Thought we’d kick off “dushtumay.sahawaltzer.org 2.0″ with some photos from our trip to Philly this past weekend.

Hope you all like the new site… We promise, it’ll be a lot more active in the coming months… bear with us as we work out some kinks.

We are so happy to welcome Akenna William Nikundiwe to our extended family.  We already share our anniversary with one cousin; we’re glad to share it with another.

Here he is, with the other two Nikundiwe boys:

I promise, a big photo dump is forthcoming, but I had to get this story out while I remembered it.

Kaya has been venturing into new levels and style of argument recently, testing what she can get past her parents and what she can’t.  But, frankly, she’s not that good at it yet.  I’m sure by the time she’s 15, she’ll be a pro, and we’ll be defenseless (aside from tracking the GPS chip we’ll have implanted in her rear end).  Now, though, she tries to dupe us with great vigor, and is prone to the crash and burn.

Exhibit A.  I’m shooting baskets in Jiju and Jiji’s driveway with her, and she decides to go inside, but stops to take the top off of one the four or five lanterns that line the walkway.

“Kaya,” I say, “don’t play with those lights.”

She takes another few steps, stoops down, and takes the top off the next lantern.

“Kaya! What did I just tell you?”

“You said not to play with the lights.”

“Well, then why did you immediately play with the next one?”

“Because I didn’t hear you.”

Inspired by the Kavi-eye view that rules over at her cousin’s place, we thought we’d let Kaya fool around with the camera and offer up a blog post of her own.

About these pictures, Kaya said “I took em at Grandma’s house, and I like them. The first one is a kind of medium face, then there’s two nice faces, and then there’s a silly face. It looks very pretty and I love the pictures. And I love mommy and daddy. That’s it.”

We spent Memorial Day in Langhorne, PA, grilling and chillin with the cousins and honored guests from Michigan and Brooklyn.  Here are some highlights:

We had a great time celebrating Kaya’s birthday at the local Y yesterday.  Here are some highlights:

Guess who’s the line leader?

Meghan and Kaya

Megan, Kaya, and Meghan

Bella: “Who ARE these kids playing with Kaya?”

The Bean:

Craft time!

Daddy got three seconds with the Bday girl!

There were fights over this swing, and hurt feelings.

Yaz and Bella

Let them eat cake.

“Buckets” Waltzer

Our youngest (and cutest) guest, with his mommy.

Our oldest (and proudest) guest, with her girls

Kaya was certain when riding in the car the other day that she saw a cloud shaped like an elephant.  Soon, she’ll see floating logos en-route to Giants Stadium, and come running from the backyard asking for new Nikes or to go to McDonald’s. But what she sees won’t be the product of her fertile yet vulnerable imagination.  Must we be sold to everywhere?

From the “first signs of the apocalpyse” department here at Dushtumay… click me.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.