Peas in a Pod....

Out in the back yard, Sami took a quick second to snap a couple of great pictures of Elijah and Peri together.

Rugged AND Advanced...

We went to Potato Creek State Park today for a fun jaunt through the trails, and ended up taking the "non-wussy" paths just so that we could feel like Lewis and Clark...or something. To commemorate, we had Elijah stand next to one of the trail signs, which not only indicate the type of trail we took, but the fact that he is indeed attempting to be both "rugged" and, in many ways, "advanced" as well. :-):

We took some periodic rests as well, and while Elijah bounded alongside us (talking non-stop the entire time), Peri rode in the "jog stroller" while we huffed and puffed along. Whenever we would stop, she would hang out on mommy or gather things from the forest floor for a quick "ooh" and "ahh" from the rest of us.

We also saw some fun "wildlife" along the way, including a little turtle that had burrowed its way into a little hole by the side of one of the paths, several millipedes, some micro-frogs that hopped quickly out of the way when we approached, and also heard what we called "violin birds" that made the most interesting warble i've ever heard (though we never saw them).

We also were able to experience firsthand what it feels like to be caught in a torrential downpour and to have NO way to getting back to our car in any kind of time to avoid it, so added being absolutely drenched to our list of accomplishments for the day.


At one particular point of the journey, we also had to traverse a long set of very narrow wooden stairs, which Peri enjoyed immensely because we left her IN the jog-stroller while we climbed. While we wondered if she might have lost any IQ points from all the jostling, she was giggling and happy, which we took as a worthwhile trade-off.

All in all, and while we were pretty tired at the end of it, we would say that it was a VERY good day, and we're planning on going back tomorrow, loaded with hot dogs and marshmallows to grill.

Sharks... "Bad Fathers"!

I (Jack) TOTALLY dig sharks! I think they're amazing creatures. Because of that, and because Elijah is equally fascinated by them, we talk about them a lot. Usually, we talk about their predatory capabilities... you know, their ability to hunt and track struggling prey over miles of water, the design of their bodies which requires that they keep moving to breathe, their placoid scale "armor", their total lack of body fat, their electromagnetic receptor "pits" in their noses and nicotating eyelids that protect and guide them the last few instances before they take a lethal bite out of something, and, of course, the power behind their fearsome bites that make them for good reason the single most unchallenged predators in the oceans.

But for some reason, this morning, Elijah (while watching Finding Nemo for the "n"th time) asked about how sharks "marry" each other and have families. I explained that with most sharks, the males don't stick around after courtship. In fact, i explained, most of the time, the males leave shortly after they meet the females and do not help to care for the young at all.

Elijah was incredulous. "You mean... they don't help the mommies to take care of the babies at all?!?!?" "Nope... in fact, God programmed them to leave because many male sharks would probably eat their young if they stuck around." He folded his little arms and with a very indignant expression on his face, pointed at me and said, "Well! I think that they means that they are BAD FATHERS!!! How dare they just leave like that!" I agreed. Even apex predators don't get off the hook (pun intended) on this one.

From the mouths of babes, eh?