Point Defiance

Last Sunday, Jack got to go to the zoo for the first time ever. He was so excited, he slapped his grandpa.

He smacked a goat, too!

He looked with wonder at all the sea creatures.

He loves the beach. He can't wait to taste sand!

Progress

It's been weird working on my novel lately. My writing processes have evolved significantly over the past several months. I'm writing out of sequence a lot these days—even more than I was before. I often start a writing session by reading through notes until I find something that really grabs my attention, and then I go off on a weird tangent, just scribbling ideas frantically in a notebook, or recklessly typing on my laptop (I lost a shift key the other day). Now, almost every time I read through my notes, it inspires something completely unexpected. And even though I know how the story is going to end, I'm still not completely sure what it is about.

I have completed twelve entire chapters (although, in reality, they probably aren't really complete), and I have the rest of the plot outlined. But the characters in the book are still continuing to evolve. And as I continue to flesh out each point and sub-point in my outline, not everything is fitting together in the ways in which I expected, or intended. The characters in the book wouldn't do, or say, some of the things the outline wanted them to do.

The characters and plot line are developing somewhat independently of each other. It's weird. I didn't anticipate this. But, I have never written a book before. It's hard—harder than I thought it would be. As I continue to read and re-read, edit and over-analyze everything I write, it's forcing me to reconcile all sorts of unexpected issues within the story, and this is more of a challenge than I anticipated (to be honest, I didn't anticipate this at all).

Quack

I've been meaning to post something for a couple weeks now. But I haven't, until now. I've been devoting most of my spare time to searching for and applying for jobs. There's a job at Olympic College in Bremerton that I am very optimistic about getting. It closes tomorrow. I turned in all required documents last week, and the suspense is killing me.

Jack has spent a lot of time in the car lately. A couple weeks ago, we spent some time driving around the Kitsap Peninsula (I applied for a couple jobs out there).

This was taken at the general store in Port Gamble. I did not apply there, although, maybe I should have.

Our friend Veronica's friend whose name I can't remember (sorry) somehow acquired a tapestry featuring Chairman Mao, and it's hanging up in his bike shop, Crank, in Portland.

Jack started crawling a couple weeks ago, but so far he can only move backwards and in circles. He seemed quite proud when he discovered a box of his toys the other day.

Here is Jack with a very fascinating spot of sunlight on the couch.

Post-run nap with Monkey and Ziggles.

Jack's new favorite toy is a little rubber duck with sunglasses and a tie. It's name is Quack. I named it as Jack is not yet able. But he loves hearing the word, "quack!" It makes him laugh.

Quack has become a pacifier substitute.

Happy 50th wedding anniversary, Pete and Sandy Pedone!

Tomorrow is the 50th wedding anniversary of Pete and Sandy Pedone. The Bend Bulletin published an article all about the couple and the event.

Jack practically ate the first sign I made, so I had to come up with something a bit more durable. But that's probably for the best as it looked far too much like a panhandling sign, anyway. Jack found it offensive.

August came too soon

We bought a jogging stroller a couple weeks ago. Jack seems to be enjoying the new perspective, and Brittany and I have been enjoying getting exercise again.

We have been going through a lot of sunscreen lately.

We are trying to help Jack learn how to drink from a bottle by himself. He is starting to get it. When the bottle isn't too heavy and there isn't anything going on to distract him, he can sometimes swallow almost as much as what ends up running down his chin. His new favorite activity is to spit while eating. He thinks it's funnier than we do.

He loves water.

His favorite part of his new swing is the straps. He seems to think they are pretty tasty.

Action shot.