Colin and the excavator

It's Colin's dream come true: a huge construction crew is laying new pipe outside Fedora's parents' place in the City -- and he gets to help! Here he is with the kindly construction worker Jarlath from Ireland. Jarlath works one of two excavators that are helping to dig up the road, and lay in the new pipe.

On the Division of Labor

Dad: Were you a good helper today, Colin?

Colin: Yes! I helped mommy carry things to the car. If mommy needs help with little things, then Katie needs to go. If mommy needs help with big, dangerous things, then you need to go because you are the biggest person in our family.

Hilarious!

Colin enjoys a good laugh at I-don't-remember-what-anymore. As usual, the kids had a great time at my parents' house.

During one of the car rides we had this weekend, we had this exchange:

• VeggieTales soundtrack: "Cheeseburger, do not be angry."
• Dad: "Colin, have you ever had an angry cheeseburger?"
• Colin: "No, cheeseburgers cannot be angry!"
• Mom: "Why not?"
• Colin: "Because they do not have faces."

The Green Park

The kids call our neighborhood park "The Green Park" on account of its green playground equipment. This is where Colin and Katie will go to kindergarten and elementary school if we stay in Belmont. A good time was had by all this weekend.

Chrisitan books in the mainstream market

I read an article in Newsweek recently about how independent Christian booksellers were closing their doors as the larger chains started carrying more Christian titles -- presumably based on renewed interest in spiritual topics with 9/11, Passion of the Christ and the best-selling Purpose-Driven Life.

Still, I was a little surprised to see C.S. Lewis featured at his own table (right next to African-American History Month) at the local Barnes and Noble. The table had a healthy collection of his writings, and not just gift-packs of the Chronicles of Narnia. Right across the aisle, there was another entire table with Christian best-sellers.

It's good that the mainstream public is more interested in spiritual topics, though I wonder how long The Door in San Carlos will last?

IKEA frozen yogurt fan

Katie would make the perfect poster child for just about any food product: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for...IKEA frozen yogurt!"

In the IKEA berry basket

The kids' favorite part of our visit to IKEA: the loganberry basket. Colin was technically too tall (the cutoff was 37 inches or something like that, and he's just over 40 inches, as we learned during our Disneyland trip -- tall enough for Soarin' Over California), but no one else was there and he didn't seem to be putting the play area in danger...

Kicking back at IKEA

Hi, we're just loungin' around...

Hot pink: just the right color for us!

The family had a little outing to the IKEA in East Palo Alto, the first time we've visited since it opened. The kids had a great team. We might need a bunk bed for them as they get older.