Sad news in the Kircher family this week. Kaya’s great grandfather (my maternal grandfather) passed away last Sunday.

The things he was most proud of include serving in the US Navy, attending MIT, and assisting in the invention of the hovercraft with Charlie Fletcher.

He loved telling stories and would talk for as long as anyone around would listen. Sometimes longer 🙂

He was much loved and we are very sad to lose the Kircher family patriarch.  Kaya got to meet him as a baby (I hardly recognize her in this picture though) – she brought him an MIT hat to win his heart forever.  He will be missed.

Kaya and Tommy (and a large clan of Gangsteads) went to Tweetsie Railroad, a “wild west theme park” out in the mountains this weekend.  It looks like toddler paradise based on the pictures.

Tommy and Kaya and I all watched the sunset tonight. Except I was at the beach for a work retreat and they were in Western North Carolina in a cabin in the mountains. But it was the same sun! Somewhere out there, someone’s saying a prayer…

Looking back through the last five posts, I’ve realized one thing: Kaya is clearly a righty (rightie?)

We can’t claim to run a gender neutral household, but we appreciate when Kaya has toys other than shopping carts and baby dolls (or, notice the purse in the foreground and the stroller in the background). For example, her new toolset is very encouraged.  Unlike Mommy, maybe she’ll learn to hammer without closing her eyes.

We dyed eggs last weekend for Easter – turns out it’s not that great an activity for an almost 2 year old. She can’t balance the eggs on the dipper, can’t hold a cup of dye without spilling it, and doesn’t like to get dye on her hands.  We should have gone with rabbit sticker decorations – that would have been a hit.

The annual Rose Family Easter Egg Hunt happened last weekend and Kaya discovered jelly beans!  She is good at seeing the Easter eggs if she’s looking in the right direction, but she’s pretty bad at changing the direction she is looking in order to find more eggs.  After however many years of solo Easter egg hunting with Tommy, it was quite refreshing to have a new participant.

Although I dream of one day going to see the fields of tulips in the mid West (Iowa I think?), we will settle for the Duke Gardens this year.

Yesterday we trimmed a bunch of shrubs in the yard in the unseasonably cold and windy air. We still have a lot of work to do, but as you can see I need frequent breaks during yard work.