Announcement for Chapters 12 and 13: October 12, 2003

Sarah's website finally hosts a bonanza of new pictures -- 93 pictures! So many I had to divide them into two chapters:
"Chapter 12: Queen of the Summer; in Which Our Heroine Hangs Out With Her Friends", covering June until late August, and
"Chapter 13: Two's Company, Three's A Party! In Which Our Heroine Celebrates Her 3rd Birthday, Her Moms' 2nd Wedding, Her First Ride on a Real Horse, The Last Day of Summer, and Other Momentous Occasions", which covers 8/28 to 9/28/03.

Apologies for the long wait. We've had a busy summer since May, as you'll see: seeing friends in in Eugene, camping at the beach at Vancouver Island, two trips to Vancouver, flying to Jackson Hole to see my mother and grandmother, hanging out with many friends and visiting relations here at home, and of course Sarah's 3rd birthday.

Here are some of my favourite "Sarah Stories" of the summer:

Sarah's two big loves these days are mermaids and horses. After Big Girl Lilly gave Sarah a little rhyming story about mermaids, Sarah took to making up her own stories. At beautiful Rathtrevor Beach, where we were camping, Sarah adopted two rocks and turned them into mermaid sisters named "Wonko" and "Koa". We threw many birthday parties for them in the tidepools, with sand cakes and tiny seashell candles; and, while waiting for ferries, we developed their ongoing adventures (which have continued for weeks). In some of these sagas, mermaids ride seahorses -- what could be better? Real girls, however, get to ride real horses. At the zoo, Sarah loves the pony ride. But in Jackson Hole, Barb Barker very kindly let Sarah ride her huge but gentle old horse, "Steppy" -- the highlight of Sarah's whole trip.

One day Sarah and I were walking home past our local statue of Lenin. (Yes, Lenin lives in Lenin lives in Fremont.) We'd been discussing world leaders, as one of Sarah's favourite songs is "I Want You Gone" by Laura Love (click "Song Sample") referring to George W. Bush. We'd explained that Bush is the guy in charge of our country, and we think he's making a lot of bad choices. So when Sarah asked who the statue was, I said, "That's Lenin. He used to be in charge of a country called Russia, a long time ago. He was very mean to a lot of people there." And Sarah responded brightly, "So they turned him into a statue!" She obviously felt deeply satisfied at such poetic justice.

Sarah loves playing with words and making up rhymes; she sings many variants on "The Name Game" ("Sarah-Sarah-Bo-Berra, Banana-fana-po-Perra, Me-my-mo-Merra, Sarah!") She speaks like a school-age kid, and no longer says "I need some pface!" when she wants to be left alone, although she still has trouble with "th" (when answering in the affirmative she may say, "I sink so"). At Kidd Valley her favourite lunch is a "Girl Cheese Sandwich." I thought this was just consonant transposition, until Sarah asked me whether there were "Boy Cheese Sandwiches." Sarah likes to declare that she doesn't like boys, although when pressed she will make exceptions for Uncle Raymond, her grandfathers, her preschool friend Elam, Josie's dad, and just about any other real male she actually knows. But she feels she must ferociously affirm her loyalty to her newly-found gender tribe, and eat only "Girl Cheese."

Thank you, all of you, for all of your ongoing love and support. It means a tremendous amount to us, and we feel deeply blessed to have so many loving family members and friends.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy fall to everyone, and may none of you be turned into statues (or cheese sandwiches),

Lise, Els, and Sarah