Absolutely loved our trip. The best kinds of vacations are the ones with family.

I created a Flickr photo gallery. However, you must be marked as a friend or family to view most of them. If you want access, just email me.

Flickr Photo Gallery

Clockwise from top left:
- J standing on a haybale in the backyard, waving her Sudan grass "wand"
- C's first bike ride to the Two Rivers pedestrian bridge.
- J helps me plant a Linden tree, purported to be good at attracting pollinating insects.
- J tied on a pillow and told me she was going to fly. No small children were hurt in the attempt.
- C's first snow. It melted before sunup.
- A and I out for lunch at the Wild Cow.
- Me on a deer hunting trip with a friend.
- C inspecting a statue at her Aunt's house.
- My dad, brother, and family at Thanksgiving.

Other notable events in November:
- I killed a mouse with a rubber band. Well, technically I killed it with a shoe. A and I were watching a movie when we saw it scurry across the floor. I happened to have a rubber band in my hands (I am a compulsive fiddler-of-things) so I shot it, stunned it, and smashed it with a shoe. I turned around and A stared at me before exclaiming, "Who DOES that?!"
- I went deer hunting for the first time in about 15 years. No deer were harmed. Saw a doe but it was the size of a goat so I let it live. Field dressing is a lot of work and I'll only due it if the meat is worth it.
- We have been able to harvest spinach and lettuce from our cold frame all month. The ability to go outside and pick lettuce for your dinner salad is greatly underrated.

October was a blast. A's mom got to come visit. We ate passion fruit (may-pops), persimmons, and figs (some of us for the first time) at Bert and Alicia's Hungry Gnome Farm. We got 400 strawberry plants in the ground (and we managed to protect them from the two nights of frost in October so they are still growing nicely).

I enjoyed the cooling weather and took advantage of it to bike to work several times over the month (I put about 55 miles on the bike over the past four weeks, which isn't much for pros, but it's a lot for me). I acquired the necessary gear to continue biking through the colder months, which I'm quite looking forward to.

We had a really fun month, not least due to all the days off for the fall holidays.

Pictured, clockwise: C at a local park we frequent; A carrying C while prepping strawberries; J and myself camping in the backyard; high-fiving a statue in Chattanooga; eating at the Blue Plate; visiting my grandparents; ice cream at Sips Cafe; walking to the local coffee shop with the girls; and center, J in a field of our soybeans (that we just tilled to put strawberries down).

Hi, you don't care about the following. I just want to keep lists of my favorite running playlists every now and then. When I'm nostalgic for a particular time the songs will quickly take me back. This summer was a sweet one and worth remembering. So, judge away:

We Are the People by Empire of the Sun
Blue Jeans (RAC remix) by Lana Del Rey
Lights (Bassnectar remix) by Ellie Goulding
Bulletproof by La Roux
Hours by Tycho
I Follow Rivers (The Magician remix) by Lykke Li
Sleepyhead by Passionpit
Heartbeats (Live version) by The Knife
Get Lucky by Daft PunkBones by Michael Kiwanuka

Also, I joined Strava. I know you are itching to follow another person on another social media platform. Your trigger finger burns!

 

Last weekend we went to a local mall to walk around inside enjoying the free air conditioning. They have a little playground area inside that C and J can play in. The only problem with it is that the age range tends to get a little wild - from crawling babies to eight or nine-year old kids.

One particular little boy was being pretty rough with J. She kept coming back to me, complaining, "That boy keeps pushing me down, daddy." I kept telling J to work it out (ask him to stop; failing that, avoid him; and failing that, shove him back). I went back to following C around making sure no one knocked her over, and when I looked back over to J she had recruited two larger kids (a boy and a girl) to serve as bodyguards. The much larger boy was telling the other kid to "Leave her alone!" His sister was holding J's hand as they walked around.

After the rougher kid left the playground, J played with the protective siblings for a while. As they left, I told them thank you for standing up for someone smaller than them. It was kinda cool to see how that worked out.

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A few nights ago I went jogging with J in the jogging stroller. Someone in a big black Caddy rolled by, thumping hip-hop out of the radio at full volume.

"I don't like that music, daddy. It's not pretty. That's boy music."

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We just celebrated the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teurah / Rosh Hoshanna) and I tried to use the day to tell J stories about God's creation, the wall of Jericho, etc. However, after a few stories J started to express some dissatisfaction. "I'm tired of these stories, dad. I want to hear a story about ponies!"

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I want to write these down more often because it's so easy to forget them.

As recorded by her grandfather yesterday.

Such a fun month! I should really post two of these.