and I finally got to meet her...

I finally got to meet my 1 year old niece Sasha and am so happy even though I make her cry cause she is shy. I did get to hold her momentarily when she was unawares in lifting her up to the window so she could watch Isaiah and Amán get on the school bus this morning.... Incredibly cute though she has made quick friends with the rest of the cousins as she has tooled around the house in search of stuff... James is considering grad school and there are some programs at Boston College and UMass Amherst that he is interested in.... And they all flew out to come talk to some of the professors and get a feel for the area. Aria and James thank you so much for making the trip out this way and atleast considering this area to live in... we would love you close. And along those lines, we have been SUPER (pero sobrepasado) helpful in hopes to facilitate the decision... (you know which one). Mom and Jere sent along a whole bunch of Volio coffee from CR AND some pinito which is basically powdered milk but we use it as cream in coffee in CR (mmmmmmmm what IS it about that stuff that makes the coffee soooo good???). They also sent some hanging baskets for fruit and such from the Puriscal area. Thanks so much for thinking of us. Anyway, I hear them pulling in now coming back from their drive to Boston today. I want to get as much of Sasha as possible before she goes down for the night.

Imaginary Play

Our windows and doors are open on this mid January day. Unbelieveable! Global warming/Climate change is real. Don't let anyone fool you. And it will affect all of us.

here's a pic of the boys eating an ecuadorian mango... dry but perfect...

On a lighter note. I hear the kids in their imaginary play all the time. They watch or listen to something and the way they process what they saw is by acting it out. And everytime I hear them I want to write down an example of it. I am sure some of you have heard it or done it your selves... it does bring back faint memories for me... But here's some of what the boys and Aiden were playing at a blindingly fast pace this afternoon in the 65 degree weather. (and remember that every movement no matter how small has some sound effect associated with it). 1 I am Darth Vader. 2 Yeah and I am Anakin, but a really young one. I race. 1 You can't be Anakin because I'm Anakin. 2 No but you said you are Darth Vader. 1 Anakin is Darth. 2 Oh yeah 1 So I am Darth Vader but good and I have rocket boots. 3 I want rocket boots 1 who are you? 3 obi wan 2 Obi wan doesn't have rocket boots 3 Dart doesn't either 1 right so we can both have rocket boots 3 yeah but I am bad. 1 & 2 ok GET HIM!!! 3 I switched to my rocket boots and fly over your heads 2 I try to hit you with my light saber but and fall in a hidden pit. 1 I threw a bomb at you 3 I grab it and throw it back to you. 1 I jump out of the way and chop your rocket boot off. 2 when I fell in the pit my head hit the wall, it broke and I found a little cave with some rocket boots and I put them on 3 you can't do that 2 why not? 3 why would somebody bury rocket boots? 1 they could, now we all have rocket boots... GET HIM!!! 3 if he has rocket boots then I am not playing. parent: c'mon now. everyone can have their own mind 3 ok GET HIM!! 1 wait who are you? 3 i am obi wan 1 not you. you. 2 I am general grevious but i have only two arms and I can use the force. 1 so can i 3 we all can. GET HIM!!! and so on and so forth... for hours and hours

Dos Mil Siete

Happy dos mil siete everyone! We ended the year with Ericka, Alfie and Irene slapped in the face by the first 4 episodes from season 5 of 24. What a crazy show!! Oh well. That's how we said hello to dos mil siete. This week a of vacation was nice. We had a successfull game night here with the Welbornes and friends, David Diehl, Steve Cotten and 315 Lincoln gang. Twister, spoons, wizard, a few youtube videos and lots of giggles... That morning I had come down with a serious sinus infection but made it through the festivities. The next morning, though still sick, we drove down to visit the NY Ruhes. We had the usual rocky start where we are getting used to one another and then a love fest with Dad and Janet. Several nice visits with Grandma and Doug. Finally got to see Shamsi. You are amazing Shams and I love you so much. And of course mellow madness with Jamal. Then it was back to Lincoln ave on saturday (Lise and Ann you must know that the aparatus you gave the boys for watching movies in the car is a life saver on these long drives!.. thank you again). Isaiah and I went to Feast at the Caban home and stayed up late praying, eating and chatting (well Isaiah was knocking over lamps while playing indoor tag and hiding from Juliana). Alf and I cleaned the garage on Sunday morning. Anika was in her jumpy and Mason was very excited that he had seen Anika's "two teeth" (see pic). Then while Aman was at his friend Tommy's house, Isaiah and played hockey in a UMass parking lot down the street with the neighbors from across the street. Alot of "streets" and run on sentences there but you get the picture. Today it was Hedgie's bday. This is Aman's favorite stuffed animal and they made a list of invitees. Hours of activity making cakes, invitations (to Mason and his favorite animals) and party hats. Nothing Bear even got one. Then Britt took the boys to see Charlotte's Web and I played with an effects pedal that Jamal gave me among other things. After all the clean up the night has ended watching Run Lola Run... I missed it when it came out and everyone raved about it... definitely worth the hype... Best wishes to all for good start to the new year!!

The Holidays

More holidays... I hope everyone had a chance to have a relaxing, mellow couple of days. Anna came out from Boston and Irene came down from Shutebury for a couple of very enjoyable days. The weather remained mild for this time of year (global warming/climate change... believe it!) so we were able to get out alot. Christmas eve was packed with a slammin hike to a resevoir just south of here. Irene and Anna arrived later that evening and we had a wonderful meal ala Ericka followed by games and a video. Today, we woke up and followed the Ericka family christmas tradition of stockings, breakfast then exchanging and opening gifts... wow... lots of paper noise, oooooos and aaaahhhhs and silliness, letting the coffee/tea do its thing and enjoying every moment but exhausted at the end of it all. We got it together later on enough to have a little romp on campus where Aman had the most bizarre accident, burned his hand pretty badly on a jet of steam coming from a manhole cover... but we made it through to the most amazing dinner. I put the boys down and then came down to two scrumptious pies and listened to the rest of the gang playing Wizard while I uploaded pictures and vids. The pics are classic and to understand the silliness of some of the vids you have to google "russian climber" and watch this 10 min clip of a guy doing this sport call freerunning where folks use anything and everything to climb and jump etc. Anyway, we are heading into a week of chill time. I hope Aman's hand feels better tomorrow so we can romp (we had it on ice all night... vamos a ver). We will probably go to Beacon, NY to visit Dad and Janet and all the Ruhes down there towards the end of the week.... Old_man’s_freerunning#3 Old_man’s_freerunning#2 Old_mans_freerunning#1 Old_man’s_freerunning#4

Rodando

Still moving and grooving. "El tiempo pasa. Nos vamos poniendo viejo"... but not really. It is the spark in the eye that counts. Everything else fades, strenghtens, weakens and then we are gone... to the next realm, the next stage in our flow towards God. I have also been thinking and wanting to write about the concept that we as humans have three basic "powers" from which all the rest of our "powers" are derived. These are: Knowledge, Love and Will. Another topic I have been exploring that I want to share at a later date to see if I can get any help from any of you who read this blog is what I call "the silliness of moral pluralism"... I will elaborate later.

Meanwhile, we have been cruising along. It is still pretty tough with the boys, especially Aman who is being plagued by terrible bouts of uncontrollable anger which he can't control. Britt and I have been forced to "control" it for him and it has been taking its toll on us. Other than this difficult item we are rolling. The boys are doing well in school, Isaiah writing and reading really well now and Aman on the verge of reading. Aman seems to like school alot more than Zai but we think it is because Isaiah doesn't have a pal yet he can get in trouble with... but we are working on that setting up play dates and getting more involved with the class. Britt's work is going really well and the program she sttarted continues to take off. My work has gotten really interesting with some new design-from-scratch jobs that I am flying solo on. Anyway. That was a quick update. I will fill you all in with more later. Here are some recent pics and vid of Gooey_Experiments .