These pictures are from Sept. - Nov. 1999
Fall 1999 Slices of Life
Every morning while Lisa is taking her shower and getting
ready for work, I take the boys and Bailey out for a walk.
It's a dual-purpose thing. Bailey gets his walk and I
get Zachary out of the house for 10-15 minutes. Otherwise
he tends to want either myself or Lisa to pick him up
all the time.
I'm trying to resume my vegetable garden here in Arizona.
The ground is really rocky, so I'm trying a container garden.
Here Jackson and Zachary are "helping" me plant some
tomatos.
Zachary still hasn't worked out the sleep thing. Alot of
times he will wake up still tired but won't go back to
sleep if we try putting him back in his crib. One
solution is to let him sleep on my stomach. I usually
only do this if Lisa is trying to take a nap at the
time. The good news this justifies me watching a football
game. The bad news is my arm and shoulder usually fall
asleep.
Halloween 1999
Halloween turned into a multi-week affair this year. Jackson
picked out his pumpkin three weeks in advance when his
grandpa Ken and grandma Barbara visited. Here Jackson and
Aunt Angela are making music
with his pumpkin.
This was the first Halloween where Zachary could take part.
He turned out to be a natural. Here he is in his bee
costume at a party they had at his daycare.
Jackson wanted to pick out his own costume this year. He
went from a ghost to a Power Ranger and finally decided
on Buzz Lightyear.
Here are Jackson and Zachary ready to go out trick-or-treating.
Jackson is going to show Zachary how it's done. Besides
a tendency to walk on freshly seeded lawns, Zachary had
no trouble at all. He carried his little bucket to
6-7 houses before he got tired. Jackson is still eating
his candy 4 weeks later.
Grandma Palmer at the State Fair
My mom came down for a visit, and since she is a
farm girl we decided to go to the Arizona State Fair. Our
first stop was the livestock building. Here we are looking
at some prize chickens.
Jackson thought the cows were rather scary so we went
over and looked at the sheep. These sheep had fancy red
spandex sweaters.
I thought the petting zoo would be a hit, but Jackson
has turned timid in his old age. Here he is running away
from a dangerous looking baby wallaby.
Zachary liked the petting zoo, but he almost got trampled
by a enormously fat llama. Jackson has climbed on my
back for safety.
Jackson was too short for most of the rides which was a good
thing because many of them would have made me vomit if
I had gone on them. The carousel was popular with the
boys.
Jackson had two objectives in going to the fair. He wanted
to play video games and eat "fair" food. Most of the food
sounded disgusting, but I decided to bribe him with some
popcorn before we went to the arts and crafts exhibit.
The popcorn lasted about 30 seconds until it slipped out
of Jackson's hands and dumped all over the ground.
Here are Zachary and Mom back home sitting on the couch with
Lisa.
Later that day, the kids wanted to go swimming. The pool
was only 70 degrees so this is as far as they got. Zachary
is striking the "explorers" pose with one leg up looking out
into the distance.
Grant and the Boys Go on a Trip
I took the boys up to the Bay Area the first week in
October to visit family and friends and to have my year-end
performance appraisal. The first stop was dinner at my
parents house. I got a chance to visit Flowfield, my cat
who didn't make the move to Arizona with us. I'm doing
my best "cat in the headlights" expression.
We stayed the first night at Mark's house in Walnut Creek.
Jackson was very excited to sleep over with his cousins
Julia, Ryan, and Stephanie.
Sunday afternoon, we drove down to the Hacker-Chancellor's.
They had a bit of a party with us, the Gregory's, and the
Ruybal's. Eight little kids ran around their house
making a mess.
Monday I took the kids for a visit to their old daycare.
All of Zachary's favorite teachers were there. He quickly
got back into the swing of things.
One of my main reasons to bring the kids with me was so
Jackson could visit his old daycare. He had been telling
me since we moved down here how he missed his old friends.
Here is a picture of Kelsen, Jackson, Harrison, and Nathan
standing next to each other in the Vanguard room.
We spent the last day at the Gregory's house. I felt a
little bad because by this time the kids were worn out
and I had pulled a muscle in my back from carrying Zachary
around too much. Austin looks a little sleepy here too.
Eating Stuff
Here the boys are eating spaghetti for dinner. Zachary has
about three times as much on his plate as Jackson. This
picture is significant because Jackson is actually taking a
decent-sized bite. Usually, he stalls by taking microscopic-sized
bites.
Here Jackson is showing me his clean plate which is a major
(and rare) accomplishment. He looks thrilled.
Odds and Ends
Jackson, Zachary, and I are playing "Green Eggs and Ham" by
Jackson's rules which means no matter what number he spins
he moves his piece where he wants to.
Here is a cute picture of Lisa, Zachary, and a very old bunny.
Swimming season is just about over, but one evening the boys
decided they wanted to go for a swim. Jackson tried to
get warm by huddling on the deck with his towel over him.
Zachary tried to stay warm by wrestling Jackson.