Felix in Chalk

These pictures were sent to me by Felix's uncle, Tyler. Unfortunately I don't really know the story behind these other than the photograph was taken by Tyler and the drawing is from that photo, chalked in San Luis Obispo by someone I don't know. Tyler was going to email me the tale of how this came to be; perhaps he'll leave that in the comments.

It tickles me that my sons portrait was captured in a street-chalking in a different part of the country be someone that doesn't know either of us. My thanks to that woman.

Return of the Sockeye

This past weekend Felix and Renae went to Albuquerque New Mexico's Hot Air Balloon Festival, and we will have a great post on that once we get the pictures from Tyler. But prior to their departure, Felix and I took a walk down to the Cedar River to watch the salmon returning to spawn. If you enlarge the picture to the left, you can read about the life cycle of the Sockeye salmon. The area we walked to (which is just across the street from our little neighborhood) is a park up against the river. You can walk out onto a foot bridge that connects the park and the parking lot over the river, but Felix and I found a hidden path down to the river. It was pretty neat observing the fish that close. When salmon would splash about in the shallow water, Felix would point at it and shout "I see the fish" or "the fish is splashing". It was really cute.
Our walk to the Cedar River was the Friday before Felix and Renae left for Albuquerque (they were gone from Saturday until this last Wednesday), and as much as I like spending time with Renae and the family as a whole, I really enjoy my Fridays alone with Felix.

Part of the Chase Crew

Felix and I had a wonderful time in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the annual hot air balloon festival. My mother and grandmother are regulars at 'the Fiesta' and have asked us to join them many times before. It seemed Felix was at just the right age and I had the technology and flexibility to take my work with me so had no fresh excuses this year.



Felix was quite the trooper the entire trip, from the long plane rides to the early mornings out on the freezing field waiting for balloons to fill and the air to warm up, to long hot car rides chasing balloons, and finally to get some breakfast and then go sight seeing before going to bed just in time to get up and do it all over again. He would cling to me, and often to Grandma, without saying a word, hardly showing any expression but taking it all in.

He was fascinated and exhausted at the same time. His only melt down happened to be a big one, he scratched my eye in a tantrum and I was left in severe pain and blinded until we got back to Seattle. (They had a wheel chair for me at the airport and put me through a separate security line.) The pictures hardly do justice to the panoramic views and truly awesome sight of so many balloons in flight at once.

Cake

I finally got around to clearing the memory card on my camera and came across pictures from when we went to the zoo last May. I had intended to compose a post of this but I.. uh... was busy with... well, it was a long time ago so I'm sure I have a very valid reason. But, because it was so long ago I have forgotten exactly what happened that day. I will try my best to remember, though details are a little sketchy:Here is a picture of Felix with the leopard he wrestled. Not out of anger, but in playful fun. It was a new program the zoo had put together to get kids more in touch with nature. Of course the leopard was declawed, missing all it's teeth, and under a fair amount of sedation, but his fur was really soft. Felix kept pulling his tail and the leopard didn't mind at all. Kudos to the zoo, they've really trained him well.
A peacock also caught the fancy of young Truman. The peacock didn't do much other than block our entrance into Zoomazium. Well that's it for our trip to the zoo back in May. But as a bonus, I've attached some random pictures that span from May until August-





You may remember a similar picture of Felix but with the goggles on top of his head. I forgot to include the one where he is wearing them.

Perhaps Renae suggested that I include pictures of her with Felix. Yep, maybe.



A recently discovered picture of Felix at the beach and Trumie enjoying a Dove ice cream bar.



Felix and his buddy, Rooney, gossiping over yogurts, and, if you look closely, Felix in a running stride (both feet off the ground).



A blog post can be metaphorically described as a dessert: you have the frosting or the pictures, and the bready part or the text. We tolerate the bread part because we lie to ourselves that that is the healthy part, it's bread, it justifies the frosting. But that is what we really want- the frosting. And that is what I give you with just enough bread so that we can still call it cake.