Rickshaw Daddy

Daddy got his new bike at a big Labor Day Sale this past weekend, and Virg and Emmett thought that it was about time that Daddy started putting it to good use by carting them around.  So Daddy purchased a heavy duty, steel frame two-man (vey short man) cart for the boys, and they have been putting Daddy through his paces.  Driving up and down hills (down is their favorite), on smooth and rough terrain, to and fro, around and around.  The boys don't know any specific destinations where they want to go in the cart yet, but in the meantime they figure the best strategy is to just keep Daddy moving at a brisk pace, so he doesn't tip over.

Daddy's Rickshaw Service is open for business.

Virg and Emmett - ready to ride.

A hard day's work

Those in the business know that working at Microsoft can get pretty intense at times.  In fact, sometimes the expectations at Microsoft drive some employees to work extremely long and hard until one day they snap and decide that there's more to life and no amount of Starbuck's coffee will get them to work 120 hours a week anymore.  Virg has always wondered what happens to Daddy when he goes into work at the Redmond Microsoft Campus.  Sometimes he comes home looking pretty beat.  But last week, Daddy came in the door looking like he had just run a 5K race through a gauntlet of rainbow powder puffs.  Virg knew at this point, he would have to give Daddy a talk about when to put your foot down and say no more powder puffs, no matter how much they are paying you.

Daddy, how many more black ties and white shirts will have to suffer before you say "no more" to the Microsoft powder puff machine?

Work of Art

Yesterday, the boys and Daddy came up with the great idea of doing some painting...on themselves.  Daddy assured that it started as a contemplative activity to deepen one's understanding of the temporal experience of life in line with the Buddhist monk practice of creating sand mandalas.  However, by the time Mommy got there, they had gone post-modern and it was all about art for art's sake.  Both boys looked like they might be part of a roving display from the Museum of Modern Art, and Daddy was holding one of the loaded paint brushes.  But as long as everybody stayed in the tub until they were cleaned off, Mommy was happy to let them expand their artistic horizons.

The Hansen Brothers - a self-portrait.

It's workout time!

Some of you may remember that Daddy was training for a 5K fun run ("fun" used here very loosely) last February in the frigid dampness of Valentine's Day weekend.  Daddy's new enthusiasm (some people - insert here Mommy - may say obsession) of getting in shape is spreading to the rest of the family.  Virg and Emmett have taken up the cause with vigor.  They are regularly seen chasing each other around the house with giant exercise balls reinacting the famous boulder scene from the first Indiana Jones movie and snapping each other with various brightly colored rubber exercise bands.  Daddy has even talked Mommy into starting a 90-day workout-till-you-drop program of which they are now on day 3 and Mommy is already at the till-you-drop point.  But Daddy is not easily discouraged.  He has his Jack LaLanne juicer, and he's not afraid to use it.  Virg has to keep asking: What interesting and exotic vegetable medley did Daddy put in my morning OJ today?

Alright Emmett, it's the form that counts.  Make it burn!  You'll be sad when it's over.

Four for the Fourth

Yes, it's true.  Virg is 4 for the 4th this year.  Technically he was born on the 5th of July, but he was well on his way by the time the fireworks were going off on Independence Day, so we are counting it.  Virg is becoming more explicit about how he wants things to go this year, and the word was:  no singing the Happy Birthday song.  We may say it, we may write it, but absolutely, unequivocally, no song.  Everyone was able to acquiesce to that request, and therefore, things went relatively smoothly.  That is until brother Emmett got going on the red cupcake frosting. It was pretty gruesome, but it stayed on the splat mat so all ended well. 

Virg gets both Thomas the Train and Thomas the Friend for this birthday party.

Virg is learning the "open-the-card-first" rule.  Who came up with that one?!

Grandpa Michael and Virg setting up his new horse race track.  Virg is betting on number 9.

Emmett is really getting into the birthday cake thing - literally. 

(Daddy would probably caption this photo with some sort of zombie reference, but Mommy respectfully declines.)

It's a jungle out there!

So, a few things have changed since Baby Claire arrived, and Virg has noticed.  He will tell you, in no uncertain terms, one of the most obvious changes is the total lack of yard care.  Whereas Mommy and Daddy used to weed and mow the lawn once in a while, those days are over.  Now it seems, the yard is a breeding ground for super-weeds.  The tallest weeds have already exceeded Virg in height, and Virg is convinced they are on their way to breaking some tall-weed Guiness Book World Records and we'll be famous.  The down-side of this is that sometimes we lose a few people in the overgrowth.  So far, we've been able to find them without sending out a Search and Rescue team, but we may be calling on S&R soon, if this continues much longer.  

Daddy, I think we lost Emmett in the grass again.  Spot me, I'm going in after him!

Station-master Virg

Virgil and Grandpa Michael share a common passion that runs on miniature tracks and blows whistles.  Ever since Virg first saw Grandpa's model train town when he was 17 months old, he's aspired to building a train set just as cool when he grows up.  Now that he's almost four, Grandpa lets Virg sit at the controls, and Virg is learning the ropes of how the track system all works (which is not easily deciferable from the mass of switches and wire connections all carefully labeled to keep them straightened out.)  But Virg is making great progress at the controls, and while he's carefully monitoring the tracks, he can also tell you in great detail about the many exciting adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine and all his various friends and acquaintances on the Island of Sodor under the direction of Sir Topham Hatt, railway conductor extraordinaire.   I think Virg needs a new handle - Sir Fedora Hatt?

Never fear, Virg is at the controls making sure that all trains arrive on schedule.