Mother's Day and Gifford Farm

Is it spring at last now, or is it already summer? It's hard to believe there was snow on the ground two weeks ago as the temperatures are approaching triple-digits. We do now have plenty of blossoms filling the air with fragrance, including the brief appearance of lilacs in our yard.

 

Sunday was Mother's Day, so that meant spending lots of time with family. At church, the men hosted a Mother's Day breakfast for everyone in the church basement. Then that afternoon, Vivian and I brought Hannah to grandma and grandpa's for the rest of the day. Grandma had set up the yard with a small fence and a whole bunch of toys for Hannah to play with and explore. Jack manned the grill, cooking a bunch of burgers and brats for everyone (I brought the potato salad). Both moms then opened their gifts after we had sufficiently stuffed themselves. (Being a helpless romantic and a traditionalist, I gave Vivian some flours.)

 

On Saturday, Gifford Farm here in Bellevue held a kind of open house / family fun day for visitors to come and see how they've recovered since the flood two years ago. Many of the buildings on the farm were a complete loss, and the animals had been moved to 132nd and Harrison for some time as everything was cleaned up and rebuilt. It was quite the experience for Hannah, who had only seen these farm animals in her books. She seemed quite shocked and terrified once she discovered that those little chickens were about as tall as she was, and a "hose" was the relative size of Godzilla. She did warm up quickly, though, petting a couple of the resident animals who let us get close enough to reach them. Hannah particularly enjoyed playing on a xylophone in an outdoor play area, and we naturally had to get a photo of her crossing Grandma's Bridge. We wrapped up with a piece of Pig Bread for lunch, which Hannah especially seemed to enjoy, and we even bumped into the elusive Kam family on the way out.

¿Que mes es esto?

 

So, Cinco de Mayo happened over the weekend, and the cold and rainy and generally gray weather was enough to make me ask, "¿Que mes es esto?" Hannah had her very first Cinco de Mayo experience last year, when it was sunny and warm and we had to find shade and some cold ceviche. We only stayed for the parade for about half an hour before deciding to go home and warm up. It gave us enough time to see some inexplicable costumers, extremely lame "floats" that were just cars with magnetic stickers for local businesses, and the line of horses bringing up the rear. Hannah has an equestrian fascination at the moment and had never seen a "hose" in real life before.

That evening, the three of us crashed at Jenny and Libby's for a Quatro de Mayo party with our cluster of mutual friends. We brought beans and rice to go with enchiladas and sangria, and we had a sombrero and some maracas for my hijita to play with. Of course, we also had a piñata to take a few swings at outside. Mommy, daddy, and even Hannah took a few turns whacking at it, which produced much better results than a "goofus" of years past that I could mention.

 

One other major development over the weekend was our unexpected winning of the "blue pass" contest at Jitterbugs. The Jitterbug volunteers were encouraged to give our specially-marked passes to people, and the person who passed out the most would get a free pass to a dance workshop hosted by Christian Frommelt and Jenny Shirar from St. Louis. Well, thanks to Vivian's co-workers, that winner turned out to be us. Or should I say, me, because after much discussion, we decided that I would be the one to participate in the workshops, mostly because after checking the guest list, follows outnumbered the leads by a few heads. It was the first time in a couple years that I've been able to participate in dance classes of any kind, and it was a great experience. On Saturday, I wore my feet out working on my swing out, getting a crash course in St. Louis Shag, and then stumbling through a series of footwork drills. Then on Sunday, we met up again at Troy's house for classes in Al & Leon's Shim Sham, dynamic Lindy Hop, and some exhausting St. Louis Style Swing Outs (which involve turning around twice in eight counts instead of just once — dizzying to say the least).

What I discovered in the end was that this was great exercise not just physically but mentally as well. Observing other people's dance steps and trying to remember them long enough to do them myself was a terrific workout for my mind — like a bunch of rusty, unused gears were suddenly working together once again after many years of disuse. My only challenge now is to remember what I learned so I can teach it to Vivian the next time we hit the dance floor.

Go home, weather. You're drunk.

"Go home, weather. You're drunk." That seems to be the theme of 2013 thus far, and a kind of running joke that doesn't seem to know when to quit. (Can you believe that Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring this year?)

 

On Saturday, Vivian and I decided to help Tamra move into her new condominium in Bellevue as a way of saying "Welcome to the neighborhood." A bunch of our mutual friends showed up to help with the move, and I had the strangest sense of déjà vu, having moved Tamra less than a year earlier. Her new place is within walking distance of legendary burger joint, Stella's (where I haven't shown my face since being humiliated by a pile of meat in 2011). Ryan was kind enough to grill a pile of burgers and save us the trip, however. As far as I know, nobody ate them on a napkin. Hannah seemed to enjoy toddling about Tamra's new backyard, and she even got her have her first faceful of watermelon.

 

A few days later, I took Hannah to her very first trip to the dentist, which was a slightly traumatic experience. Her teeth were just fine, but she absolutely did not like having strangers poking around in the there and spreading foaming fluoride all over the place. I took her up to spend some quality time with mommy during her lunch break at Friendship Program afterward. We went out to Benson Park, where Hannah got to chase a few geese and play on the swings while the weather was still "sober." Of course, we had to bring her back to work afterward to say hello to Vivian's co-workers and friends (and play with a few balls).

The next day it freaking snowed. And by freaking, I mean the freakish freak snow to hit the area in many a decade. Our tulips were fortunate enough to survive the few inches of snow we got by shutting themselves in self-defense. Still, there's nothing quite as surreal as seeing snow on the ground in early May — especially since Hannah was swinging in our backyard just a day or two earlier before it got covered in snow. It was all vaporized by that afternoon.

Next stop: Cindo de "What month is this again?"

Field Notes from Omaha

Is it spring, yet? We're get thunderstorms, morning frost, and dandelions in our part of the world, and the whole Johnson family got slammed with a nasty cold that left us somewhat paralyzed this week, but we've been otherwise busy having fun with friends here in Omaha, as usual.

 

I spent some time hanging out with some fellow graphic designers in Omaha. On Tuesday, the full-bearded (and foul-mouthed) Aaron Draplin dropped in for a visit at the Waiting Room lounge. Draplin's a one-man design studio who I first encountered in a video rant posted on the blog 37 Signals. He had an impressive portfolio (which includes the logo for the Stimulus Package back in 2009) and an appreciation for old school design that I had to admire. I also discovered he's behind these things called Field Notes books, which are like Moleskine books except that they're made in America and don't cost $20 each. (You'll have to buy your own rubber band for them, though.) They came in handy when I had to write down stuff.

I got to hang out with some designers again on Thursday at the Crescent Moon, which was great. My pocket full of Field Notes came in handy then as we traded design-related stories (and gabbed about Superman).

 

On Friday night, Grammy and Pops got to babysit Hannah so mom and I could have a night of mayhem together. Mayhem, of course, meant stopping by the Saints Pub for dinner with Mark. We gave him a six-pack of presents to open later and shared a plate of blue cheese chips with the table while catching up with a few friends.

After that, we dropped in at the Eagle's Lodge, where Vivian had invited a bunch of her co-workers to Jitterbugs Night Out. The crowd seemed light for whatever reason, but Vivian was able to recruit Jitterbug Veteran Dan Wondra to dance with all of them during the night. It definitely felt good to get out and dance again, especially since we didn't have to spend half our time corralling a little one and keeping her from getting shim-shammed underfoot.

On Saturday, we celebrated Jen's birthday and welcomed her and Phil back from their trip to Taiwan. They had an assortment of unusual treats from the far east, which included fish-flavored gummy snacks and banana Fig Newton style cookies. They also cooked dinner for us, an assortment of vegetables, fermented tofu, marbled tea eggs, and other things, all of which we ate over rice with chop sticks. Hannah got the chance to try some while running in circles and playing with some of the other tots who dropped by (all of whom she called "Bee bee.") Hannah's perspicacity has been increasing by leaps and bounds, and she finally learned the word "mommy," which delighted Vivian to no end.

Spaghetti and storytimes

 

Things have been fairly quiet for the Johnson household for the past week or two, possibly because the weather seems to be settling on "spring" for the time being and everyone is busy enjoying it. On Sunday, Magie and Brittany hosted a spaghetti luncheon to help raise funds for their respective missions trips to Ireland and Alaska, raising around $1200 between the two of them. Pretty much the whole church and then some showed up, which a great to see. One of the things I love about our little church in Bellevue is how easily the whole group can get involved in causes like this with little more coordination that a few lines in a bulletin and a few words before the service.

For the past few months, Hannah has discovered the joys of our local public library. Vivian and I have brought her there frequently to look at books, check out classical music CDs, and also drop in for story time with Mrs. B. I stumbled on this once-a-week activity for little ones a few months ago and we've been bringing Hannah by to participate ever since. It makes me feel like a good dad getting her addicted to books this early in life. She now begs to be read to from a handful of books and we actually have to keep them high on a shelf to keep her from getting into them (and bending the pages and tearing them apart) on her own.

Mrs. B has her own blog here.

Hannah Marie: Egg Hunter

   

Spring seems to be here at long last, though winter doesn't seem to want to go down without a fight. After two or three freak snowfalls, it seems to be staying consistently above freezing. That means more trips to the park for Hannah, who's becoming accustomed to the swings and doing her Supergirl thing on them. Hannah turned Sweet 16 Months old last week and gets to wear more cute girly dresses. She's also discovering the simple pleasure of going for a walk with mommy and grammy and swinging a bucket around in circles.

On Saturday, I dropped by Dennis and Kara's place to celebrate their little boy's one-year birthday. I got meet Kara's parents while I was there as the kids stuffed their faces with cupcakes and the grownups had chili and wine together.

 

On Easter Sunday, Hannah got to wear more cute things for church, and then she went on her very first Easter Egg hunt back at home. She picked up on the concept right away, toddling around the yard picking up colored eggs and bringing them back to her little bucket. If you watch the video below, you might hear some examples of Hannah-ese. Her perspicacity is increasing by leaps and bounds, but it sometimes takes a little creative interpretation. (She calls dogs "Bwah," which is the sound she makes to imitate a dog's bark.) Inside, we had Easter baskets full of chocolate and bubbles, and then assembled our standard fare for Easter dinner together with the grandparents.

Hannah's first Easter Egg hunt

St. Patrick and Harold Lloyd

Aside from a freak blizzard last week, spring seems to be pushing its way into Nebraska bit by bit. We had over a foot of snow come out of nowhere, but by Friday it was in the 60s and getting vaporized. As such, I took Hannah out to the park to play on some swings and be generally cute with Mommy one she got off work.

Our old friends Tim and Robin returned to Bellevue after a brief stint in Oregon and elsewhere, so they stopped by with Danny to say hello and meet Hannah for the first time on Saturday morning. I'd bumped into them back in 2007 when Danny was just a baby.

Monday was my brother Jonathan's birthday, so he dropped by over the weekend, and we went on a spontaneous road trip together to Burchard, the hometown of silent film legend Harold Lloyd. It's a tiny town near Nebraska's southern border and doesn't feature much other than an old bank and a sign or two advertising Harold Lloyd's birthplace down on 2nd street. After a few obligatory pictures, we wiggled our way home past random sights in Pawnee City and Auburn. That evening, Jonathan made up some lasagna for dinner and we had some cake made by Donna. Oh, and presents, of course.

Sunday was St. Patrick's day, so Vivian and I spent much of it at Phil and Jen's house having an ingredient party with an assortment of mutual friends. We'd attended two of these so far, and our favorite culinary duo always manages to turn random things into something delicious. This time around, Vivian and I brought eggplant and beef to add to cabbage, canned squid, pineapple, and any number of other things, which became some kind of mousaka, bubble and squeak and I'm not quite sure what else (but it was good). Hannah played with Dennis' little girl Emily and was generally cute in her little Shamrock dress, and the rest of us watched Airplane in the background. For dessert, we had some kind of frozen dish infused with caramel Irish cream, which one person described as "better than sex." Ahem.