at the train station (a movie)

Click to Play

the thistles arrive from vancouver on the train.  noah is thrilled and overwhelmed.  such a little walker now!

more walking (a movie)

Click to Play

first walk (a movie)

Click to Play

noah takes his first real steps in old navy, of all places.  aunt irene encourages him.

fun with lucy (a movie)

Click to Play

noah gets a kick out of feeding his couscous to lucy the dog

truck driver (a movie)

Click to Play

grandpa starts preparing noah to take over the family business.

real life wooden trains

in searching for a "burlington-northern-santa-fe" train for noah's tracks, i came across this wonderful website. not only do they have BNSF trains, but they also have the amtrak superliner, the pennsylvania railroad steam engine, and tons of diesel engines: canadian national, canadian pacific, chicago and northern western, louisville and nashville, missouri pacific, denver and rio grande, and more!

i'm super excited about all these realistic trains, especially the ones that noah has already seen around town, like the BNSF freight trains and the amtrak superliner. i love the idea that he can play creatively with small versions of working machines that he can see in real life. i know the thomas trains are based on fun stories that most kids seem to love, but to me these real life trains are way cooler. hopefully we can slowly build up noah's collection. (or my collection, anyway!)

barber shop

today noah had his first official haircut, at the barber shop downtown where aaron goes. we were under orders from colin that noah not sport his shaggy old-man hair at the wedding this weekend, so we put him under the knife. he did really great, sitting pretty still and seeming interested in what the barber was up to. the whole thing took probably five minutes, and afterward we had a clean-cut little boy! he looks older now, and suddenly i miss the shaggy-haired baby i had this morning. i guess every milestone will also bring a loss.

but there is no turning back--noah is growing up. yesterday he took nine steps! when he isn't thinking about it, i will catch him standing unassisted; though i think once he realizes what's happening he gets scared and sits down. but i have a feeling that he'll soon be off and running, which actually sounds nice to me right now, since he lately opts to hang onto my pants and follow me around the house.

i remember when i was pregnant i would imagine life with my little friend--a tiny comrade to share with me the tasks of daily life. well, he certainly is a presence! sharing the tasks of daily life, though... i don't know about that anymore. mostly now the tasks just don't get done. or maybe it's just that the tasks have changed. laundry, not so much; but we do get to lounge in the grass and pick blueberries.

big wave! (a movie)

this weekend aaron, his dad and kevan worked on installing the main mast into the boat. one more mast, a few sails, a broken champagne bottle... and it'll be a full-blown sailboat! (more pictures here.)

we've chosen a lovely name for her too, which aaron will paint on as soon as i choose a color for the lettering. and then hopefully we'll begin planning a festive launch party, maybe for early september. stay tuned...

after the work was done, aaron showed us this lovely wooden motorboat he'd just finished working on. noah took it for a little pretend drive.

Click to Play

birthday weekend

we recently had the good fortune of hosting maryka, her friend tyler, jess and andrew thistle on the weekend of both maryka and andrew's birthdays. it was a wonderful surprise visit full of great food, laughs, dance parties and boating adventures.

the downside was the unplanned impetus for the visit: maryka and tyler's car accident on I-5 that left them shaky but unharmed and left maryka's car totaled. a sad and scary event. but hopefully birthday weekend was at least partially redeemed. i will say that for me, lonely after the departure of the wassells, a communal weekend was just what i needed. noah also seemed to enjoy the company. (more pictures here.)

birthday weekend also happened to be harry potter weekend. although i had planned to wait my turn for a library copy, my status as number 175 on the waiting list was too depressing. i caved under pressure from jess, maryka and tyler, whose copies were lying around the house like forbidden fruit, and bought my own. i tried to savor it... but you know how it goes. a few late nights and now the saga is over. but it was a wonderful book, a wonderful seven books. what a gift j.k. rowling has given us in sharing this story. i look forward to sharing it with noah.

besides the wonder of the book itself, i found it really exciting to be part of an international community of harry potter readers for the few days after the book was released. all over town i saw people reading the book--in the children's museum, at the farmer's market, at the burrito place--and i love to think of the millions of others around the world reading it on couches, in bed, on buses, on the front porch, by flashlight, sipping tea... i imagine it is not very often that a book brings people together in the way that this book has. i feel honored to have been able to be a part of pottermania.