family

Joshua is starting a new job Monday! See his geek blog for more details.

Every now and then you get a reminder that small children are still working on discerning that fine line between reality and dreams. Like today, for instance.

Elizabeth was sleeping on the bed while I worked at the computer. She woke up for a dead sleep, eyes open, and, the following conversation took place:

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Earlier I saw some giraffes."

"Really?"

"Yeah, outside."

And she laid back down and was back out. And this all happened in the spam of about 60 to 90 seconds. Wow.

So, you don't think I was going to let you escape without hearing about the other child, do you? Today, it is Elizabeth who is on my lap, sitting sideways, leaning against my right arm, with her right hand on mine as I type. And she's asleep. Yup, it's kind of hard (translation: impossible) to use my trackball, but there is little that can match the feeling of a sleeping child on your lap. I certainly don't mind the "inconvenience."

Right now, I am typing, but the range of motion of my right arm is somewhat impaired, effectively eliminating the usage of my trackball. This is because I got my son up from his nap, but he's not quite awake. In fact, he's quite sound asleep on my lap, laying against my chest. And the typing/trackball impairment? He's using my right arm as his pillow. Well worth the bother.

Yes, we're late in getting this on the blog, but if you haven't heard yet...we're expecting. Another little Kugler should arrive some time in February.

Just so you know!

Update: We're due February 11. We had an ultrasound today. There is only one, but the upside to that is we don't have to buy a new car yet.

On June 11-15, Crystal and I had our first multi-day no-kid get away since Elizabeth was about six months old. We drove down to Soldotna, Alaska, and stayed at a bed and breakfast called Escape for Two. We stayed in a small cabin sitting about 20 feet from the edge of a small lake. We had the cabin all to ourselves, hence the name.

Our breakfast each morning was two kinds of fruit. Pineapple quarters and blue berries, or watermelon and grapes, for example. In addition, we were given "munchies" each day: granola, small loaves of fruit and/or nut bread, crackers, and the like. In addition, I ordered the "mini-moon" package, which got us a dozen roses, a box of specialty chocolates, sparkling cider (we could have had wine, but Crystal can't drink that right now...more in the next post), and a large plate of fruit, meat, and cheese. And not just "normal" cheese either. There were three large wedges; one each of blue cheese, brie, and a really good mango/soft cheese combination. There was dry salami, cold cuts, and smoked ham. The fruit included grapes, strawberries, kiwi and star fruit.

So, what did we do on our trip? Not much. We drove to Seward with Crystal's dad one of our days down there. We went geocaching, and found all three of the locations we had printed out, but only one cache. On a couple of the days, we just drove around and looked at the scenery. And of course just "vegged" out at the cabin.

It was a very relaxing, very enjoyable time. Pictures follow. Click for bigger versions.

I'm sitting here, working, reading, and doing other things I get paid for, and on my lap sits an almost-three-year-old little girl, snuggled up against me. Out cold, mouth open, nearly sawing logs. My own little sleeping beauty.

I love working from home.

Background 1: Tonight we had a special service at church. Usually, nothing is happening on Sunday evenings, and we usually attend the Saturday evening service.

Background 2: Elizabeth knows what church is, and knows what it means to go to church.

Well, Elizabeth is used to having people over after we come home from church in the evening. So, she was asking if various people were coming over tonight: Izzy, Becca, Robb (friends of ours), Chana (a good friend and a girl she plays with at church), and some others. We answered to the negative each time. This was then followed by the question: "Is church coming over tonight?" Fitting 400 people in our apartment would have been quite the feat.

This morning while I was watching Elizabeth (while Crystal took Jonathan to the eye doctor), I noticed Elizabeth was being very quiet. I went to check on her. She was hiding in her closet. Folding clothes. Quite the little mommy, she is.