Wilson Visit -- 2009_Oct

Editors' note: This visit took place from 10/17 to 10/19

1) David, Kelley, and Molly Wilson (Nile cameo); 2) Molly

A lot went into our decision to move to Walla Walla, and then how we went about choosing where to live (rent, for the time being). This weekend helped reinforce a lot of those decisions. First, there would be no Walla Walla had Bruce not gone on a backpacking trip to the Eagle Caps last October with David Wilson, who when queried about Walla Walla on the way home (by Bruce), mentioned that it was the place he would live if he could live anywhere in the world. Bruce doesn't take phrases like that lightly, so he started looking into it, talked to an OHSU staff member who had an ex-partner in the group and -- voila! -- the rest is rather recent history.

Editors' Note: Tina's family -- before you start targeting your anger towards David and plot his untimely demise, we'd like to refer you to the image on the right...he is not to be trifled with. Anyone who can get Tina to wield a gun -- while pregnant, no less -- is not to be trifled with. Tina's family, let it go. We're never -- NEVER -- moving back to the Midwest. And David is not your scapegoat.

Nevertheless, with Walla Walla being wine country, we really wanted to make sure that whatever domicile we selected would be able to support guests. The Wilsons -- David, Kelley, and Molly -- helped confirm that we could rather easily facilitate hosting visitors. This, among many other things, has validated our decision to rent a not-so-modest home while we peruse our purchasing options.

At any rate, the purpose of this post is to comment on our awesome visit in mid-October from the Wilson's. Molly is about six months younger than Nile. The first night they arrived after Nile had gone to bed, and Molly took to Nile's toys like a fly to molasses. Nile was visibly perturbed the next morning when he discovered Molly being so intimate with his toys. But, he got over it quickly and the two of them enjoyed a lot of time playing -- parallel-ly -- together. And here we learned that toddlers paired with other toddlers is actually less work. So, we've spent every moment since that weekend trying to fast-forward our lives to when Cyrus is a toddler. (Not really, but kind of)

1) 'Why is she taking all of my toys'; 2) 'Fine, she steals my toys, I'll steal her mom'

On Saturday, we managed to go explore two wineries as Molly and Nile just roamed the grounds. That evening, we got a babysitter after putting the kids to bed and headed out for a late dinner -- to our surprise, the Wilsons did not fall asleep halfway through.

1) Hit that one! 'Don't tell me my business, devil woman! (don't think I didn't notice your red hair)'; 2) Lawnmowers in tents...obviously.

We were glad to see them come and visit. There were several pictures taken by both parties from the trip. The following is a slideshow depicting some of the Greatest Hits from our camera. We know the Wilsons have some good ones. Here's hoping they send them our way and we can add them to the slideshow (hint, hint). Enjoy (note, these will be picture print quality for about a week, then revert to blog-post quality -- if you want to print out pix, download sooner than later):

PoD -- Wilson Visit -- Nile Defects?

David, Kelley, & Molly Wilson along with Nile (during a Hawkeye game) -- 10/17/09

PoD -- Bears' Nile

Nile in Bears' Pajamas -- 10/19/09

PoD -- Nile & Molly

"You need to hit THAT one" -- 10/18/09

Daily Double:

Nile and Molly's first tent adventure...

PoD -- Under the Crib

Nile discovers the space under his crib -- 10/10/09

PoD -- Bad Hair Day

His shirt corroborates (although you can't fully see it) -- 10/9/09

PoD -- 'Vacuum'

Nile loves vacuums. Too much. For several months now, he has held Tina's Kenmore Vacuum in absolute reverence (by the link post, you'll probably assume he got this from his mother). Multiple times a day, he points to the closet in which the vacuum resides and says 'Vacuum. Open?' Whenever Tina does vacuum, he follows her like a shadow, mimicking most of her moves. He has come up with several imaginative solutions to mimic the suctioning device. Upstairs, he combines the lawnmower and a kitchen spoon, walking around pulling the lawnmower while pushing the spoon into corners all the while saying, 'vacuum'. (Editor's note: the 'vacuum' that he says sounds exactly as it would if you pronounced the 'v' as they do in Spanish -- it's like a hybrid sound between Vacuum and Bacuum). Downstairs, he pushes the grease splatter screen from our kitchen and declares it a vacuum. He loves vacuums and vacuuming and perseverates nonstop on the subject. It's almost enough to make a father worried. Almost.

At any rate, we decided to get him a more formal toy vacuum. So, while Nile shopped with Tina, Bruce set up the vacuum at the edge of the dining room. When Nile got home, he immediately saw it and slowly meandered to it. Above, is the first picture. Here, we assume he's inquiring as to whether it's really a vacuum and whether it's his or not. In the next photo, we captured him realizing the affirmative to both his queries. He's been using it non-stop since (as of 11/11). We're pretty sure this is how parents feel when they hit a home-run with Christmas or birthday presents. It's been a blast.

PoD -- Halloween 2009

What? You haven't seen a cat, a ninja, and a dinosaur hanging out before?

Daily Double (suggests Nile may actually be Bruce's son):

Halloween

Without a doubt, this was a holiday we were looking forward to this year.  But, as it turns out, Nile was still just a little too young to really be able to make anything special of the holiday.  Nevertheless, we rather enjoyed getting them dressed up.

Nile the Dinosaur

For Nile, this process started days before.  Upon receiving his dinosaur costume in the mail, we attempted to put it on him just to see how he'd react.  Poorly, as it turns out.  He hated it.  Threw a fit.  This was a week or two in advance of Halloween and gave us a clear message we'd have to desensitize him to the costume.  And use bribery.  We did both.

As for Cyrus, he's far ahead of Nile on the growth curve, so he fit -- at less than three months -- into the same costume Nile wore last year at 8 months.  And made for a humorous 'Sumo' ninja.

Cyrus the Ninja

The Marshalls visited from out of town, along with special guest, Evan.  You can see him below as well.  He had not napped all day, and thus took the downtown Trick-or-Treating as an opportunity to catch up.  Oh well.

Lee, Rhiannon, & Evan Marshall

The following slide show has print-quality images (as of 11/16/09).  We expect they will be replaced with lower quality images in about a week.  So, those included to do any printouts should act accordingly.

Note:  We're particularly amused with the picture serving as the cover to the album.  This may be among the greatest proof we have that Nile is actually Bruce's son.  That look -- why are you wasting my time? (by the way, I hate you) -- seems like vintage Bruce.

At any rate, enjoy!

PoD -- Dinosaur Bribery

When we first got this costume, Nile wanted nothing to do with it. So, we knew that for Halloween to have a happy ending, we'd have to introduce it to him over several days. This was our second attempt. Several pix (not shown) clearly demonstrate his displeasure, so we took to bribery. Is that a cookie piece he's stretching for (on tip-toes) on the table? It might be...

A Fine Fall Day

So, today was a beautiful day in Walla Walla.  We decided to visit Pioneer Park to allow Nile to play in the leaves and help cure some of his cabin fever.

For the first time in a long time, we're posting pictures in a timely manner.  We're doing our best to catch up -- as you hopefully have been noticing -- but we're still only up through the middle of August.  So we've got a ways to go on the PoDs and have one or two visits to write about in the meantime.  So bear with us.

You'll notice this post has an embedded slideshow at the end -- these have not been uploaded with a quality consistent with developing (we're looking at you, grandparents).  There are 25 pix there.  Here, we've posted 4 of our favorites as a tease, and there is also a PoD from this shoot that is our most up-to-date family shot.  Well, kind of.  We gave Nile a haircut tonight (good thing the neighbors we're gone or they may have called 911 -- why does he have to make it sound like we're murdering him?).  Nevertheless, Enjoy!

Nile Basks	Nile Contemplates
Gangsta Cyrus (in leaves)	Cyrus Lounges

And the slideshow:

PoD -- Autumn Family Shot (On a Cool Tree Limb)

PoD -- Tina's Shoes

We've graduated from Dad's flip flops and are not cross-dressing

PoD -- Cyrus (2 Months)

PoD -- Cyrus' 1st (Captured) Smile (Sort Of)

Happy Birthday Jeet

Somewhat misleading. Actually he's been regularly smiling for over a week now. However, they are nearly impossible to capture. This was as close as we've come. Clearly, it hints at a smile, but is nothing like the full-bore smiles he has been giving us. Hopefully we'll be able to capture one of those soon.

PoD -- Cyrus in the Yard

Cyrus with Tina in our backyard

PoD -- It's a Bird...

It's a Bird, Plane, Omen that Iowa will beat Penn State tonight! (actually plane)

PoD -- Cyrus' Favorite Napping Site

PoD -- Maternal Side

On the Bears' 2nd Game (happier ending)

PoD -- Nile Figures Out Door Handles

Frankly, we're glad it took this long (and note the flip flops again)