the town of or

It's so amazing to witness Jake's development, both physical and mental. Recently he made huge strides forward linguistically, and is finally using verbs. Sometimes he even speaks in complete sentences, and it's almost as though you can have a conversation with him!

It's still difficult to understand everything he says (articulation isn't so good yet), but obvious that *he* understands *us*. It's very fun to be able to communicate more!

We love Kitt yes we do! We love Kitt, how 'bout you!? Kitt - thanks for fixing our blog....it's awesome!

Lisa has added lots of pictures of Jake in his online photo album including his first time in a big boy swing, and his first time in a canoe:

One of the fringe benefits of receiving a large donation from Safeco is that you get to go on-field before a game and receive a "big check" in front of the fans. OK, so the Mariners are the worst team in the big leagues this year...but still nothing beats a thumbs-up (hoofs-up?) from the Mariner Moose.

We saw these two otters, playing on a dock in Port Townsend, WA. Then on the way home, we saw this bald eagle in Poulsbo, WA. Quite a nature day!

Yesterday, on the 623rd day of his life (20+ months old), Jake did something we weren't sure was possible. He went an entire day without crying once! (Well, at least he didn't cry in the morning or evening with us - it's entirely possible he cried at daycare during the day).

It's a first! To make sure it didn't become a trend, he kicked off this morning crying when his Dad changed his diaper.

An untouched photo of Seattle City Light's Diablo Dam in the fog, on our way up to North Cascades Institute.

Lisa, Jake, and I went to visit with some work colleagues up at North Cascades Institute this weekend. Along the way, we stopped to check out the bald eagles feasting on salmon along the Skagit River. The weather and light weren't great and the eagles were pretty far away - but I did manage to get this half-decent shot.

We found a tree with big scary scratches on it, just 100 feet from our front door - what could have made them? A bear marking its territory? A cougar sharpening its claws? A visit from our friend Mark Jordahl (who is an expert tracker and naturalist) revealed the answer - the gouges were made by a deer (a buck) scraping its antlers.

How do we know? The scrapes were made with an upward motion, which is typical of antlers. Bear and cougar claw marks would typically be downward unless they were climbing the tree. A few minutes after Mark paid us a house visit, another friend - Stan Rullman (who is also an expert tracker and naturalist) - came to the same unprompted conclusion. See detail of scratches below.

Went for a walk at Point No Point with Ray, Kristine, and Carson - and got this shot of Mt. Baker at sunset.