejee is getting started on solids.

First time that all four hobbitlings are at the table together.

The proud six-month-old showing off 50% of his tooth collection.

Halloween!

Leading off the 2014 Halloween costume parade is Indiana Jones.

Next up is a soldier/tank commander/meerkat

Indy and his soldier buddy

The Hobbit Wife spent many hours making a lion-mane hat for Eejee's costume.

Eejee and the Mayor loaded up and ready to go out under cover of the Mayor's capacious umbrella.

Last but not least is Princess Jasmine.

Princess Jasmine thinking princess thoughts.

Sugar crazies celebrating their haul - 11 pounds of candy in a short night's work.

Pumpkin Season

Our wonderful next-door-neighbors grew a pumpkin for the hobbitlings that weighed in at just over 100 pounds.  [Grammatical clarification: the pumpkin weighed 100 pounds and was not intended only for heavy children.]  The Mayor set about to carve the pumpkin to match the hobbitling costumes this year.

Mr. Eejee

Mr. Seimi

Miss Ela

 Mr. Boookie

 The carved monster pumpkin on display

Fall Evening Haiku

The Mayor reads until:

Ela wants to stop
Boookie wants to keep going
Seimi is passed out

We just finished "The Saturdays" and are nearing the end of "Treasure Island."  It has been a delightful way to welcome the long evenings of the Northwest fall and winter.

Dire Warnings

Ela was working on a Lego project and left this sign as a warning to any and all who might think about messing up her creation.

Adventure in the Southern Kingdom, Part the Mayor

I've been talking with the Father about my desire for a family vacation to the Southern Kingdom since before Eejee was born this year.  I wanted an extra helping of summer, having worked through most of our short Seattle summer.  I received the unexpected windfall as a resounding, "Yes!" to my desire for my family.  We got packed and arrived safely, but I didn't know what gift I should ask for.



The two days at Disneyland were definitely the highlight of the trip.  It was my first time at Disneyland and I brought a lot of baggage and unfilled desires.  Frontierland was chock full of boyhood dreams of adventure, but I wasn't quite sure what to do there.  I thought maybe I was supposed to finally get the Davy Crockett coonskin cap I wanted since I was about 3, but no hats were available in adult sizes. 

My kids got guns, lots of guns and they were the envy of all the other kids on Tom Sawyer Island.  I thought about buying a rifle for myself, the kind of rifle I always wanted as a kid.  Maybe someday I'll build my own black powder rifle, but that wasn't going something for this trip.

It's hard to explain, but I had an epiphany while waiting in line for Big Thunder Mountain.  I was offered and I received the gift of time from the Father.  Waiting in lines with these delightful children of mine was what I wanted.  Just wasting time together, being together.  And it was wonderful.

The magic of Disneyland happens when you spend time engaging the dreams of the small ones next to you, in a place that tells you those dreams are essential, that you need to recover your own lost dreams and guard theirs.

I didn't find my heart at Disneyland, just confirmation I'm on the right track to bring back the parts of my heart I've sent far away, finding restoration in Life Himself.  The Adventure continues at Michael Delving.