After a week in residence, we bid farewell to the lake house, the lake, the fish, and the worms. It was a very relaxing week, and we really enjoyed seeing family, and eating way too much of my grandmother’s cooking. Anna had to bring a bag of tortillas along for the road.

We are now situated in Auntie K. and Uncle T.’s house, and actually have a proper broadband connection! All hail the Internet. Moreso, I no longer have to enter my blog posts on a 12-key phone keypad. All hail the proper Keyboard. Grandpa K. and S. have also arrived, so I’m sure there are some sort of family-oriented things going down in the next week. I just don’t know what they are.

We also had yet another celebration for my birthday. I haven’t made a big deal about my birthday, either as a event to be mourned or celebrated. Auntie K. seems more affected by it than I am, since she is a number of years younger than Jen and I, but close enough that the fact of our aging makes the fact of her aging all the more imminent. It is what it is.

This being the Vacation of Personal Growth for Anna, in which she has expanded her glittery pink Princess World to include things like swimming in the same water with fish and touching worms, she has continued to petting dogs. Anna is very afraid of dogs, but has now spent a full day in the same house with Augie, who is like a dog, only much smaller. Augie is a very affectionate, active little doglet with a penchant for licking faces. Anna still can’t be in the same room with an unfettered Augie, but she is warming up to the idea. Note that the photo of Augie to the right is actual size.

Today we’re taking Anna to Disneyland. She has never been, which is quite amazing considering the fact that Anna at this points considers being a princess as a legitimate career path. Tara picked up a cold this week just in time for the trip, but we’re going to brave it anyway because the timing is only going to get worse from here on out. Anna already has her bags all packed up. She’s terribly excited. If you’re in the Anaheim area, listen very closely around dinnertime, as there’s a good chance Anna’s just going to explode with delight when the princesses start coming around to our table at Ariel’s Grotto. We will certainly have camphone/blog updates over the weekend.

My new job is really kicking into gear, as I’m finding myself owning risk mitigation among a group of people who starting throwing caution to the wind at least a year ago. Thus, I’ll be bringing in my laptop and making the Happiest Code Check-ins on Earth. Yay.

Tara’s cold, which she acquired shortly after conception, has waxed and waned over the last month or so. I believe we have made three separate doctor visits on just this one cold, and went through two rounds of antibiotics. I’m pretty sure this last the one they gave us was the same stuff that was being sold on eBay during the anthrax scare. In any case, it seems to have had good effect; Tara unexpectedly slept through the night–something like twelve hours. When both our kids sleep through the night, even though it’s a good thing, it’s still shocking–like a stranger suddenly running up to you on the street and handing you a danish. Nice, but unexpected.

Work is looking up for some reason or another. As much as I enjoy writing, the fact that I am writing a “white paper” is making me think that in some small way, the terrorists have won. Still, it’s refreshing for a change, especially if I get back to writing code soon.

I’ve been finishing up some of the baby portraits from last week, and I’m really happy with them. Another hour or so of retouching any they’ll be ready to go, then I can get started on my own kid.