Joy in Motion

There is a threat out there which will materialize on April 1st.  It seems to have everyone in a panic, even Rob came home last night and said the Dept. of Defense is taking notice – a feat in itself.  

It’s a computer virus called the Conficker worm.  Sounds to me like a bad word.  But for once I’m not paying the least bit attention since we have a Mac.  This worm apparently only attacks PC users.  I’d like to see the next Microsoft commercial with Bill Gates telling everyone not to panic, he’s got it all under control….just like Vista.

On a different note, on Sunday Rob and I went driving around the base trying to experience all the beaches with John.  It turned out to be a really windy day and wasn’t warm enough to take him out of the car.  We did however stumble onto Brown Beach, which is along a dirt road and on top of a rocky cliff.  We drove about 20 minutes north of our house (still on Vandenberg AFB) and took many turns before finally stopping in front of a Launch Pad which was guarded by what we hoped was a friendly gate-guard.  Turns out he was sleeping.  When we pulled up to his little shack, he stumbled out to our window and apologized saying “oh, you caught me sleeping”.  Which we thought was hilarous because he’s the only soul out there for miles and miles.  

He then directed us about 50 yards back along the road we had just entered on to a dirt road leading seemingly nowhere.  We doubted him a bit, especially because he said he’d never explored the road, only heard it was the right one.  This beach was sounding more and more like an urban legend.  Add that to the fact that there were signs everywhere warning of ‘unexploded ordances’ and ’stay on the marked trail in case of explosion’…maybe we should turn around and go home.  By this time we’d been gone almost an hour and taken so many wrong dirt roads that we figured what the heck?

We had to drive 5 mph on the washboard dirt road, and we could see the ocean and beach off to our right but couldn’t quite see where to access it.  Suddenly a picnic table popped into view about 25 yards off the dirt road overlooking the cliff down to the beach.  And another one about 50 yards further…and another…and another.  We assumed this was it.  We did confirm with a neighbor later that afternoon that at times it’s possible to walk out on the receding cliff-line and explore tide pools.  It’s even possible to eventually make it down to the narrow strip of sand low tide leaves behind.  

We still didn’t find Seal Rock or Conception Point but wonder if the Air Force has closed those to humans?  Many of the beaches here on VAFB are partially closed during snowy plover season…maybe a couple are permanently closed?

Here are the photos I took while Rob stayed in the car with John, sheltering himself from the biting wind.  The harsh weather didn’t affect the coastline, however, as evidenced by the beautiful flowers thriving on the hillside.

Congratulations to my brother Todd and his wife Kristin!  Here’s my beautiful new nephew, Callan:

Lainey and Max with Callan

Newborn Callan

It’s difficult to believe but my little John Daniel has a tooth.  Two of them, actually.  It took a friend to say to me “hey, what’s that”? before I realized he had a little sharp object protruding out his bottom set of gums.  A couple days later, he got his second one.  Now we’re on a lull; I haven’t seen a new tooth for about a week.  Maybe they’ll start popping out the top next!

Here’s Mr. McGruff with teeth (how do nursing moms deal with this?) and since he’s a big boy now, we’ve taken away his infant car seat and put him in the stroller forward-facing.  He’s also in his convertible car seat in our GMC Yukon (which will accomodate him up to 65 lbs).  Thanks Wendy for selling it to me – works great!

My weekly issue of Time magazine arrived today and on it’s cover is this headline: The End of Excess: Why this crisis is good for America.  Yes!  What a positive, uplifting take on the economic downturn.   I haven’t read the article yet, but look forward to it.  I can only surmise that the article speaks about cutting costs and things we don’t need anyway.

Here are some things we’ve done to cut costs:  downgrade our cable (I don’t have time to watch it anyway with John around), dinner/movie dates have fallen by the wayside to be replaced by beach trips (we have several beaches right here on base),  packing Rob’s lunches everyday so he doesn’t need to eat out, walking to the grocery store and friends houses (pedestrians don’t use petrol), and giving Kona and Zoe home-made treats (sorry Drs. Foster and Smith).  The only thing that I’d have a hard time axeing would be the Internet service.  Seems that we’ve officially moved from TV as our main source of media entertainment to the world-wide-web.  It’s even possible to take a tour of Buckinham Palace on-line!

Possibly the biggest way we’re cutting costs is to buy things second-hand for Mr. JD.  All (or very nearly all) of his clothes are garage-sale buys or hand-me-downs.  His stroller I purchased on Craigslist.  His crib and changing table bought from a friend.  His nursing chair on clearance at Babies-R-Us (75% off!).  His carseat on sale from AAFES (no tax, no shipping).  Most recently, Rob put a swingset out in our backyard that we bought from a friend here on base who is moving.  I’m even going to garden second-hand!  There are some flowers belonging to a willing neighbor that I have my eye on…

These photos were taken last Sat. night with John’s new swingset and friends who came over for a BBQ.  Yay summer! 

Here are a few of my favorite foods: sweet potatos(skin on and baked), peanut butter, bagels, donuts(plain, no filling or frosting), thick-cut fries, crunchy corn bran, camembert or gouda, and plain whole milk European-style yogurt.  

This last one is why today is an especially good day…John started eating yogurt today.  He started on solids a couple weeks ago, and today was yogurt day.  He started with basic rice cereal, then progressed to oatmeal, then sweet potato, then on to avocado, then bananas.  Today was his funniest face of all (near panicked expression) as I spoon fed him the slightly-sour, thick and creamy white bliss.  For him, it’s easily eaten because of the consistency.  Despite his dour expression, I think he likes it:)

In the following photos it’s pretty apparent what he’s eating, as it’s all over his face (ok-it’s rice cereal if you can’t tell).  His mealtime messyness would confirm that he’s a Spear.  Now if I could only get him to eat adult breakfast cereals….

I’m an Aunt again!  Yesterday my brother and his wife had a little 8lb 12oz boy whom they named Callan Shea Spear.  I’ll have photos soon – congratulations to Todd and Kristin!!

I guess since I don’t have any photos of little Callan, I’ll post some of John in the meantime;)  The first few photos are from our area here at Vandenberg AFB.  The beach photo is the beach right here on base!  The windmill photo is from a nearby town called Solvang – I took mom and dad to the farmers market there.  The rest are from our trip down to Newport Beach with Nana and Papa Spear.  It was really relaxing and a nice trip.  Enjoy the photos!

This morning I was lucky enough to do some Yoga moves on the beach.  I jogged down there and enjoyed the beautiful morning and great waves.  It was so beautiful: rocky coastline with some good soft sand too!   The best part is how un-crowded all the beaches are; there was only one other guy anywhere nearby.

I’ve also been trying to get into jogging near our house on the great trail that runs practically out our backyard.  It’s all groomed and wooded – very scenic.  Last Sunday I took advantage of mom and dad visiting for a long run with the dogs.  All was going well until I saw something up ahead…wondering to myself if it’s a person or a plant…neither; it was a coyote.  I slowed down and trid somewhat inconspicuously to wave him off the trail before Kona saw him.  He finally trotted into the trees, but not before Kona gave chase.  She was gone a good 5 minutes, in which time Zoe made a half-hearted effort to chase but came back after realizing she is not the predatory kind.  It re-affirms my conviction not to jog on the trail alone.  Never know what’s out there…

We’ve been spending the last few days here in Newport Beach and it’s just so relaxing.  We’ve seen Laguna Beach, Corona Del Mar, and we’ll go to Balboa Island tomorrow.  I wish there was enough time for Corona Island, but Rob and I can come down and do that later.  

John update: he’s now rolling from front to back.  He’s been rolling from his back to his tummy for a little while now.  He was so frustrated because once he reached his tummy, he couldn’t get back over to his back!  Now he’s solved that problem by rolling around like a log.  I’m cutting his fingernails almost every day, which is a great sign of his health but labor-intensive for me!  Only when Nanna feeds him can I cut them, otherwise he’s waving his hands around too much.  Last new development is his back-arching tricks.  When Grammie Shrader came he decided it was time to start trying to stand and arch his back whenever anyone tried to hold him.  He’s not even crawling yet, so he is a long way from standing.  But he’s hopeful!

More photos soon…

‘There Now’.  Imagine sitting in a pub in Ireland drinking what, by all accounts, seems to be apple juice warmed up and named ‘cider’…but the apple juice has some intense alcohol added, which isn’t discovered until hours later under a slight mental fog.  This happened to my mom while she and dad were visiting Ireland a couple years ago.  Every time they say ‘There Now’, it’s their way of remembering their trip…apparently a lot of folks in pubs in Ireland say ‘There Now’ after heartily serving apple “cider”.   

I ran into a gal from Ireland the other day and she was delighted when I said tongue-in-cheek “There Now”.  Happy St. Paddy’s Day everyone!  Mom and dad are visiting now and they’ve purchased an appropriately shamrock-covered outfit for John.  As soon as he tries it on, I’ll post the photos on the web.  

Until then, here are some catch up shots from Christmas!  We were at Todd and Kristin’s house in Portland with cousins Lainey and Max.  Max kept asking “where’s Uncle Rob”?  To which I replied “Max, he’s in Japan”…and Max said (very cute-ly): “Pan”??  It’s him trying to say Japan…

Play time at Spears in Portland

Family Photo with Grandkids

Nana and John

the boys and me