Ready for the Keys

I think the kid is ready to drive a car.

 How can we tell? For one, take a look at that big wheel.

The keys are in the ignition, all ready to drive.

Plus, he drew this (rather impressive in our opinion) picture of him driving a Volkswagen bus. He drew this all by himself, we might add, no help or inspiration from his parents. The Volkswagen bus part made his mom proud and his dad wince. 

The Spring Break Adventures of Boat Grandpa & Uncle Dude

My Dad and Uncle Dave were in town last week for my spring break. First off, these fools drove down straight through from Seattle; after experiencing that joy, I would politely decline such a proposed trip, but there's no accounting for crazy. Once everyone got situated, it was off to the baseball games.

The first of quite a few ball games, we saw the M's vs. the A's and Dave got his first taste of spring training victory. In reality though, 85 and sunny at a ballgame right behind the 3rd base dugout, everybody wins.

Owen scarfed down a hot dog at the game that was about half his size.  It was a milestone in my life, having bought my boy a hot dog at a ball game. Hopefully the first of many.

It wasn't all fun and games, though. When we all get together, we "like" to do little projects around the house. This time we built a fence for Carrie's garden (more on that later).  It may look like 2/3 of the party was doing the work, but in reality, Dave was cooking up some really thoughtful design ideas for Carrie to paint once the fence was up. 

Even work (or forced labor, depending on your perspective) can't be that bad because this picture was taken in F-Dub right around the time we were building that fence. I know where I'd rather be.

Which brings me to Uncle Dude. Owen gave Dave this nickname and, wouldn't you know it, it surpassed Uncle Fester as Dave's preferred nickname. 

Sound Asleep

I think I can take pictures of him sleeping for, maybe, a couple more years before he finds it creepy.

I always check on him one last time before I go to bed. 

Besides giving myself comfort knowing that he is sound asleep and comfortable, I like watching him sleep for even a few seconds because he looks so sweet and peaceful. It also reminds me how little he is, and yet how quickly he is growing.

I Ruv Ru

Taking a break from Owen photos and instead putting up a couple shots of Roland. He's a pretty cool guy and deserves some blogosphere attention. Plus, we think he was born in March so, "Happy 1st Birthday, Rolly Polly!"

Look at how happy he is here! It was about 15 minutes after this shot was taken that we realized he found the rawhide bone stash and had been sneaking them out one by one.

Roland is learning the tricks to getting pet. I mean, how can you not pet a dog when he sweetly just places his head on your lap

Seattlelite

The Wilhelme Family had the good fortune of having a very dear friend of ours spend some time with us last week.  I've reached the tipping point with Miranda, meaning I have lived longer with her in my life than without her.  We met when we were 15 or so and have been in each other's lives ever since. She came into my school one day to help me teach, and with one of my classes she told them that she had known "Eddy" for like 15 years.  There were looks of befuddlement abound - both for the timespan and that their teacher is known as Eddy to some people.

I love low maintenance friends.  It can be a year and a half since the last time I talked to Miranda, but I can call her up and she'd be like, "Oh, hey what's up Eddy?"  It's nice to have those people in your life with so much history banked, nothing that happens in the present really affects the dynamic.  Our friendship just is.  I can list on one hand the total number of people I feel that way about.

Miranda made a new friend and perhaps an admirer with Owen.  This picture was taken in the midst of a car-sick-pit-stop on the way to Sedona.  Owen composed himself rather quickly so as not to appear vulnerable in front of his new friend.

Time is a funny thing.  Throw in some life and you have quite the bizarre combination.  To go from dumb, apathetic children to less dumb, engaged adults is quite the transition and I'm glad to have had this amazing person to call a friend along the way.

I really don't think Owen wanted Miranda to go, but she's in the middle of a walkabout of sorts.  She's been traveling the world in search of a new experience and perhaps some new insight or characteristics as well.  I'm not sure exactly what she took away from a week with the Wilhelmes, but I am so happy we had the opportunity to contribute.

Future Planner

Owen helped out with my homework the other night for one of my planning classes.

Owen's type of planning is a Phoenix developer's dream. Since Owen is such a lover of cars, he decided this city needs way more roads.