Hurrah for the Bike Tutor!

So, in an effort to get both Lilly and I actually riding on a bike and not just being towed in a trailer, mom and dad went ahead and bought a crossbar-mounted gizmo for us to sit in (no, not at the same time, you silly!) -- what a brilliant invention! This thing is imported from England (= $$$) but, given that dad's searches yielded nothing comparable Stateside, they took the plunge, and I, for one, definitely have no regrets. Even Lilly, who's normally a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to bikes, loves it! It's so fun sitting up front with the wind in my face, high enough to watch the world pass me by, able to turn and look at my dad if I want -- it sure beats sitting 6 inches from the ground staring at his butt and breathing fong-pei! (j/k) 


Here in Michigan, winter is definitely coming on, but with the chillier air has come some gorgeous fall colors. Last Sunday morning, dad took us on a walk around the block, and we got to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage. The street we live on isn't much to speak of, being kind of a main road and all, but turn the corner and take a few steps into the neighborhood and this is what greets you:


Luckily, we weren't in a rush, so we got to spend plenty of time finding and picking the most colorful leaves and berries to bring home to mom.

But it wasn't until we got to last corner before heading home that we found what we'd been looking for the whole time -- a friendly neighbor who had raked all the leaves into neat piles on the side of the street, perfect for jumping in! Too bad dad didn't think I was old enough to go on the street -- but Ethan and Isaac sure looked like they had fun in all those leaves!

More Visitors!

Val and Kyle Yamagishi drove down from Toronto to visit us on the same day that grandma and grandpa left to fly back to Texas. It was a short visit, but a fun one -- this is a video of us taking Val and Kyle on a walk through our neighborhood.

In Which Grandpa and Grandma Come to Town

This past week, Grandma and Grandpa flew on a plane to our house to visit for a pretty much a whole week! Well, seeing as it wasn't a holiday week for us, life kept trucking along even during their visit -- Ethan went to school during the days, Isaac went to school during the mornings, Mommy went to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Daddy kept going to school, too. James still stayed at home all the time, but I skipped one day of preschool to hang out with Grandpa and make him do manly My Little Pony puzzles with me.


James, of course, was at home every day, and both Grandma and Grandpa accompanied him and daddy on their usual Tues/Thurs morning walk -- Grandpa's finger sure is a lot bigger than daddy's, though,


and his shoulders are definitely more comfortable to sit on!


On our last day together, we carved pumpkins -- Grandpa is a really good pumpkin carver, but he was so slow, we finished before him and started playing Silly String around him. From the front, he looks every bit the distinguished artist,


but from the back...


Bwah ha ha ha -- now I know why they call it "Silly" string!!

Our Moonscape

Well, it's Day 8 since the grass was laid, and, like I said, I don't know about this whole "mowable at day 10" thing. I don't want to complain much, because, well... there's definitely there's a smattering of grass there, but, the fact of the matter is, it seems a bit patchy, don't you think? Especially in the middle where all the runoff is -- anyhow, I called the landscapers and asked them to come and have a look -- I'm hoping they'll say, "Whoa, we need to reseed this thing!"

It Takes Two (and then some)

Normally I'm all consideration and fair play, but sometimes you've got to take whatever advantage you can get -- especially when you're arm wrestling with a big strong Naval Officer like my dad. So you use both hands, recruit your brother, lean with all your combined weights... and, geez, my dad is strong! We were practically jumping up and down on his arm before we got it down to the table!