Weekend Warriors

Miles survived his second weekend home alone with Dad!

While Mom was on a business trip to Boulder, the boys got to break out the beer and potato chips, crank up the stereo, and take lots of walks in the Bjørn.


Fortunately, the fridge was well-stocked with all our favorite foods, and everyone lived to tell the tale.


Miles did miss his Mom though, and insisted on regular chats on the phone.

Miles Rocks

My first Father's Day as a card-carrying father turned into a celebration of the arts, starting with the culinary ones, as Lisa and Miles took me to Palisade for a delicious brunch.

Then they gave me a book! Not just any book, but a new biography of one of my old heroes, the late, great Clash frontman Joe Strummer:


In the afternoon I caught our friends the illustrious Leo and Anna Daedalus appearing live and in various recorded media in the show The Theory of Love with Portland's Liminal Performance Group down at On the Boards.


Dashing quickly up Aurora Avenue, I joined Lisa and Miles for a Zootunes concert with the Indigo Girls at the now-very-familiar Woodland Park Zoo.


It was Miles' first concert (post-partum, at least), and in fact his first live music (if you don't count an occasional guitarist at Third Place Books or the karaoke machine in the basement). Even though the Indigo Girls serve up a relatively gentle acoustic mix, Lisa left nothing to chance, crafting a pair of custom infant earplugs for Miles in case the audio threatened to overwhelm him.

We ran into about eight million friends at the concert, including Aly and Allie:


By the time Father's Day was all over, Miles was thoroughly tuckered:

As were we all.

-Dean

Chairman Miles

Zoo Station

Now, we all remember how much Miles likes giraffes. If not, here's a reminder:


On Sunday, he got to check out some real ones at the Woodland Park Zoo:


Then he met the friendly siamang:


Of course, Miles gets to go to the zoo all the time for Mommy's Stroller Strides class, but this was our first trip all together as a card-carrying Zoo Family.


Speaking of families, the gorillas looked so happy and laid back, we thought about letting them raise Miles.


But then we figured, "Nah, he's too cute. Let's take him back home to his natural habitat."

I'll Meet You at the Locks -- Bring Your Giraffe

Miles is getting out and about more and more with the approach of summer. Here he makes his first visit to the Ballard Locks.

UB40

I expected to observe my 40th birthday with a suitable combination of quiet fellowship, sober reflection and abject mourning.

Little did I suspect that my wife--all the while playing along with (feigned) nonchalance and (genuine) exhaustion--had set in motion an elaborate campaign of deception worthy of D-Day.


So when I opened the back gate to our yard Friday night, expecting to make a brief stop on the way to dinner, I was astounded to find my way obstructed by fifty of my closest friends, relatives and creditors.


The camera recorded my flabbergasted state, but, alas, not the tableau before me. As my eyes darted from face to face, trying to ascertain the dimensions of this vast conspiracy, I could only compare the scene to a cover of an album which, coincidentally, had been released forty years ago to the day:


In retrospect, I would like to credit the surprise not to my dull and unsuspecting mind, but to the ingenuity of Lisa's strategems and the silence of her co-conspirators.



Speaking of whom, I would be remiss in failing to thank everyone who kept the cat firmly in bag, and helped my lovely wife make this such a memorable and touching event. Not least were the out-of-towners Martin, Robin, Blake and Mami, who made the trek from distant climes; the Toucans, who lent their musical chops to the proceedings both above and below ground; Julie, for her critical logistical support; and finally Laurie, whose loan of a karaoke machine provided a decisive turn of events around the midnight hour. Very little of what followed do I actually remember, but there are quite a few photographs: