I thought I had written about our anniversary earlier, but apparently I only thought about doing so. I've been writing entries all day today, trying to catch up a bit, so I'll keep this one a little short.

What sticks out about dinner (other than a small spat that we had early in the meal) was the vegetable dishes that we ordered along with our main plates: rosemary-ed fiddle-head ferns and stinging nettles. They were both very interesting. The ferns were tender and crunchy, but filled with a somewhat sticky juice (a little like okra). The juice made our tongues fill a bit funny - almost numb. The nettles were really tasty. They were dark green, cooked in a cream sauce in which mushrooms had been cooked, giving them a nice, woodsy flavor along with the sweetness of the cream. The nettles themselves had little flavor, but their texture was very thin and papery.

After we got over feeling guilty about arguing on our anniversary we noticed how the resteraunt was a little different than most. It was peopled by an older population - people with lots of money. They just had that demeanor.

We talked about an idea that I've been working on with my business partner, Kevin Yu. An idea for a new website, mixing the concepts of narrative and interconnectivity.

It was nice to get out of the house, away from the kids, and have an adult conversation with Toni. We've been doing that more regularly and our relationship has improved because of it. It's amazing how easily you can find yourselves distant in a marriage. With your focus on raising kids things slip a little further away each day.

Now that we've been going on more frequent date nights we find ourselves closing that gap a good bit each time. It's very nice...making our home feel a bit more cozy, which is what I like about this picture.

We parked in the parking lot of a new medical building near the top of the plateau then followed a small paved path down around the side facing the interstate. At that point we could've taken the long path winding it's way around and eventually to the spot where we usually picnic. Instead, we hopped the fence and made our way down the very steep hill-side for a bit of excitement (for Porter's and Fallon's sake).

It was great to see how excited he was about them - insisting on wearing them the rest of the day. I could tell that he felt really cool in them and that they allowed him to be a bit more extroverted than usual - which was really nice to see too, given my own tendency to be introverted.

He wore them while playing in the playground across the street from our house and all of the girls in the neighborhood told him how cool and handsome he looked in them. Toni said he was beaming with confidence.

I shot this photo of him in our house later that afternoon. He had been dancing around in the living room with Fallon to something on the TV. At one point he went right up close to the TV and looked over at me. I managed to snap the picture and unintentionally captured the reflection of whatever it was on TV in his shades - kind of a neat result.

Porter and Fallon are fairly introverted, but I'm hoping that they'll outgrow it to some degree as they grow older. I know how difficult it was for me, particularly in my teens, being so introverted; and it is something I regret not being able to escape until so much later in life, now that I'm able to look back from a distance.

They have a couple performances coming up this summer: one for their yearly school play and another for a recital from the dance classes that they've been taking. Though they do fine in practice, they both (Fallon especially) are very hesitant to go on stage. Hopefully all of the practice will help and they'll won't be as self-conscious.

...the things we worry about and hope for as parents...

Despite the unpredictable (and getting-to-be-frustrating) weather this year we did get to do one really nice thing today as a family.

We had been trying to see Avatar in 3D for the past couple weeks. Our attempt last weekend was unsuccessful after we discovered that the theater we had chosen here in Issaquah wasn't showing it in 3D. We were both really disappointed, but, since we had already bought our tickets, we decided to see another movie: The Book of Eli (which turned out to be a fairly good movie: great, really dramatic fight scenes and an interesting premise).

Last night we were deteremined to see Avatar in 3D. We drove to Bellevue in order to see the 9:00pm showing at Lincoln Square. Needless to say, we were both more than a little irate when, as we entered the packed underground parking garage, Toni noticed a sign stating that Avatar was sold out. We couldn't believe it. After all, the movie has already been showing for the last month or so.

So why a new Christmas tree? Our old one was quickly balding. Over the past three years we've bought a tree from a church located on Issaquah-Hobart Rd. They're very friendly, the kids enjoy standing by the fire the church keeps going each evening, and the money goes to a good cause. This year we decided to go with a different type of fir (I can't remember the name of it). It had much denser foliage and really thin, short needles. Unfortunately, it didn't weather the last few weeks very well. Ornaments were literally falling off the branches because the needles weren't able to hold the hooks in place.

As time passed, having long forgotten about writing this entry, I wrote another similar entry on the technological singularity - this time almost a year later in June of 2008. I just read that entry again for the first time since I wrote it (about a year and a half ago). At the end of that article I mentioned that I thought the Singularity was a possibility.

Apparently, I'm slowly being convinced (and maybe convincing myself) that at some point technology is going to supercede our ability to control it. Today, I write another entry along this trend. This one is motivated by a research paper I read a few weeks ago titled TheCatIsOutofTheBag.pdf.

On the way home from the gym today he was unusually talkative. Normally we listen to the radio and he looks out the window or plays with a toy or something to entertain himself. This time, however, while driving back on I-90 East he asked me, "Daddy, what do I know?"

I wasn't quite sure where he was taking the question but I suspected that he was questioning himself and his abilities...maybe another kid had told him "you don't know anything" recently. (Thinking back, I should have asked.)

I told him that he knows alot about how to fix things, rock climbining, swimming, cooking, dinosaurs...and a few others. He replied that he doesn't know as much about swimming as the other kids and that he only knows about T-Rex.

I tried to bolster his confidence by assuring him that what's important is to just keep learning. It probably had little affect in helping him, though I do think that this is one of the more important lessons I've learned in life: nobody knows much of anything, and what matters is that you keep learning and stay confident in yourself. Next time I'll do a better job of getting the point across but to a large extent these things are learned over a lifetime through lots of painful (and occasionally good) experiences.

What was important to me in this case was that he asked me the question. It's little events like these that make me realize all the things that are going on inside of their heads that we don't think about as parents. Too often I think we can't imagine that these more serious thoughts are going on inside their young brains - maybe because we can't recall them (though I'm certain we all had them); but they are in there and occasionally they make their way to the surface. These are the times that I feel the closest to Porter and Fallon.

While Fallon was taking her horse lessons this summer, Porter and I decided to do a month of rock climbing lessons. I picked a place in Seattle called Stone Gardens. They started the whole indoor rock-climbing scene back in the '70's. It's a very cool gym, with lots of colorful characters running the place (in addition to the patrons themselves).

The lessons were for a month and took place every Monday from five to seven o'clock in the evening. I'd leave work an hour or so early, drive to Prime Time Learning preschool and pick up Porter, then head for the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle where Stone Gardens is located.

The Duck Tour was especially fun (I personally, really like the Duck)...and everyone loves the Duck in Seattle. So as you ride around town purched up high in the amphibous vehicle people wave, smile and call out to you. It seems to draw the locals out of their usually reserved exteriors, giving them an excuse to be friendly and a bit silly.

Now that the weather has begun to change, the days are getting shorter and life is slowing down a bit, I have time to get a little caught up on my entries.

I've taken lots of photos this summer. This first catch-up entry will be about Fallon and the horse riding classes she started on May 3rd. It's been so rewarding to watch how she's grown this summer, slowly becoming more confident, less shy and more outgoing. The horse riding lessons and Marla (her trainer and the owner of the farm) have helped bring her out so much.

She's really taken to the horses, and though she still insists each Sunday before it's time to go the farm that she doesn't want to go, when her and Toni return she's absolutely glowing with energy. You can just see how satisfied she is with her new accomplishments from each class.

Eventually, Porter became bored and went back into the house, but Fallon stayed out with me and picked wild flowers that were growing on the hill side - one of her favorite things to do.

Speaking of growing, Porter and Fallon are developing right along. Fallon's been getting better at her painting and drawing, recognizing and writing her letters, and counting. Her vocabulary is really impressive too. The other day she told me that something was "disgusting", and she's been using lots of other relatively big words.

Porter's been getting better at his counting and letters too. And of course, his mechanical skills keep getting better. I've also noticed that he's been getting better at figuring problems out. We have a leak in the drain for our upstairs shower and he's been throwing out all kinds of hypotheses for why its leaking and suggesting ways to fix it.