So Much More of Much the Same

With all the ambitious plans we had, I put the Rollei with our jackets and made sure I took it along whenever we left the apartment. After all those ambitious plans had failed miserably, the roll of film was full regardless. Full of pictures you’ve already seen a hundred times before, but we just hope it’s like that special song you love – you’ll tap your feet to the rhythm and hum along, even if it’s playing for the 37th time that day, because the DJ on the radio likes it even more than you do. So yeah. Albert and sunsets galore!

This was the first time we let him loose on the beach. (Second Beach in this case, not that the numbers matter in the least.) It must have been a couple of weeks ago, which is significant because that rain-suit is already too small now. Luckily, we bought two. We intended to return the one that didn’t fit, but we ended up keeping both. Smart move.

Albert loves his swing. Exhibit A. Case closed.

One of the newer pastimes is his hanging around park benches, walking back and forth, never leaving a comfortable safety zone around them, where he can support himself in case he looses his footing. He’s the star of the seawall. Even the most grumpy crank will brighten up at Albert’s sight and utter something along the lines of ‘Aawwww, isn’t he the cutest!’. And you should see the looks he gets when he pushes the stroller. That regularly brings a big smile to my face – people will walk towards us, confused as hell why there’s a tall man with an empty stroller. And why does that stroller move so strangely? And why does the man stop all the time? And why does he keep looking at his feet? Their faces get more and more confused the closer they get. Then, finally, they draw level with us, see Albert and go ‘Ooh, there’s the baby! That is aaaa-doooooorable!’ Mistery solved. Cuteness overload. Day saved.

Yes, the focus is out of whack. Turns out, I’m hopeless at guessing distances in the 1-3m range.

He’s quite persistent in the endeavor, too. We can jump up and down and want to leave because we’re cold all we want – he won’t be moved to go home by something as trivial as nightfall.

Sand is still a bit tough on him. But, to be honest, it’s tough on me, too, so who can blame him. Look at those mounds. They come up almost to his knees. But he’s getting better at it. The last few days, he’s just grabbed our legs for support and waddled along. And he loves it, which is why we get to spend more time on the beach. Not a bad development, at all.

Beach pics!

This is the story of a little boy who went out to the beach with his dad, because his mum wanted the apartment to herself. (Not out of some wickedness, but because it is decidedly easier to clean the place without two little playing boys around.) True to the cliché, his dad bought burgers and fries for a picnic. And so they had a wonderful time with unhealthy food, good books, exotic drink (birch sap, anyone?) and an amazing sunset.

The story ends, as all tales must, with the little hero turning his back on the sunset and waddling off towards greener pastures. Or, in this case, porridge, a bath, and bed.

To shake things up a bit, here’s a few snapshots from the ‘hood, before we bring things full circle and return to Albert, the beach and sunsets. 😀

Oh yeah, spring made an appearance a few weeks back. It was beautiful while it lasted. But, you know. All things must come to an end. We’ve had so much rain recently, it almost feels like the winter everybody told us about decided to live up to the hype, after all.

With that uninteresting stuff finally out of the way, we can have more pictures of Albert. Here he is at the playground. The usual itinerary: waddle to the swing. Swing around for a couple of minutes, until he gets bored or sick or both. Waddle to the slide. Slide a few times, until it’s time to get going. Waddle towards the stroller or backpack happily, until it dawns on him that neither the stroller nor the backpack with the baby sling can mean any good thing. Start crying like it’s the end of the world and flee back towards the slide. Get caught half way. Fight. Lose. Give in to his fate.

(Slide to the left. Swing to the right.)

(Also, I have a feeling that whoever developed this might just have made a mistake. I mean… the sun certainly didn’t burn a hole in the film, in this of all pictures.)

He was so happy when I gave him that bottle. Tsingtao beer. I recommend it. So does Albert. OF COURSE the bottle was empty when I gave it to him. What do you think of me?

Yes, I know, the focus…

Another intriguing place. So many boxes. So many mysteries. So much space to toddle around. Oh, and newspapers. Albert loves newspapers. They make the sweetest sound when you rip them to tiny shreds for other people to find, weeks later, in remote corners, where nobody would ever expect tiny shreds of newspaper.

(Okay, I made it this far. Now how in the world do I get away from here?)

Due warning: the next picture will be the last of Albert for now.

You gotta love his beanie. Little Al-bear-t. Clever, no? I just thought of that.

*cough* Anyway. (And yes, the focus. Told you I’m crap at it. I should get a camera that lets me… you know… focus.)

I have one roll of color film left, and I won’t start filling that one until we finally get to one of the tourist hot spots we’ve been looking forward to. Because you can only bear so many pictures of beaches and sunsets before it gets boring, right? I don’t know about you, but for me, that threshold is reached now. 🙂

Three weeks to go until I leave Method and we have time to explore the country more. It’ll be great! I hope! 🙂

The last one, you guessed it, is a sunset. Because. Look at those creamy colors. A true Kodak moment. See you soon!