Bloggasted

Summer 2007 NJ Vacation

2007-08-26T09:55:00.000-05:00

People, Places, Things: Ocean City, Grandparents, July 4th Parade, Wounded Bird

Sulik kids: 4 (of 5) + 1 dove

#10

2007-08-26T09:40:00.000-05:00

Happy anniversary (8/23), sweet Amy...

NOTES:

this was anniversary #10, hence the blog moniker (since1997)
should've made the dessert image from St Johns a bit smaller, but it was a most excellent meal...if ever you have a chance for a meal from here, do go (and bring a fat wallet!) as it is definitely worth it

Better Late Than Never

2007-05-03T23:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Dove and Keith. . .

Photos from DC

2007-05-02T22:06:00.000-05:00

In March the family spent a week Smithsonianing, and to places like the Washington Zoo and Washington Monument (both are free like so many other great things there). I meanwhile whiled the days away in a lovely suburban industrial complex (computer class). Here we are:

Doesn't your heart just soar with patriotic fervor?

Oak chillin' at the George W Monument.

Yes, that is my hair, and yes, it was more windy than you could possibly imagine.

Oak got 2nd place in this airplane contest, which is cool since the boy has been INTO paper airplane design like you wouldn't believe the past year now....he's really quite good at some advanced designs. He even has a favorite paper airplane design engineer.

It snowed, was hot, rained, was windy...
we got it all on the Mall.

Street food is the best...
kind of like food you cook when you camp.

I think the kids had the most fun jumping on our hotel beds and riding on the Metro (much to the chagrin of our fellow commuters). Here's the goods:

And finally, as a parting gift for our faithful blog readers (you know who you are!), here we are, the lovely bride and groom only 10 years young, circa Spring 2007:

Easter 2007

2007-04-15T14:20:00.000-05:00

Easter was colder this year than Easter should be. A late frost killed off new flowers and shoots. Of course the children didn't mind with eggs to be found and candy to be eaten. . .

But I am ready for the spring, ready for the shining of trees.

The ears stung with cold
sun and frost of dawn
in early April, comes

the song of winter finches,
their crimson bright, then
dark as they move into

and then against the light.
May the year warm them
soon. May they soon go

north with their singing
and the season follow.
May the bare sticks soon

live, and our minds go free
of the ground
into the shining of trees.

—Wendell Berry ("The Finches")

We have decided to call her Olga

2007-03-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

...or perhaps Svetlana or Helga. Suggestions are welcome, as I thought the little bird was looking a bit Slavic yesterday, so I snapped a few pix of her and Mo.

And Ila? We have not forgotten thee. A few pix from D.C. will soon be posted for your viewing pleasure. Here at Dogwood Lane, we aim to please...even if takes a few months inbetween posts.

Finally! Pix of the New Kitchen

2006-12-12T22:03:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...the old kitchen had so much, uh, character:

But we decided to be a little crazy and go with something less "bad 70's"ish. Many thanks to Bank of America, IKEA, and Home Depot for your generous support and financing of this remodel. Believe me, we are truly in your debt and could not have done this without you.

In all seriousness, Keith Riley did an excellent job on this remodel. Any of you chattanoogans need a remodel? Give this guy a call.

And finally, kudos are well deserved for Scott Riley who put this tile floor down and did the backsplash (amongst other things on this remodel). Need tile work? Definitely give him a call.

Dancing at Jon Schimpf's Wedding

2006-11-28T15:18:00.000-05:00

Meadow is definitely the most uninihibited dancer of us all...the side shot of her shows it best. She had more fun dancing I think than all the rest of us put together. Credit to monty and his flickr wedding set for below pix.

Just When You Thought This Blog Was Dead...

2006-09-30T20:18:00.000-05:00

We're now in week 3 of being away from our home while our kitchen is being remodelled by Keith Riley. Here's a few kid pix from this weekend...

Prayer is a little like this

2006-06-21T06:57:00.000-05:00

I love this image of prayer by Richard Foster. . .

"One day a friend of mine was walking through a shopping mall with his two-year-old son. The child was in a particularly cantankerous mood, fussing and fuming. The frustrated father tried everything to quiet his son, but nothing seemed to help. The child simply would not obey. Then, under some special inspiration, the father scooped up his son and, holding him close to his chest, began singing an impromptu love song. None of the words rhymed. He sang off key. And yet, as best he could, this father began sharing his heart. "I love you," he sang. "I'm so glad you're my boy. You make me happy. I like the way you laugh." On they went from one store to the next. Quietly the father continued singing off key and making up words that did not rhyme. The child relaxed and became still, listening to this strange and wonderful song. Finally, they finished shopping and went to the car. As the father opened the door and prepared to buckle his son into the car seat, the child lifted his head and said simply, "Sing it to me again, Daddy! Sing it to me again."

Since our last post

2006-05-25T18:45:00.000-05:00

Since our last post, among other things. . .
we celebrated Easter,

Dove turned 1,

we re-sided and re-painted our house,

Keith turned 23,

we enjoyed visits from the California side -Jerry & Nan, Andy, Dawn, & Kylan,

and went camping with friends in Tellico Plains, TN.

Now Batting...#1...Shortstop for the Indians...

2006-04-10T20:19:00.000-05:00

Oak's first baseball game was today....it was a lot of fun watching him & his team (including Ezra y Asa) play. Oak did really good, as he had an in-the-park home run and a single (see below pict after his single). Best of all, he had a lot of fun.

Some kid's leagues give you 5 strikes and other concessions, but this league plays by regular ball rules: 3 strikes and you're out. On Oak's home run, he really worked the count as he missed twice, fouled it a couple times, and then had a good solid hit up the middle.

Any ball player always talk about how it's better to get a win than to have good stats. For instance, fast-approaching-Babe-Ruth (and steroid addict) Barry Bonds recently said in response to his slow start (just 2 hits) to the season, "...I'll take a 2-for-the-rest-of-the-season as long as we win the World Series." But do they really mean it when they say they'd rather win than have fantastic stats? I don't know, maybe I'd feel different if I was in their shoes, but at least with Barry, I'm not so sure he took steroids just to win one for the team.

New Jersey and You: Perfect Together

2006-04-02T02:17:00.000-05:00

Last week we went to New Jersey to help Amy's mom pack up the Lindenwold house before she moves in a few weeks. Leaving and saying goodbye forever to the place you grew up and were married at isn't much fun.

I remember when my family and I said goodbye to our house in Atascadero...the last night there, I walked up our hill full of sadness, questions, doubt, asking God for some sort of sign that everything would be OK (I know, I know, how silly can I be over something so temporal). Suddenly, this shooting star blazes directly over my head, which for me was a nice reminder of God's care and love for me in an incredibly well-timed piece of cosmic planning.

Anyways, here's a few NJ pictures...

Meadow and her cousin Addie doing the dressup/makeover thing

Oak's 1st lost tooth (tooth fairy's rates are $1 and up these days)

Dove preparing to stick her tongue out (she has a most flexible tongue, something along the lines of Michael Jordan, I'd say)

my girls on my birthday

2006-03-04T20:32:00.000-05:00

bold little bird fly away home
could I but ride herd
on the wind and the foam

all of the souls
that curl by the fire
they never know
all man's desire

watercress clings
to the banks of the stream
in the first grip of spring
when the snow melts to green

-Suzanne Vega

Kylan, Newest Gast Extraordinaire

2006-02-14T15:40:00.000-05:00

A big shout out to Andy and Dawn (mainly Dawn!) for a most excellent looking son, Kylan Bradford Gast. Seven pounds and 20 inches of pure nephew cuteness.

This one's for Lindy

2006-02-08T08:32:00.000-05:00

My sister Linda is 28 today. Mother of 2 and friend to many, her life is worth celebrating. I am proud to call her my sister and my friend. We've been through high school together, college together, marriage together, childbirth together, and momming. Linda is really good at loving people. Because of her this world is a better place and my life is a better thing.

Cloudland Hike

2006-02-05T19:19:00.000-05:00

Oak, Meadow, and I hiked to the first waterfall of Cloudland Canyon this afternoon. We may have hiked on to the lower waterfall but for the sub-freezing temperatures. However, but for the cold air the kids wouldn't have had fun holding and sucking on foot-long icicles.

I am so in love with these kids (Dove too!). I suppose every father, every mother thinks their kids are the greatest, the best of the bestest, better than all the restest. In one sense this is indeed true for all, as each parent has this golden window to know, watch, listen, learn from their children as they g(r)o(w) from infant to experience in all things. Each day, each hour these fleeting window-moments sneak up on me, or sometimes smack me in the face (or butt), forever infinite, forever gone. Sometimes I wonder about the curiousness of God in how these humans He has made choose to respond to all the golden window-moments of our lives.

Two Movie Recommendations

2006-02-04T20:16:00.000-05:00

We've seen two really good movies lately, each one was sad but with a dash of hope sprinkled in. They made me think of the myth of Pandora's box. The story goes that Zeus decides to punish the mortals by sending to earth a beautiful but silly woman named Pandora. He gives her a box and tells her never to open it. But like Adam and Eve, her curiosity gets the better of her and she eventually opens the box unleashing hate, envy, greed, slander, sickness, disease, war and every other evil unknown to mankind...but at the bottom of the box is hope, in the form of a pure and simple flower.

The movies are The Motorcycle Diaries and Born Into Brothels. I came away from both movies wanting to be a missionary. It seems like bringing hope to people with no hope is what really matters in this life, people with leprosy, people oppressed by their governments and treated unjustly, children with no future, criminals, those afflicted with AIDS. I want my life to show love like Christ's even if only one person receives the flower.

We are What We Read

2006-02-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

We've always read our kids lots of fairy tales and you can kind of tell. It comes out in their conversations. For example, Oak was on the hammock the other day with Noelle and Marielle and he said, "Marielle, I know you want to marry me but I'm going to marry the most beautiful woman in the world." (and just for the record, Marielle is pretty dang cute)

And here's one from Meadow. Oak wasn't believing something that Meadow was telling him so Meadow responded with "Oak, what do you think I am? a foolish tricker? I am not a foolish tricker." Only Meadow's way of saying it, it sounds more like foowish twicker.

The Loading Dance

2006-01-28T08:15:00.000-05:00

In honor of Oak and dialup modem users everywhere, I present "The Loading Dance":

Oak likes the games & activities found on such sites as lego.com, adventuresofriley.com, and knex.com. However, all these sites usually have these large Flash downloads in order to use them, which take quite awhile to load on our dialup connection. So Oak gets stuck with "Loading....1%.....2%...." etc messages galore. Sometimes while he waits he puts his hands on his hips and twirls in a dance circle singing, "Loading, loading, loading! Loading, loading, loading!"

A most creative way to pass the time.

Where I Would be if I Didn't Have Kids

2006-01-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month I discovered the joy of a walking track here in Wildwood. Exercise has always been part of my sanity as a stay-at-home mom. so we load up the bikes and the jogging stroller and water bottles and anything else my kids can't live without during the hour we're gone. I walk and Oak who is practicing for the Tour de France (literally) rides his bike. Meadow gets about halfway around the track on her bike and then remembers the "track" she is making. She is lining up rocks about 2 to 3 inches apart. I love how the line winds in the sunshine, Andy Goldsworthy like. She wants it to reach all the way around the track. Occasionally Oak will help her for a minute or two and when asked what she was doing, Meadow answered, "Oak and me wanted to make something to reflect the moonlight."

Scott got me an ipod shuffle for Christmas, this great little device I can load 120 songs into and listen to at random. Music has a way of transporting my body and soul to other times and places except that whenever Oak catches up to me on his bike I push pause on the shuffle and come right back to reality. You see, when Oak catches up to me, he wants to chat. He's always been very talkative (naturally, he gets it from his father).

So the other day we had a conversation that went like this. . . "Mom, it's a good thing you have a son, right?" "Right." "What would you do if you didn't have a son?" "I don't know." "You probably wouldn't be here right now, would you?" I paused and thought about it. "No, probably not." "So it's a good thing you have a son, mom." "Yeah, and not just any son but the best son in the whole world." "No, mom not the best. God cares for all." "You're right Oak, maybe the best for me and dad but God does care for all."

Bedside Reading

2006-01-23T21:47:00.000-05:00

Amy's reading bird by bird by Annie Lamott (and thinks her nonfiction is better than her fiction) while I'm rereading The Lord of the Rings. I'm reading LOTR chronologically (this is for serious LOTR chronological fans), which means I'm skipping from section to section with the help from Appendix B after the conclusion of Book 3 (Return of the King).

Winter Weekend Picts

2006-01-23T21:09:00.000-05:00

This weekend I superglued leftover software installation CDs and made some nifty coasters out of them. You can't tell from the picture, but they're each 5-CD thick and work quite well for drink coasters. The other two pictures are Oak & Meadow next to their new IKEA bed reading lamp and Dove at 9 months. Dove is a most excellent crawler these days and can traverse the length of our house in about a minute.

Member Night

2006-01-20T22:01:00.000-05:00

Oak & Meadow each decided to help buy a family membership at the TN Aquarium with some money they got for xmas. So tonight we went to "Members Night" at the aquarium after eating Chinese (twice in one day for me: I don't recommend it). The jellyfish, sea turtles and sting rays were most impressive (or should I say "teh impressive"?).

I'm not so sure about blogging. I mean, isn't what makes blogging so enjoyable also a double-edged sword as it also seems to be a bit self-indulgent? I guess that's where comments enter in to keep it real, keep it humble, la de da, que sera. So be it.

-Scott