Friday ten.

1. I have a backlog of summer images and stories to blog about, but it seems we're a bit busy living all those summer images and stories so they'll come when they come, I suppose.

2. Alla's two front teeth are steadily growing in but there's still clearly a gap.3. As soon as I get a shot of her one way, something else changes! Yesterday she got this lovely 'do, which, goodness, suits her so.4. One night last week, Fisher got up after bedtime to pee and told me, Do you know that my underwear have a pocket? He then proceeds to figure out how to get his hand into that little tiny pee-pee hole and smiles hugely, as if to say I told you so.) See, you can put your hand in there. What is the pocket for?, I asked. I don't know, for stuff I want to carry. Like what? Like [trucks] from my car basket.

5. I took Alla to Dairy Queen the night after her last soccer game. She told me she didn't even ask to go after the game with her teammates because she knew Fisher couldn't have it and if we went he'd be jealous so she just grabbed herself one of the popsicles a parent brought for snack. That girl is something else.

6. That night, apparently, was topped off by getting to take a bath with Mommy and then Mommy telling her a story. She decided she would lotion my feet while I told her a story, which she then told me was going to be a symbiotic relationship because I was getting my feet lotioned and she was getting to hear a story.

7. We celebrated 9 years of marriage this week, but really and truly celebrated with our favorite people last week when they were here and the four of us got to go out. Together. Sans kids. To a rooftop restaurant for dinner and then a different restaurant where we introduced them to butterscotch pudding. Their 9-year anniversary is next week.8. We also had our awesome block party last weekend, so of course I have tons of shots from that, if I ever get to them.

9. This morning the kids and I discovered a nature park fifteen minutes from home. Huge rocks, tunnels, logs, sand pit with toys galore, and, o holy grail, a shallow stream where the water is kid-activated. I think if I'd have brought a picnic lunch, the kids might have taken a nap there in the shade and then gone right back at it. Delightful.

10. The kids start two weeks of swim class on Monday. Fisher has grown leaps and bounds with vacation and swimming at Nana and Pappi's, so let's hope he doesn't cry through the entire first lesson again.

Breezy: A few last memories.

One or two baths a day in the whirlpool tub.
Hysterical laughter during rounds of iPad Yahtzee.
Taking my girl out for ice cream on a cold afternoon.
The gorgeous scene outside our patio.
Reading a whole bunch.
Naps.
Riding bikes a very short way to the park with your big sister.
I love this one. One day, he'll be helping her.
Practicing brakes on the downhill.
Getting to be in the picture. Thanks, sweetheart.

Until next year, Up North!

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The little girl who had a tooth missing now has two teeth missing!

2. Last summer soccer game tomorrow night.

3. When Alla woke up on Sunday morning to find a coin in her tooth fairy pouch, I asked her why she got a dollar coin when I only got quarters when I was a kid. She told me that "in the olden days they didn't have much money so you could only get quarters." Of course I asked her when were the olden days, to which she replied, "You know, when you were little." Ah.

4. Can't believe this is the last Ten on Tuesday for July. Where is the summer going? In a month we will be State Fair-ing and meeting new teachers and checking off school supplies and trying to figure out what on earth to make my child for her lunch box over the next 180 school days.

5. I've been in denial but I think it might be time to stock up on summer clothes for next year.

6. The best thing I heard today was from Fisher at his naptime: "Mommy? I love you."

7. At our regular park playdate this morning, Fisher shouted to everyone present, at the top of his lungs, "THERE'S A TRACTOR!!"

8. I desperately need a good purse. Big, like a medium-sized tote bag. Full of pockets so that important things like epi-pens and cell phone don't just disappear into a great abyss. Super duper durable. No, I'm not in search of a backpack.

9. I've just scheduled book requests from the library through the end of the year. That's a lot of reading.

10. We had an amazing weekend. Here's why:

The little girl loses her first tooth.

This is what she looked like earlier today. A bit like a monster.And now, snug in her bed, she looks more like this, with dreams of the tooth fairy dancing in her head.There is another real loose one down there, and I fear the tooth fairy will no sooner get home with the first than she'll be flying back to recover the second. Busy life for that tooth fairy.

Breezy: Beach.

Beach pictures don't really need a lot of explanation. As far as lakes go, I felt super sheltered once we got up north, as some of the lakes were ginormous, especially compared to the local lakes we frequent. Alla and I must have walked a quarter of a mile out into the water and still the water only reached her belly.



We came home with lots of shells and my own handpicked collection of tiny smooth stones to remind of us of our wonderful vacation.

Breezy: Hike to the Fire Tower.

On our way to town we would spot the fire tower I'd read about, that you could climb on. So we just casually stopped on our way back one day, parked the car in the smallish lot, and headed onto the trail. We really should have paid more attention to the folks coming down from the trail, who were wearing shorts and sneakers to our skirts and flip-flops. A short time later Alla was making this face, sure that if we didn't turn back we were going to find ourselves in immediate peril.We assured Fisher that we'd be back after nap, and by 4:30 we were back on the trail, as promised. Notice the better choice of clothing, hats, sunglasses, bug spray. We were set.
Are steps cheating? I mean, you have to take the help where you can get it when you're left to carry two kids up tall steps while your wife hangs back to take pictures.We went up two flights and told the kids we'd let them climb all the way when they got older.
It was a bit rickety. And that, my friends, is the extent of this family's hiking for 2011.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Taking a break from Breezy Point pictures for Ten on Tuesday.

2. At least once I week I run into the problem of not being able to request any more books from the library because I've maxed out my request list.

3. We started The Big C last night. I am glad it's a comedy because there's lots to be sad about, too.

4. Sayonara, Friday Night Lights. We will miss you.

5. I have read some fabulous books lately - Cutting for Stone and then These is My Words. Now I'm onto The Girl Who Fell From the Sky.

6. Went down the street to our friends' house for dinner on Saturday and I made this delicious Summery Whole Grain Salad to take. Sadly, it's almost gone. Be sure to double it.

7. We are in the middle of a crazy heatwave here. Heat index in the 105-115 range. Hoping for cooler weather, but on the other hand, as I sit out there with bottle after bottle of ice water, I can imagine the snow covering the yard instead of the sprinkler and that makes me appreciate the here and now a little more.

8. Alla and Fisher both love to be told a story. I have such memories of my dad making up stories at bedtime for my brother and I. Alla can remember all of the ones I tell, and I'm not sure how, because once I've told it, it's gone from me. But she'll ask, weeks later, about the one with the elephant who had too much skin and was made fun of but all the little elephant children loved him and then he saved a tree and was a hero.

9. Went to the splash park this morning under muggy, cloudy skies and make it back in the house just as the hail was coming down. I truly love a good storm but I think the kiddos could sense that Mama was a little skittish about driving practically into those black skies as we raced home before the worst of it.

10. Upon returning from our trip we discovered a new robin's nest under the deck! Hopefully there will be a new round of baby chirpies soon.

Breezy part one.

Our vacation up north was wonderful. It was remembering what vacation is. It was our family resting, doing whatever floated our collective boat. Like walking a very short distance to the park.

Sitting on our patio watching golf carts and cirrus clouds and all the greens and blues and chipmunks.
Reading the books we picked up at the library before we left.
Getting ready to go on a scavenger hunt.
Snuggling on the couch with Daddy.


Watercolors and white crayons.
And as much kitsch as possible.

Summer vacation.

We have just returned from a truly delightful trip "up north," as the natives say, which means driving two and a half hours to a big lake in the northern part of the state where it is beautiful and full of lakes and beaches and where you go just to be on vacation because there isn't much else up there. I read a whole book. We threw Alla into the pool. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the jetted bathtub. We breathed deeply in that vacation-like way.

Now that we're back and the laundry has been folded (notice I did not say put away, yet), I can start digging out from under a massive pile of summer pictures. And perhaps even posting some of them.

My favorite sky.

I have a hard time resisting the summer skies, those blues with the puffy white clouds against the tall grasses and green leaves just everywhere. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I'm always looking for a day when it's my favorite sky, and Alla now knows exactly what it looks like.

Happy holiday weekend to everyone, and may you find your favorite sky! (And capture it!)