Zoo and Ehli Family Reunion

What is that you say? The zoo and the Ehli family reunion were probably quite similar to each other? Why, you must know my family!
(Just joking, family!)

Marie squealed and waved to the baby snow leopards.

With Grandma (and still waving)

Our little family

Chasing Mingus

Everyone together! Amazing! I love this family of ours.
Happy 66th Anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa!

What we have here.

What we have here is a beautiful 8 month old baby with one tooth.

 

Marie is delighted with swinging, and squeals and laughs at whoever is pushing her.

She is very interested in solid food, and loves avocado, broccoli and bananas. She will drink anything out of a cup - so much fun! That includes water, kefir, sauerkraut juice, the water I defrosted her peas in - really anything, I think. And Joel declared yesterday we should not let her drink lettuce soup anymore because it comes out looking exactly like it went in.

Marie loves baths and swimming. She finished her first course of swim lessons. She loves to kick and splash in the water and doesn't mind water getting in her face at all. She can go under the water and hold her breath the whole time.

She loves being on the ground, and can get pretty much anywhere she wants to go. Which is inevitably directly to the nearest power cord, or tiny piece of old stale food that fell on the floor.

On Father's Day, we planted a Staghorn Sumac tree for Marie. The tree is now growing with the help of Marie's trusty old placenta, which was buried beneath the tree.  The tree will have beautiful colors in the fall, right around the time Marie was born.

And what we have here is a case of sibling envy. I do believe it is the classic case of the older child wanting to be the baby again, don't you agree?

Thaigers

Oh my GOODNESS. Just LOOK what we got to do yesterday!

There are very few things left that I ask of life. This was probably one of the best 3 days of my life, including my wedding day and the day I gave birth to a precious baby (who did not get to pet the tigers).
Big tiger. Actually only 19 months old! She liked the belly scratch.
This adorable baby tiger was the same age as my little baby, and about the same size. They both have orange hair, and they are both so cuddly and adorable!!!!!!!! Can I take it home?? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I love it.

first things first

Joel's first day of school!

Joel started his new job today - Adjunct English Instructor at Green River Community College. Our home is full of thankfulness and peace right now, with the timing of his job being so perfect (and so last minute! A rushed syllabus was created, a commute quickly established, and a chair at home with the cat is now empty during the day).

The transition of the seasons, with the blustery comfort of autumn just setting in, is really reflected in our life right now. Joel's new job, the baby coming soon, me settling in to the wonderful idea of a long (by American standards) maternity leave... many changes, but all such comforting and peaceful changes.
Joel found today that he likes, enjoys, appreciates his teaching position. He is fulfilled and satisfied in his role, which is such a surprising thing for the both of us after years of uncertain times in academia. None of you in the academic world will see his job as particularly spectacular, but it is exactly what we have been hoping for and needing. An entrance, an opportunity, a chance for Joel to do what he has felt has been his passion - teaching introductory level courses. And a step towards us being able to transition from relying on my salary to relying on his. That is something, however old fashioned it may seem, that we've both craved for some time.

This is a celebration, friends! Have a dram of scotch in honor of Joel today!(Other photos are from our annual trip hiking at Mt. Rainier. Oh, out of town friends, we must take you there.)

Growth!

This is my garlic! I planted it in October and since the winter, I've been entering and leaving the house from the upstairs front door and haven't been in the backyard much, thus forgetting about the garlic, and neglecting the worm bin. Thank goodness both of those are pretty forgiving during the wintertime. Today I succumbed to the overflowing compost bin on the kitchen counter and finally brought it to the worms to work on. While out back, I ventured to the far back corner of the garden, only to be pleasantly surprised that this whole garlic-planting adventure works! Before planting, this area looked like wilderness, really overgrown like most of the backyard, and I had put a lot of work into making it plantable. When I went back today, there were only a few weeds which I pulled! I guess this mulch idea works too. :-)

We planted Susanville and Chesnock Red, and I'm fairly sure the garlic on the right, which is growing much better, is the Susanville. Should have written it down I guess.
In other events, this is Ginger purring away in Joel's arms.

Ginger in front of our extremely realistic gas fireplace.

Ginger is continuing her study of the church fathers.