What a way to end the week!

An exciting week's been had in Babyland. We took a trip to the Puyallup Fair, home to more livestock and cheesy rides than anywhere else in the northwest. Sam's fave was probably the cows, which we didn't get any good photos of. A close second was the Grange dioramas, if that's what you call fruits and vegetables meticulously laid out to create a theme. Art that's (almost) edible!


"Epic Fun"? Yes. In the sun, hardly. Sam and Sawyer braved the rainy midway to bang on this interactive piece of art.


Now the Puyallup Fair's a once a year treat. But the week ended with a once in a lifetime thrill. At least I hope it's once in a lifetime. Let me explain:

As some of you may know, our neighbors with the cute two-year old Jake (the guy enamored with Sam's firetruck impersonation a few months back) have been expecting to give birth to number two any day now. Well, any day came yesterday. I got a call while Sam was napping and I was dutifully emailing new students: "Keith, would you mind giving me a ride up to the hospital? I think it's time." The only response to that question is yes, so I said "Yes." The plan was to meet Gretchen's husband Tim at the hospital who was stuck in traffic coming from some errands up north.

Five minutes later Sam was bleary eyed but excited to ride in "Jake's Mommy's Car" and we're helping Gretchen into the passenger-side. "Take the local roads, Keith. I hate the highway." For sure. "Would you mind passing this guy?" Not at all. "I'm sorry, Keith, but would you run this red light?" Uhhh, okay. Since when she wasn't speaking she was having some SERIOUS contractions, doing all the breathing exercises I remember from 20 months ago, cursing like a sailor, I thought the worst that could happen was we'd get the attention of a police officer who'd promptly give us an escort to the hospital. Honking and yelling ensued, from our car, and for the most part on-coming traffic was understanding. We must've looked crazy. Twenty minutes later, we drop Gretchen off with Tim, wish them both luck, and are on our way back home. Sam's chill in the back seat, thrilled by the opportunity to play with Jake's new toy tractor, and I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Wow.

Cut to the conversation I have about an HOUR later with Tim. "Hey Keith, thanks for running those reds. Approximately ELEVEN minutes after we saw you, Gretchen gave birth to a bouncing baby girl!" Eleven minutes.  I was speechless then, and am speechless now. Still shocked by the whole experience.

Sam the wordsmith, on the other hand, ever ready to recount and describe what's what, told us this over dinner. While he'd said this earlier in the day, I swear we didn't coach him:



What a week!