One more thing before summer's over!

Calder and I joined our friends for a repeat of last year's Willamette River float.  3 days/2 nights on the river floating leisurely through geography that is very familiar to us as it's right outside our door.



The float began with a little rain, but quickly drifted into sunny skies and we dried out and were never cold or uncomfortable.

Our sweet umbrellas were perfect for the sun and sent smiles to all who passed us by.















River island camping was so peaceful.  The kids were free to roam and made their own fun.  The big kids were masters of the campfire, sweet with the little ones, and great together.  I love this trip as a transition from summer to school.



The perspective shift of seeing your world from the water, looking up at the night sky from your island just a few miles from home, is so refreshing.  I really love the different view.  Calder does this trip so easily, it must feel really good to him too.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

Waldo, for the record books

The 2014 Southtown Campout at Waldo Lake was another success.





















Beautiful weather, and loads of love amongst the kids… so good to see.  Being there is just wonderful, relocating our neighborhood to a gorgeous 5000 ft. elevation mountain lake… one of the clearest in the world, playing in the water and at camp, cooking for each other, eating together, spending full days.





We are so fortunate to have these families and these traditions.  It means so much to me as a parent and a friend, and I know it must mean the world to our kids… in fact, I believe it IS their world, and for that they are so lucky.

Goodness, it's been a while!

Summertime summertime.

For the records… catching up on some summer biggies.



Finally in early August, after Theater Camp and LEGO camp, and lots of long days at work for Jeff, our family was together for full days of travel and exploration visiting friends and places in our beloved Santa Cruz.









The boys, ready and raring for rides, got their first taste of the Boardwalk.  We thought Calder was going to be able to ride the Giant Dipper, but he's got an inch or two to grow.  We made up for it with a splash ride on Logger's Revenge, and he and I took flight on the Cliff Hanger hang gliding ride which was pretty great.  He's outgoing on those rides, for sure!







Got to see our friends, bring the kids together again, and get our boys connected to the people we love but don't get to see as often as we'd like.

Santa Cruz is a busy busy place in the summertime.  I can't say I loved the crowds.  But getting to see and connect with the important people and hit up the best spots was something we needed to do.  Thank goodness we knew the in's and out's of the town so we could dodge traffic and find peaceful spots here and there to touch a bit of our former life as residents of Santa Cruz.



God, that kid's got some hair!!!

4!

Today our boy Wilder Lake completes his 4th trip around the sun!

Happy Birthday to you, you silly, wonderful, loving, sweet, imaginative little one!

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful year.  I'm looking forward to celebrating with your friends and family around a backyard campfire with s'mores and a fresh blueberry tart.

I think the wish Lake had of decorating for his birthday with a Christmas tree and the electric train is pretty great, and might be the start of a new tradition.  It's strange, but in a good way, to see those things displayed in the Summertime.  It's manipulating my relationship with the winter holiday automatics, assumptions, and traditions and making room for more of a sense of celebration, pleasure, and happiness.  Horray!

You are a bright star, little Lakey!  We love you!

Back to School

This is the first time I've ever been able to say that... "back to school."

Today is Calder's first day back.  First grade.  And such a different start compared to last year, all confidence and knowing.  He's quite a guy.

There's also tons of things I'd like to lay down here about how we've spent our last weeks of real summer - our first summer sandwiched between school years.  I hope to do the time warp and take this journal backwards.  We've had such great experiences, I can't imagine not sharing our annual campout at Waldo Lake and stories of last weekend's 3-day float on the Willamette.  I'll try to get to all this soon.

But for today we have the boy and his little brother... just right.

The summer of... Amazing

Oh my goodness.  This summer has meant a lot to me.  I have seen such amazing growth and changes in my boy, Calder.  Really.  Though I am his Mama and see him every single day, he continues to blow me away on a regular basis.

This afternoon was no exception.



We ventured to the County Fair with hopes of getting Calder on a few of the amusement rides... for the first time.  He was excited to try them out, so after watching a couple we even went so far as to buy him and Jeff bracelets for unlimited rides.

It is just incredible for me to ponder the growth and opening up, the desire for new experiences, and willingness to step out of his comfort zone that Calder's shown me since he entered school last year.  (I really credit getting out of the house and spending time in a stimulating environment with all sorts of children, adults and situations as the catalyst for his transformation.)











Anyway, tonight he rocked the fair.  He rode the big rides, the little rides, and he dragged his dad all over the place.  They were there much later than Lake and I, rode their bikes home, and walked in exhausted, but still buzzing, with an inflatable purple dolphin and great stories to tell.

This kid.  He's amazing.  He's been in swimming lessons 4 days a week for 5 out of the last 7 weeks.  He's gone from being afraid to put his face in the water all the way to Level 3.  Those two weeks when he wasn't in swim lessons he was at theater camp.  Same one as last year, which he liked but was so nervous on the last day he couldn't bear to participate in the final showcase.  Calder one year later?  He's now the kid who gets called up on stage to demonstrate hair pulling (from their lessons in stage combat!) in front of over 600 people.  And he did it with total confidence and the desire to be up there!  I think he's even chipping away at his fear of dogs.  What?!



And tonight he's riding amusement park rides like he'd waited all year to do so, but it was his first time ever.  This is too much fun!  Pardon my gushing.  I am just so grateful that I get to bear witness to this amazing almost-7-year-old person.

Thoughts on the line

It's been hot.

Laundry's on the line... still.  It's almost 1a.m.

But these days you can be a little lazy like that.  (Just don't leave the clothes wet in the washer.  Yuck.)

This evening, out at the line, I thought these colors, and the way the nine bark peered over the clothes, looked nice.  I love that our yard is surrounded by a wall of green in the summer yet we still have so much sun.

Berry fingers

Yay!  It's berry time again!



We are down to our last bag of blueberries, so I suppose the 30-some pounds we picked last summer was just about right.  Though, I have held off on opening that last bag, so I suppose we could do with more.  It's so wonderful having a freezer filled with berries!





Yesterday, a quick search of our local Craigslist revealed the u-picks were ready at my favorite patch just south of town.  I scooped up my family and our neighbors and we met in the field for an hour of early-season picking.





We are lucky to live in such a fertile valley, with a climate that accommodates a most wonderful variety of produce.  Berries abound in the summer.  You could pick buckets of different types each week if you wished.





Many of yesterday's berries are already frozen away for future smoothies, galettes, and ice cream... yum!  Our neighbors shared a quick batch of tapioca with a sweet strawberry and fennel puddle at the bottom... pretty and delicious!  I made a half recipe of these strawberry paletas to check for flavor.  Lake approves, so I suspect there will be more.  More picking.  More freezing.  More feasting on berries!