Friends

I didn't really mean to, but I have not taken pictures in about a week. I go through that phase sometimes. But it doesn't mean that things aren't going on! We had some really great social stuff happen in the last week. Rowan and I met a family at Story Time at the local library last week--they have a daughter exactly Rowan's age and a baby. Daniella and Dustin are the parents' names...and they invited us to supper and a Bible Study at their house last Friday night. We got to meet a few other young families, and Rowan got lots of kid time. We also attended their church (Dustin is a pastor) on Sunday morning....a small church in nearby Rio Vista, full of energy and eclectic people. We loved it! Then Saturday we drove over to a town called Pinole to visit with the McMullen's at thier son Chase's first birthday party. Phil McMullen competed in the decathlon, so he and Joe have known each other for a long time through that. It was an evening of great fellowship with Phil, his wife Tracy, and Tracy's sister and brother-in-law. And again, Rowan got some good kid time. On Sunday afternoon we went up to Sacramento for a "welcome baby" party for my good friend Edye's new daughter, Ellyn. Rick and Edye have some really cool friends, and again, Rowan got to play with some kids. So we've been busy! But I didn't take pictures of any of that. Aren't I bad?

Tonight we got to have Uncle Yoo and another pole vaulter named Jeff over for dinner. Yoo Kim is really like family to us (we've known him since our first weeks in Jonesboro 8 years ago, he has lived with us on and off, and lived in our garage apartment for much of Rowan's first year)..and we are pumped that he will be spending time training at Tigerbar. One of the things we love best about Yoo Kim is how much he loves Rowan. When he was seeing her on a regular basis, he would gloat about her accomplishments as though he were a parent. We have wondered whether Rowan would remember Yoo or be comfortable around him again--it's been 10 months since we have seen him. That's a lot of time for a 2 year old. And Rowan has been particularly shy and hard-to-get with this new group of people...she's pretty stand-offish when we go out to the building.We shouldn't have worried. Poor Yoo spent his whole evening being playmate to a toddler...I don't think I have ever seen this child warm up so fast to anyone or want someone to engage her as much as she did with Yoo (Grandpa is close competition). It was fun to watch her laugh so hard that she hiccuped, and want to keep doing things over and over with him. Yoo doesn't really get it---but Joe and I kept looking at each other like "what the heck?"

So I was finally motivated to take some pictures, because they were just too cute.

I think this last one sums up how Rowan feels about Uncle Yoo. Us too. There are a few more pictures (just a few) at Flickr if you click here.

I need to encourage Joe to write an entry about his training---it's going great, he's dog tired every night, learning a lot, and loving working with Dan. He needs to fill you in on more details!