9/14/07 - 10:00 pm

Logan is mega-teething tonight. He has three teeth coming in at once. He's got a small fever, and he's not feeling very happy. Poor little guy! There's not much we can do, besides giving him orajel. And we can't find any.

9/14/07

Yesterday was Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

Heidi and I took Joshua Harvitz to a service for people with disabilities at Temple De Hirsch Sinai. Josh is Heidi's second cousin once removed (I think.) He is about my age. He nearly drowned when he was very young - around 2 or 3 years old - and has been severely disabled ever since. He's in a wheelchair, and has very little motor control. He has extremely limited speech. I don't know how much he understands, though I often suspect he understands more than most people think he does.

Sadly, Logan was alarmed by Josh. Josh occasionally makes spasm like movements and shrieks when he's excited. Of course, he was excited when we picked him up. Logan started to cry immediately. He cried during the car ride to Seattle, and was still upset when we arrived. By the end of the service both Logan and Josh were calmer, and the ride back was crying free.

I hope that Logan will get used to Josh (and vice versa.)

9/12/07

Today was a pretty ordinary day, though we're all still getting used to the new school year schedule.

This morning I got up, got ready and woke Logan up at 6:45. Heidi left right before Logan woke up. I've decided to wake him up gradually, going into his room and bustling about in an attempt to get him up without startling him. Usually it works pretty well, though he takes a long time to fully wake up.

This morning he was pretty happy. He had a nice breakfast of Kicks cereal, yogurt, grapes and juice. Finally we went to daycare. He was perfectly fine until I got him into Room 3, when he started to bawl. He cried so hard he nearly gagged himself. I left quickly - I thought that long goodbyes may cause him to be more anxious.
When she picked Logan up Heidi heard that he had calmed down about five minutes after I left.

9/11/07

I'm typing this at work, and about ready to go finish the Punch List for the 415 10th Avenue building. All afternoon I'll be going into units and checking for construction items to finish. I'll have to say that the building is looking good. I hope it's fine when we're done.

9/9/07

Today Logan, Heidi, Chazz and I hiked into the Commonwealth basin. It was a picture perfect blue sky fall day, and the forecast called for the high to be around 75 in the mountains. We set off fairly early and drove up to the Commonwealth campground parking lot just off of I-90. It was already packed when we arrived and started to hike up. About 50 feet from the trailhead we ran across a side trail - the abandoned trail down from the Basin that was mentioned in most trail descriptions. We decided to go up the "official" route, which coincided with the Pacific Crest Trail for the first 2-3/4 miles.

The trail up was lovely - at about 1.75 miles we broke out of the trees and entered a series of rockfalls with wonderful views of the basin below us and the surrounding mountains. Cool breezes were flowing off the mountain tops, down the rockfall channels. It may have been 50 degrees in spots along the trail.

At the fork in the trail we went left and down into the basin, while the Pacific Crest Trail climbed to the right. We passed the intersection with the old abandoned trail. After another mile we stopped and had lunch in the basin.

The basin was a wonderful spot for camping, eating lunch or picking blueberries. It's criss-crossed by small streams and has several large meadows. We turned back when the trail started it's ascent of Red Mountain.



On the way back we took the abandoned trail for a fast way down. We filled Logan's snack cup with blueberries - he ate till his face turned purple. The old trail was still traveled and in good shape.

After we got home I came down with a bad head cold. Totally worth it, though.

8/29/07

We went down to San Francisco last week to visit Heidi's sister Stacie and her family. Heidi left on Wednesday morning and flew down on Southwest Airlines with Logan. I followed them on Thursday evening. I got into Oakland at about 8:30 and took the shuttle to the BART station near the airport, and rode BART to the Glen Park station. I got to Stacie's house around 9:30, after Logan was asleep.

The next day we went to the Discovery Museum. It's located just over the Golden Gate bridge in an old coast guard base. The old clay tile roofed barracks have been converted to a series of children's museums. Each building has a different theme. The grounds between the buildings contain play areas. Logan had a blast playing with his cousins Hayden and Ethan. I think Logan's favorite areas were a "salmon stream" and the toddler's play area. The toddler play room had places with water bed like floors which he "swam" on. He also had fun watching a backhoe working near the museum. There was also an exhibit about cowboys, where Logan got to wear a cowboy hat.

The next day we went up to Sanoma. Heidi's parents were in the area for a wedding, and we went up to meet them for the day. When we got there Stacie announced that she was pregnant. Carol and Bryan were very surprised - and very happy.

We met at "train town," a small amusement park that features an extensive scale train ride and other small rides. We went on the train ride, which was pretty interesting although sort of crowded and uncomfortable. Logan and I also rode the carousel, which Logan really enjoyed.

After lunch I visited the Sanoma barracks and mission, a state historical site. The were built in the 1830's and housed a small Spanish garrison which was captured by Americans from Sutter's fort. Sanoma was where the Bear Flag was created and where California became - for a short time - an independent country.

We stopped at a winery on our way back from Sanoma. It was not nearly the fancy experience I had imagined!

8/2/07

I'm super busy right now. I'm working on a building permit and a design review presentation for the 424 Minor Avenue Project. At the same time! It's really eating into the time I have to be with Logan and Heidi.

The building permit is due on August 8, the Design review presentation in on August 15th, and after that the 415 10th building will finish construction. There are too many little problems to track right now.

Last night Heidi and I briefly rode in the bicycle protest for the Stone Way bike lane. I spoke to a journalist while we rode along - and I got quoted in today's Seattle times. I haven't read it yet. Hopefully, they didn't make me sound like an idiot.