Fourth of July Weekend

Zeke celebrated his first Fourth of July in DryWindyValley, visiting with grandparents and uncles and one cousin. He went swimming for the first time in his whole life in Grandma and Grandpa's deliciously heated pool. He looked very cute in his swim outfit and hat, but I was in the pool myself and did not get any pictures.

Zeke wore socks that identified him as "Red, White and Cute" and he wore a red and white striped onesie with blue overalls that got sopping wet with all his drool. The bib of his overalls was a little too close to his mouth and anything that gets close to his mouth will either be placed in the mouth or be generously drooled upon. Again, I have no pictures.

But here is Mr. Zeke in his new umbrella stroller with Mike presenting evidence that it was originally intended to be used by midgets.

Solid Foods

Zeke went to see his new doctor yesterday. She said that he looks very healthy and strong and is ready to start solid foods. Hooray! We've been allowing Zeke to chew on a baby spoon in anticipation of this grand occasion.

Today we waited for a moment when Zeke looked happy, had just had a good meal of mother's milk, and was energetic about the world. Then we dusted off the high chair we got at a garage sale and set up our new video camera (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). Mike mixed up a half tablespoon of some of the runniest Oatmeal Cereal and I put our biggest, thickest bib on Zeke.

Here is what unfolded:

Overall he did very well in the new high chair with the new experience. There was no crying or protest screeching, but it did seem like he was more interested in gumming the spoon than eating its contents. We were very pleased with ourselves until, about ten minutes later, he spit up pretty much all of the oatmeal and a good quantity of milk.

Yea, Zeke!

Whitney Prep 04 - Mt. Shorty

On Saturday Mike and I went for a trial hike in Dry Dusty State Park. Our goal was to make it to the top of Mt. Shorty (a scant 2,800 ft. tall), but, more importantly, to be gone long enough to practice the pumpanddump.

Dry Dusty State Park was actually clouded over on Saturday. We trudged in deep cloud cover and often rain for most of the way. I took a jacket that had served me well in the past but turned out to be not-so-waterproof.

Mike is standing in front of what should have been a look out over a valley vista. Too bad all you can see is the Yucca plant in full bloom.

Because of the cloudy conditions we couldn't see very far ahead or behind and we were forced to follow the trail signs. This turned out to be a bad decision and we spent too much time hiking on a wrong trail. A chance encounter with another hiker coming off the peak put us back on the right trail. The damage was done, however. We had planned to be gone for only two Zeke feedings so we had to turn back just short of the summit.

This adventure taught us good things. Like the importance of wearing pants and knowing the poisonous plants on the trail. And the importance of having a pair of flip flops handy after the hike is over.

(Caption: Tina Revels in the Poison Oak. There was plenty on the trail and most of it had turned a lovely shade of red.)

(Caption: This Is A Weird Plant, Eh? There were a lot of these too, but they look like they belong to another planet. The color didn't come out in the picture - they were rainbow colored.)

Graduation Day

On Saturday we celebrated Mike's graduation from University In A Big City. Below is Mike in his official get-up: The orange tassel is for the school of engineering, the gold forrages show his Latin honors, and the collar and honor cords are from an honors society he was invited to join.

Here is Zeke all dressed up to go to his Dad's commencement ceremony:

And here is the cheering squad in the stands:

We hooted and hollered whenever Mike did anything, for example, walking in with the processional, walking across the stage, walking out with the recessional...

This is Mike listening to a boring speech at the ceremony:

He is the guy on the isle seat with a white collar on and one leg sticking out into the isle. The leg sticking out is clearly wearing a tennis shoe and white athletic sock. Mike wore shorts and a T-shirt under his robes instead of the traditional shirt and tie.

And this is our little family after the 3+ hour event (Zeke was wiped out):

Thanks to everyone who supported Mike in this effort. And thanks to everyone who came to the party afterwards to help us celebrate!