Red-letter Day

Miles loves trains. He
points out the tank cars, hopper cars, and "hmoke" in train picture books,
spends hours laying on the floor moving his engine, car, and caboose along their tracks,
knows where to spot train bridges when we drive down the freeway,
watches library DVDs about trains,
asks me to sing train songs (I know 3 and will make up more on request),
asks me to build trains in the sand and draw them on the sidewalk, and
rides TRAX and goes with Alvin to watch freight trains.

I get the biggest kick when Miles asks to color. That means he wants to hand me markers and tell me to draw the engine, cars, wheels, "cup-lahs" (couplers), and caboose. Then he carries the completed illustration around - in the car, to bed, next to his plate at the table.

How can we help but feed his fascination by finding iPod apps with trains, taking him to play with the train toys at Grandma's house, and ...
visiting Golden Spike National Historic Site? The two-hour drive was worth it - he saw two old steam engines coming down the tracks, whistling, clanging their bells, and puffing steam and smoke.
Miles clings to his souvenir postcards, and he even found a page in a library book featuring one of the trains we saw. He points it out with great pride.
On the way home from Promontory Point, we stopped at the International Peace Gardens at Jordan Park. Miles found a little house just his size in the Swiss garden, and he wasted no time hopping around plants and bushes to make his way up the little stairs.

You'll Never Know, Dear . . .

Alvin has been putting Miles to bed lately. Lucky Miles gets a good long bedtime routine:

• brush teeth
  
• practice sitting on the potty
  
• diaper and jammies on
  
• story
  
• recite the First Article of Faith
  
• prayer
  
• song
  

Miles asked Alvin to sing the train song, which Alvin doesn't know, so he made one up: You Are My Sunshine with a few key words like train, coming down the tracks, and honk. I love listening to Alvin improvise! This is the best part of my day.

Last night, Alvin went to the grocery store to pick up some things for his Ragnar Relay this weekend. (Good luck on those 15 uphill miles!) So I put Miles to bed. When it came time to sing a song, I told him I'd sing the train song. He asked for something, and had to repeat it four or five times before I finally understood: "Train Sunshine." He wanted me to sing Alvin's Train Sunshine song! I had a great time trying to make up my own version.

Spring Recap

April 29: We drove to St. George and Las Vegas. Here's a clip of the Bellagio fountains.





May 7: My sister got married. She had a 40's-themed reception with an ice cream bar, photo booth, and bridesmaids in period dresses.

Once Miles discovered the old loader parked outside, not even the ice cream could bring him back in to the reception.

May 18: Went outside on a sunny day to enjoy the Royal Farms pond and ate dinner at a park.

Will he go for it?

Of course!


May 28: Alvin's BYU roommate Logan was in town with his family. Brennan, 2 1/2, and Miles hit it off immediately. We went on a 2 year old-paced hike in Ferguson Canyon.

Translation, please

Miles has been saying this lately:
"Look high deed!"
Alvin finally figured out that it means, "Look what I did!"

The other day, Alvin asked Miles how many fingers were on his hand. Miles held out his hand, pointed to each finger, saying, "Dee, dee, dee . . ." When he was finished counting, he turned to us and said, "Eight!" I burst out laughing. I've never even heard him say the number "eight" before.

Springtime

Our kind neighbors invited us to an Easter Egg Hunt. The mom in charge said she was trying to make up for her childhood disappointment of never being quick enough to find many eggs. In this hunt, you don't have to be quick - you just need eyes and legs.
Miles put two eggs in his basket, then he wanted to go play on the swingset. Alvin helped him collect a few more (and has been helping him eat the candy, too).
The last hurrah with Ella, Miles' best friend. She moved to Chicago two weeks ago, but Miles still asks if she can come over. We took him to see her empty apartment and explained that she moved to a new home. He stood looking through the window, very quiet, for a long time.
My new bike! Can I say how much I love road biking?!? The speed, the wind on your skin, ahhh. I'm still getting used to the clipless pedals. Fortunately I've tipped over on BOTH sides of the bike so the scuffs on the seat and handlebars are symmetrical. So were the bruises on my hips.
Miles is ready to go! But where will he need my scriptures, shoes, AND his Cars DVD?

Life Goes On

We decided. Alvin is not going to school this year. It was a difficult decision to say the least. Ultimately, the decision came down to the research projects. The schools that accepted him would have involved research projects that were not a good fit for Alvin's interests and career path. So he turned them down.

We will be staying in or near Salt Lake and Alvin will continue working at his current job, which he likes. We are looking forward to having the time and money to enjoy hobbies, family, and travel. We feel good about the decision. And now we get to once again decide what we want for our future. Lots to look forward to and plenty of possibilities. One possibility...after hearing about Alvin's decision to not attend Purdue, a professor there sent Alvin an encouraging email. He said to keep in touch - he's requesting funding for a project next year that Alvin would really enjoy.

Decisions, decisions

After a busy winter of filling out college applications, Skyping with potential advisors, and flying across the country to visit universities, Alvin is ready to decide which school to attend for his PhD in geology.

Schools which have accepted Alvin:

Purdue University

University of Pittsburgh

University of North Carolina

Schools which Alvin would like to attend:

University of Colorado

Oregon State University

Dartmouth

Another option that we started discussing a week ago is this: not going to school at all. Alvin is already qualified for excellent geology-related jobs in industry. These positions pay very well, have increasing demand, and offer reasonable work hours. That option is very alluring, especially after finding out more about the academia option.

A PhD takes 5 years to complete, most graduates do a 2-3 year post-doc, and the availability of tenure-track faculty positions is declining rapidly. Alvin has talked to current PhD students who work 50-70 hours a week for a paltry $20,000 annual stipend. Why would we do that when the job competition at the end of that path is so steep? Even if he were to find a job teaching at a college or university, he would have to work extremely hard to obtain tenure. You've heard it: publish or perish.

Academia is not without its allure. A tenured professor enjoys job flexibility, variety of work, teaching, travel for field work, sabbatical every 7 years, and working with interesting, intelligent, driven people.

We have until April 15 to decide. What should we do???