The surest form of flattery

Toddlers love to imitate, and if imitation is the surest form of flattery, well then, our daughter loves us very much.  Some of our recent favorites:

• Talking on the phone -- "bladada jabab bladadaba" but VERY serious when she does it. And now some "Dadas" thrown in (I'm guessing she's calling Daddy at work).  We also love how the phone is usually backwards, upside down or something.  
• Harper loves walking up to random doors now, knocking, saying "knock knock" and then (even when the door isn't opened by anyone) she yells "HI!"
• Harper likes to pack up one of her little purses, walk over to our garage or front door and wave to me and say, "bye, bye."
• Harper has a little toy car and that gets into, says "beep beep" and then waves to me and says "bye bye!"
• Harper likes to get a book out, and "read" to herself....some form of language similar to the way she "talks" on the phone.  And yes, typically the book is upside down. :)
• Harper is starting to "cook" in her play kitchen now.
• Harper likes to give "pounds" and "high fives" to anyone who is offering, and is starting to be more generous with her hugs and kisses. 
• Harper likes to push the grocery cart when she can, or the stroller.
• Harper likes to clean when I clean up, a spill, or whatever it might be (hoping this is a trend that continues!)
• Whenever we bring food to Harper now, she often says "Hotaaaaaaa" even when it's not hot, and she often blows on it to cool it (even cold strawberries!)
• Harper likes to "blow" her nose with a tissue, but really she's just making a loud noise and sometimes blowing out her mouth.
• This week she got a stuffed monkey out, put it in her future brother's crib and said, "night night" to the monkey.
• She insists on wearing a necklace if I'm wearing a necklace.
• If I tell Harper we're going bye bye, she gets my shoes for me like I get hers when we go out (often mis-matching, but hey, she's trying).
• And last but not least, Harper likes to try to wipe me when I go to the bathroom. Instead, I encourage her to flush the toilet!

The Boss

So last night we (this is Kelly writing) were enjoying one of our first evenings of having cable.  Chris and I watched "Cake Boss" while Harper literally ran back and forth in the family room yelling at the top of her lungs holding scraps of fabric and laying down on large swaths that I had cut to make curtains in our family room (after having the fabric for literally almost a year!).  The things that amuse her....anyway, back to the story. After a while we turned off the TV and took Harper up to get ready for bed. As Chris was carrying her up the steps, he asked, "Harper, can you say 'Boss'?" (in honor of Cake boss show), and Harper, with zero hesitation says, "MAMA."  Right on kid, right on. [And below you can see my resemblance to the other "boss," I think it's pretty obvious!]

Horseshoe Court!!!

This weekend was the grand unveiling of the horseshoe court that my friend Pete helped me put together a few weeks ago.  Why a horseshoe court, rather than a simple pit you ask?  Well, we can think our friends at HGTV for planting the seed (http://www.hgtv.com/home-improvement/build-a-horseshoe-court/index.html).

Not surprisingly, the HGTV people had a few advantages - namely, a bottomless budget and more importantly, a flat piece of land for their court.  I like to think the slope of our court creates some unique playing conditions for the true playas!  Anyway, here are some pics...

(okay, this is actually the HGTV court...marble chips (cha-ching)!!!

(look at those spacious throwing areas...take that HGTV!!!)

(I probably got bit by about 20 mosquitos while taking these pictures...horseshoe court

season is definitely October through April!)

International Visitor!

Last Saturday, our family was visited from a member of another nation...Window Nation (http://www.windownation.com/).  We were thinking about replacing our original wooden windows (35 years old) with brand new vinyl replacement windows.  Window purchasing, much like car buying and home shopping would be much, much easier if the process mirrored an online checkout system..."hmmmm, yes, replacement windows, add 18 to the cart, checkout now...done and done!"  But alas, it's not to be, so instead of five minutes of online purchasing, we got to spend "60-90" minutes with the emmissary from the Window Nation. 

The rep was nice enough, but the time really seemed to drag along as he went through binders and binders (literally) of information.  It was almost like one Window Nation minute was twice as slow as a good ole USA minute.  Oh wait...that's because it was!  Along with the two binders of information we also received an elaborate demonstration of how certain glass blocks UV rays, and were amazed by the "the more panes of glass you have, the more heat/cold you stop from getting into your house" theorem.  We even got to feel the special caulk that they used - I tried not to touch the caulk at first (I mean honestly, touch the caulk?), but it seemed to be a gateway we had to pass through to get to the next part of the presentation, so I touched.  And it felt like...caulk!  We were clocking around 2 hours (by comparison, the current marathon world record stands at 2:03.59) at this point.

Around this time my mom and sister came over (they were going to watch Harper so Kelly and I could go out to dinner), and Harper was not willing to sit quietly and listen to the window man do his talky talk, so Kelly deftly left the room to spend time with them.  Now, when John McCain was a POW in Vietnam, and was offered a chance to leave his awful bondage, he declined out of a gesture of solidarity with his fellow prisioners.  Kelly was no John McCain...but on the other hand, had the tables been reversed, neither would I!  "Via Con Dios, Window Nation!" [Kelly is adding in here, "It was your idea to get this estimate Chris, so you get to pay the price of listening to the full propaganda presentation."]

With Kelly gone, the salesman shifted tactics a bit, with the big price discussion (finally) looming.  Gone were demonstrations of windows opening and closing (yes, even new windows slide up and down), UV ray deflection, and caulk touching - instead, it was time to do a little man to man talking:

WN:  "Chris, women are difficult to please - you know how hard it is to make Kelly happy."
Me:  (unable to verbalize anything, but thinking, "actually, we communicate pretty well, so I generally know what makes her happy, but thanks for asking.")
WN:  I mean, seriously, Kelly isn't going to care what the U-factor of these windows is (not true), how many UV rays they block (also, not true), or how well they're installed (and, we're three for three at this point) - what she cares about is if they look pretty (actually, her lowest overall decision factor, but thanks for playing).
Me:  (?)  As an aside - I hate it when sales people pull lines like this...believe it or not, there are folks out there who actually really like their spouse!  Shocker! 

After that painful exchange we (finally) got to the pricing conversation, and the Window Nation diplomat threw this little quote out before sliding the price sheet my way, "I mean, window replacement is a big commitiment - you're going to be spending as much on a car as on these windows...."  At this point I'm hoping that that car is one of these...

Rather than one of these...

Despite the fact that we were young homeowners, with one full-time income, a small child, and another soon on the way, Window Nation decided to quote us the price on the "most expensive" (their words, not mine) windows they sell.  Not surprisingly, when I looked the quote, the price was listed as $Jetson's Hovercar.  

Mercifully, Kelly walked in at this time, and got things moving again.  She thanked the rep for quoting the best possible window ever known to modern man, but suggested that he price something lower on the price spectrum.  It was awesome - I felt like I knew how John McCain must have felt when he actually got to go home - the cavalry had finally arrived!  The price came across the table, much lower, but still in major "ouch" territory.  We looked at it, said that we wouldn't make a decision that day, and hoped that was that.  Kelly, not wanting to leave my mom and sister, who had now been over a little under an hour, left the room again.  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...at least Chuck Norris will be back to get me someday!!!

Anyway, after about 15 minutes of high pressure sales talk, the rep left without having made the sale, clocking in at about 2 hours and 45 minutes. 

Let me just say that if Window Nation was a real nation, it would be like Dubai, and everyone would drive a Rolls Royce and have gold plated toilets, and would burn dollar bills in the winter to heat their homes.  Oh, wait, that's right, they wouldn't need to do that, because their windows would be so efficient, there would be no need.  But as for us, well, if you come over this winter, make sure you dress warmly. 

(Harper studying up on some Window Nation propaganda)

Harper's Favorite Toy

Kelly here -- my first official post for the "Chillin" blog.  I am your first guest poster (and will likely be the only guest poster) and if you're lucky, I might even upgrade to "regular contributor."  We'll see!  As I think I've mentioned to a few people, Harper's newest favorite toy is....my underwear.  Lovely.  About 8 weeks ago she started digging it out the hamper (GROSS!!) unless I found a couple clean pairs to let her carry around.  However, this week she discovered where the underwear drawer is located and so our bedroom is now constantly covered in my underwear.  And there are usually a few stray pairs hanging around the family room and study too.  Harper's vocabulary is limited, but she now can say "underwear" (of course, I don't know that there are any consanants when she says it but we know what it is).  Her favorite thing to do with the underwear is to hang anywhere from 3-6 pairs around her neck.  I finally caught her this week on camera. :)

Harper Hunt...A Real American (guitar) Hero!!!

Recently Harper has been into Guitar Hero...REALLY into Guitar Hero, as this video shows.  Around 1:20 into the video, Harper also invents a new product...the guitar phone (soon to be patented by the Hunt family)!  Call Steve Jobs...I think we've got a winner here! 

Best Opening Paragraph...EVER!!!

I'm currently reading "The Battle for North America" - an abridgment of Francis Parkman's 13-volume "France and England in North America" which is no longer published, but was called "the greatest single achievement in our literature" by Henry Commanger (maybe I can get him to review this blog!).  Anyway, this book, about the French and English experience in North America from discovery until the end of the French and Indian War, has the best opening paragraph of any book I've ever read.  I always enjoy authors who manage to squeeze what seem like pages out of a single paragraph, and this one is the king:

The ancient town of St. Malo - thrust out like a buttress into the sea, strange and grim of aspect, breathing war from its walls and battlements of ragged stone, a stronghold of privateers, the home of  a race whose intractable and defiant independence neither time nor change has subdued - has been for centuries a nursery of hardy mariners.  Among the earliest and most eminent on its list stands the name of Jacques Cartier.  His portrait hangs in the town hall of St. Malo - bold, keen features bespeaking a spirit not apt to quail before the wrath of man or of the elements.

It would take me the entire time Parkman wrote all 13 volumes to ever come up with a paragraph like that.  Awesome. 

On a side note, it has been really neat to read about the history of New France, especially because much of it centers around one of my favorite places - Acadia National Park.  I had no idea that Mt. Desert Island is essentially France's Plymouth Rock.  Really makes me excited to explore this aspect of the park the next time we get back there. 

Here's a brief history from the Acadia website:  http://www.nps.gov/acad/historyculture/stories.htm

When Poop is Cute

When is poop cute?  When you're talking about kids and poop, that's when!  Yesterday Harper and I dropped off a little Harper poop in the toilet from her cloth diaper.  Here's the play-by-play after that:

Me:  "Harper, do you want to flush the toilet?"
Harper:  (nodding, flushes the toilet)
Me:  "Great job sweetheart - let's go downstairs."
Harper:  (stops, puts down the toilet seat and toilet seat cover, places her mouth about half an inch from the top of the cover)  "Byyyye-Byyyyye" (while waiving).

Awesome.

Garden/Yard Update!

I managed to get in a little work in the yard this weekend - even early yesterday morning in the rain, which was actually kind of fun (in a "hey, I'm getting soaked while sitting in the mud" kind of way - you know what I'm talking about).  I really wanted to work on the area around Harper's sandbox and swingset, which had become overgrown with weeds and looked like it was a foreclosed swingset/sandbox.  Unfortunately there aren't any "before" pictures, but here's what it looks like afterwards...

Last week I killed all of the weeds with some Roundup, and used a thatching rake to pull everything up.  On a side note, if you ever want to do some of the most physically intense lawn maintance work imaginable, use a thatching rake on your yard for a few minutes.  Terrible.  People could do away with gym memberships if they all used these things.  Anyway, after the weeds were pulled up, I dug a trench around the area I wanted covered by the mulch.  This is kind of a pain, and yeilds a lot of dug up dirt quickly, but makes things look good, and will be easy to mow.  Without the trench, the mulch isn't contained, and spreads over the grass unevenly.  I also found a few pieces of flagstone by our air conditioner and was able to use them on add to the little path.

Quick project #2 was to finish up the stone stairs that will eventually lead to a path around our backyard.  At this rate, completion should be around 2018...right on schedule!  I was able to get all three stones from our yard, and thankfully was able to find three with flat sides to use for steps. 

This was also the weekend that I decided to take the netting down from around the ("deer resistant") columbine I planted this Spring, and that the deer munched on almost immediately.  Nothing says classy like mesh netting in your front yard...

                     

Anyway, we'll see how/if this works.  Could be opening up the buffet. 

We finally got our first hint of a bloom from our bee balm, that we planted this spring.  Bee Balm is a member of the mint family, and has stems that are square (like all mint members), which are interesting.  Anyway, we planted four very small plants in April, and they have just killed it - growing like crazy, but no blooms despite their size.  Hopefully we're turning the corner. 

                    

Our lavender (about ten plants) continues to do well and is blooming more and more (it usually blooms in June, and I'm guessing that it's late because we planted this year).  I even cut some for drying on Friday, which smelled great.  I transplanted three plants from near our driveway to our front walk to give them a little more sun. 

                   

Say hello to our newest additions...three compact reed grasses (4 for $12 at Home Depot this week).  I do love me some ornamental grasses. 

Quick Video - Ocean City Beach Trip

Here's a quick video I put together early this morning with pictures and video from our trip to the beach the week before last. Highlights definitely include Harper learning to say "I am ready!" which I was able to get a few times, and Harper having a great time in the water. This trip was also my first experience using long exposures to capture fireworks and lightening, but I'll get into more of that a little later.

Game On!!!

Whoever thought that starting a blog would be old school?  I guess MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter have really taken us far away from what - 2006.  I'm guessing that was the high water mark of the blogging universe, as all of the names I tried for this blog (and yes, in case you're wondering, someone had already taken "The Awesomeness of Me") were snatched up in 2006.  Kind of crazy.  Anyway, this blog is the answer to the question of what you get when you don't have a Twitter account, generally don't have a lot of time to communicate with a lot of people, and your Facebook profile still lists you as childless despite the fact that you have an 18 month old.


From what I've gathered, most folks have some sort of angle that distinguishes their blog from other blogs (another reason I was bummed that "The Awesomeness of Me" was taken).  Ideally, we'll talk about the fam, along with a little talkie talkie about photography, cooking, the adventures of taking care of our one acre lot (and trying to deter the deer that terrorize it), non-fiction books, and a hearty dose of our beloved Washington Redskins.  As far as angles go, I think I've just alienated just about everyone in the country, so we'll see how that works out (somehow I think national syndication is now sadly out of reach).  Either way, we'll be just riffin - so enjoy!