Spain Dad, a baby blog

The woman in front of us was holding her sleeping daughter in her arms. Her husband was in front of her pulling their luggage and pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby through the herd of backpackers and the men picketing with their signs for hotels and cars for hire and wine tours and excursions [...]

We spent two days at the beach last week, and apparently Alleke is a beach girl now because when I asked her if she wanted to go to the playground this morning, she shook her head and said, “No playground.” I gaped. “You don’t want to go to the playground?” I asked. “BEACH!” she screamed, [...]

We were in Castellón for a few days this week (the city where Alleke was born), and Alleke got to go to the beach for the first time. She wasn’t too sure about the water (see the video), but she did like eating the sand. Maybe this was her subtle way of telling us we [...]

Alleke and Heidi Photo by kellyandapril. I walked into the garage, opened the door of the mini van, and lifted the car seat out of its base. Back in the house, I threw Alleke’s snow suit, a winter blanket, and the diaper bag into the car seat like it was a grocery cart. I walked [...]

del.erio.us Photo by .ash. I woke up this morning, wandered into the living room, and found April sleeping on the couch with the door to the terrace open and a fan blowing on her face. I got the hint that April was feeling warmish a few weeks ago when she began taking cold showers during [...]

At Heather’s request, we have more photos of the girls.

Today I went for a walk on the beach. Sometimes, especially after a long week at work, it feels good to unanchor my thoughts and let them drift out to sea. This afternoon, I eventually found myself coming back to one question—circling around it like seagulls over water. The question was this: why do people [...]

I was in the grocery store about a week ago, and a friend of mine, Laurence, called me on my mobile. He called to ask me if I could sing the tune to a song we had played together in a band in Madrid. I ducked into an empty aisle in the grocery store and [...]

journal Photo by romanlily. I had writer’s block this afternoon. I was sitting on the edge of my beach towel with my little blue notebook and a pen. I couldn’t have asked for better conditions. I had sunshine. I had sand between my toes. I had the sound of rolling waves to massage my brain. [...]

We took the bus to the beach this afternoon. I set the backpack down in the sand, unzipped it, and began emptying the contents out around me—frisbee, sun tan lotion, books, towels. April grabbed the green towel, sat down on her knees in the sand, and set the towel down next to her. She knelt [...]