Claire Apr 18 08, originally uploaded by nooccar.

A few days ago Donna suggested I take Claire to our local park. Part of the suggestion was for us to do something together and the other part was for Donna to have some peace to work on her homework. We’ve been to Carriage Lane Park before and it’s cool since we can almost walk there. We headed over there with Claire’s new soccer ball one of my students bought her for her birthday.

The first day she didn’t really get the whole kicking the ball thing, but she loves the swings. The slides there are ok, but not as cool as Desert Breeze Park. We played around a bit, and she learned how to climb up this one ladder and slide down a pole like a fireman. We were there about an hour. The next day she asked Donna to take her there, so we three went. We stayed for quite sometime, and once it got dark we walked around the lake there looking for ducks. It was a pretty nice time, and the weather this time of the year is nice.

Tonight Claire immediately asked to go back to the park. Donna told her that we couldn’t go tonight. I piped up and agreed that I would take her. We grabbed her soccer ball and took off after dinner. As soon as she got to the grass, she began kicking it and chasing it. She ran and kicked and ran and kicked and giggled. She probably kicked that thing and chased it about 75 yards before stopping. I was so proud and was also trying to keep up.

After she was done with that we did the whole playground circuit. A little blond girl who must’ve been about a year older kept talking to us, but she was more interested in interacting with me than with Claire. Claire later played in the sand a but before we headed home. We will definitely get back there soon.

Claire’s bday weekend, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Donna had seen IHOP commercials about the Horton Hears a Who breakfast meal, and for some reason she got it in her head that Claire needed this meal! Since Claire’s birthday is on a Tuesday this year, we decided to being celebrating on Sunday with this breakfast. It’s a pancake tower with what is suppose to be blueberry syrup and colored chocolate chips. A "dum dum" sticks out the top, and of course the meal was served with green eggs (spinach) and ham! She loved it!!

Afterward we drove to Desert Breeze part in Chandler where Claire loves going on the playground equipment. When we got there we discovered they’d recently installed shade coverings, so it was much nicer here. This little girl’s a natural monkey who needs her own equipment at home! After the playground, she splashed around with about 25 other kids on the sprinkler mats that run all day in the warmer months. Of course we didn’t think ahead so she got to do this in her underwear and a t-shirt, which dried afterward as we walked around the lake there. A great first day of her three day birthday celebration!

Back home from Los Angeles now, after a relatively exciting weekend. Friday we toured Disney, and we get to hear about movies coming out in several more years. The newest, exciting movie is The Princess and The Frog, which will even introduce a brand new princess, Tiana! I respect that there are things I can be told and things I can’t, but it was cool going to Disney and being able to see the animators and artists drawing a movie coming out in summer 2009.

While walking around Disney, my cousin asked if we wanted to see the wardrobe from The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe,
and we agreed. Donna’s never seen the movie even, but we thought it
would be cool. While in the mini-archives, across from the wardrobe was
the knob from Bedknobs and Broomsticks! I have always loved
this movie, and this was the most exciting thing all day. In the case
next to the knob was an Oscar statue! The closest I will probably ever
come, but the knob was coolest!

Over the last few years, mostly by accident, I’ve been visiting aquariums around the country. I took Claire to Monterey Bay Aquarium with MaryAnn & Donna last March, last April I toured the Denver aquarium, and the year before, while at a conference, I went with colleagues to the Baltimore Aquarium. So this weekend we headed down to Long Beach, CA to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I was pretty excited about this, but when we arrived (after a scrumptious lunch at Bubba Gump!), it looked relatively small. I figured it’d be bigger inside, but it really wasn’t. Claire quickly became a demon child from hell, and I think she threw the longest tantrum in history! We made our way through the aquarium, saw some cool fish, and hung out. It was very cramped and small, but we made it what we could.

Sunday we drove back across the desert to Arizona, and Claire kept asking when we would take her to see Sarah! We told her "next year" and I think hope she understands what that means.

IMG_0710.JPG, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Today Claire and I went to Michael’s for craft day where she made a Tinkerbell plaque.

I’m sitting here at my diningroom table, looking out through slotted blinds into my backyard. Yes, it’s still dirt and I can see my grill and Emma’s old red slide that Claire inherited, but I can also see the trees in the distance, the window framed by pear curtains, and in the center of it all beyond my mess is three bamboo plants Donna bought at MCC. She said she liked them there, and frankly they are the first plant-like thing neither of us killed in …. well…. ever. They make me feel like I have a real office where I can sit and work all day, where things are green and lush, and definitely not deserty.

Occasionally the landscapers walk by. Today they are leveling all the area left piled up by the fence guy, and they are also installing the dog run. Yeah! They are going being very careful with the dog run, and I think it looks great. They’ve been here since 7AM, but they’ve been working like dogs all day.

Here’s a shot of my work area as it stands right now. It mutates as Spring Break ’08 slowly slips away.

Sunday was the Oscar party, and the cake read 8th Annual Oscar Party, when Donna wanted it to read 80th Annual Oscars. Oops! I think it’s been 8 years now, which is cool, and I do believe that our friend Dana has been to every single party. This was a wonderful party, and I think part of that was because we had it catered. We also hired a babysitter for Claire, which is the coolest thing. Hire a babysitter while you are home. Wow. We had about 25 people show up, and Donna and I tied for first place this year with 13 each! We have never tied, and this year may have been my highest scoring year yet. I am an idiot thought since I would’ve had 15 but I picked There Will Be Blood for best director and film — do NOT ask me why! I mean I knew No Country would win, but I think I was too busy preparing to be smart about it. Damnit. So I picked the wrong films. I had MCC friends come, and Basha friends, and friends from neither place. My student teacher brought me some home brewed beer that I am still enjoying, and our friend brought their one year old who enjoyed playing with Claire half the evening. Pictures are forthcoming on flickr.

I can’t believe this! I posted. I really did. Well I meant to. Anyway, the original post was very boring, but it was written when I was way more awake. Now I am barely awake, and there aren’t any lights on near me. So stop reading now. Feel free. Just close your browser, and "walk way!" as Claire would say.

You still here? Ok, so here’s an update. We got the house painted. It took a week to pick colors, and damn it’s beautiful now! Awesome. We love it. Today we went looking for new lighting for outside, but we couldn’t agree on anything. We want to match a new mailbox, house numbers, etc… to the lighting. Ugh. We did order a security door, though. It’s almond and will come in 2 weeks, so Dante & Claire can play and air can come and go. It’ll be nice to have air coming into the house.

So I’ve been playing with the idea of making a new blog. We had a discussion at work at the beginning of the semester about this idea of the 21st century student and what that means. I’ve been playing with these ideas and talking to people about it for about a year now. Part of the presentation was about evaluating websites and a friend of mine didn’t like that part of the presentation. In a Web 1.0 world that evaluative tool worked. Now it doesn’t. For example, my www.dcamd.com website is very static and was designed that way. Now I need to redo it all to make it more dynamic and organic. This will more than likely be done through WordPress, but I fear when I begin working on it, it’ll become obsessive. So I’ve not done that yet. One thing at a time.

Don’t know what to tell you. Here we sit in OUR OWN LIVING ROOM! Claire got so many presents from her family that we had 9 bags coming back from Pittsburgh today. Donna’s father just rolled his eyes and made his comments and moved on. This morning we had to take Danny’s 4Runner and Dad’s Jeep to the airport since we had so much stuff. One bag I had weighed 53.5 pounds and the other was 48 pounds. Danny & I stood there and took out piece by piece, weighing it by hand. Eventually both bags were 50.0 pounds and Danny had a handful of clothes and I had a few DVDs. We were proud of ourselves for figuring it all out, and then Donna showed up to check her and Claire in.

Once we made it on the plane (and yes, the new SOUTHWEST seating orders suck!) Claire fell asleep for 90 minutesl I got three magazines read cover to cover and Donna read her Reader’s DIgests. I can’t believe I took about 8 magazines home to read, and I read three ON the ride home!

Now we’re sitting here at home, unpacking, watching reality TV that we recorded while we were gone, and watching Claire be very attentive to the baby dolls that were sitting here for the last three weeks. She’s got a new babydoll stroller from Mimi & Pap Pap, and she’s been driving them all over the house in the stroller. Back to the grindstone…

2007_Dec_Christmas_7Springs_16.JPG, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Today we headed back to 7Springs, and Uncle Jaime skiied with Claire all morning. He’s a great uncle, and we all had an awesome time.

Ok, I’ll admit it. When Donna said she was planning on leaving for her parent’s house a week before me, I wasn’t too despondent. I love my wife and adore my daughter, but everyone needs a little time every now and then. So here I sit. It’s been 4 days since they left town and I am BORED. Bored out of my MIND. I thought I’d see a movie or two, get some stuff done that isn’t doable with a 2 1/2 year old towing along, and finish out my semester. So I made list after list, I went to work as early as I wanted and I went to be whenever I wanted, and it’s Thursday. I don’t know if going to see I Am Legend Sunday threw me off, or maybe I am just going crazy, but I swear I now have a nervous tick. I also get bored listening to music in the car, listening to my iPod in the car, or even calling my family. Yesterday afternoon I spent in the car dealership getting my wife’s oil changed. Today I am right back in the same place. Same place. Almost the same table. Can you believe one person can swig so much coffee? We saw the Golden Compass last night, and I really enjoyed it. I never looked to see what time it was, I tried to analyze it as I watched it, and I, overall, enjoyed it. Now later I get to buy Claire ski socks for this weekend even though it may rain, and I get to clean the house. I may even go out to dinner with a friends family. Don’t know. We’ll see.