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!)

New after-park tradition.

Tuesday mornings are park days. Not that we don't hit up a park several other times in a week, just that on Tuesdays we meet up at Long Lake Park (wish I could insert Fisher's pronunciation here, something like wong-wake-pahk) with Fisher's classmates. Long Lake Park happens to have sand, and the kids spend most of the time in it, digging, scooping. Covered head to toe in dirt when we arrive back home, I decided one week to throw them in the tub with shaving cream to scrub their filthy shoes. Now they look forward to it, and I look forward to having lunch with clean children rather than filthy ones.

Lemon.

Summer dinners out on the deck are the best. Simple food, prepared quickly, preferably grilled. Take, for example, salmon that I pulled out of the freezer at the last minute. Throw some brown rice in the rice cooker and grab some fresh peas to shell from the farmers market, and you have yourself perfection. But, add a hunk of fresh lemon to the plate and it's dazzling, not to mention irresistible for little people. I think they liked it. And if nothing else it made for funny faces! (Not to mention clean plates.) But a meal wouldn't be complete if at least one kid didn't get their way and change that cute little lemon face into a complete sourpuss!

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Today we finished the second Little House book! We don't have Farmer Boy, so we'll have to make a trip to Half Price Books for that one. Twist my arm.

2. We also read the first Mercy Watson, both kids and I, which both kids enjoyed. At this rate we can read the whole series by the weekend.

3. I am deep into Cutting for Stone, which is wow. It's a two-week check-out so I have to read, read, read!

4. This morning I woke up at 8:05 am when a little Alla hand was placed gently on my cheek. She appeared to have been lying next to me for ages though I didn't hear her creep in. She said she'd been there awhile.

5. Shortly after, she sat perched on the side of the bed telling me, "I'm getting used to staying home." Now that she's two weeks into summer, she has decided she likes it.

6. This morning, as I looked in on the kids getting ready for the day, I saw that Alla had made both of their beds, was helping Fisher put on his pants, and that Fisher had put tooth paste on her 'teesbrush.' I've decided I like summer, too.

7. After the kids came home completely filthy from our morning park fun, I put them in the bath with some shaving cream to doodle and scrub their crocs, and then shower off. Fresh kids.

8. We go through an awful lot of plain yogurt here. And granola.

9. I've decided that watermelon is my favorite summer fruit. I quarter it, lop off a slice for each kid, and then devour the rest of the quarter myself. Nothing like a huge bowl full of watermelon.

10. Except, maybe, for a huge bowl full of cherries. But we haven't seen those yet.

Lucky.

To have a Daddy that joins in when skipping is new and amazing.
To have a Daddy who takes naps with you.
To have a Daddy who brings home a new bike.

To have this Daddy who loves you so very much.
Happy Father's Day, babe.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Summer. Need I say more?

2. Over the weekend we tried letting Alla stay up as late as she wanted, in bed with her reading light and a pile of books. Both nights it was past ten when we went in there and she was still wanting to read one more book. We might have to rethink that because she was a bit crabby (tired) by Sunday. Needless to say, Fisher doesn't quite get that it's not party time.

3. My favorite snack right now is a handful or two of banana chips.

4. Alla got to tag along on Fisher's weekly park playdate with classmates from this school year. Fisher has been SO excited for this week, to introduce his big sister. They both had a ball.

5. Hoping we find something for dinner at the opening day of our Farmer's Market.

6. I keep meaning to plan at least one afternoon a week where I just sit with my book. I mean that's what summer is about. Never happens. Fifteen minutes here, half an hour there. I'm always looking for more time to read.

7. Cutting For Stone is waiting for me at the library, just as soon as I finish Moon Over Manifest.

8. But where oh where is my latest Penderwick's? In cataloging, I hear.

9. Alla has two loose teeth, and they have been loose for months, but I just know that all at once they will be very loose and then just hanging on and then the years of baby teeth will start slipping away and I am just not very prepared.

10. Another thing that slipped away, but happily, not before I noticed, is our lilac blooms. Such a short bloom they have, but oh so pretty.

On my feet.

I am so super glad that this kid still likes to go flying on my feet, and I know for a fact that he'll fit there for a few years more, since his older sister is still getting some airplane time whenever she gets a chance!

Last day of kindergarten!

She crawled into bed with me this morning.She snuggled me and said,
Today's the last day of school so tomorrow you get me all to yourself.
Indeed.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. It's officially summer, I don't care what the calendar says. The thermometer says 103.

2. 103 isn't exactly the best bike-riding weather, but today was the day all the neighborhood kids were to ride to school, so we did. Not as bad at 8:45 when it's 80 degrees, a little sticky at high-noon when it's 18 degrees warmer.

3. 103 is also not the best baking weather, but there's a hot loaf of chocolate banana bread on our counter anyway.

4. School gets out tomorrow. I can't wait to add Alla back to our mornings. Fisher pummels her when we pick her up each day, saying I missed you over and over until she squeezes him back and tells him the same.

5. Yesterday was swimming and soccer for Alla, so needless to say she fell asleep instantly last night. This morning I said to Fisher, You guys must have been tired last night because we didn't hear a PEEP. Fisher responded, Yeah, I didn't have to PEE. That kid cracks me up.

6. I believe we're all caught up on season finales. Bummer. At least we have Friday Night Lights for a little while longer. And Army Wives for me.

7. I finally have my hands on the Newberry-winner Moon Over Manifest. So far, the perfect summer read.

8. Thursdays are going to be our movie day this summer, as our local theatre has their one dollar summer movies for kids! I took Alla the summer when she was two, and we went every week, she and I. That's when I knew how much she loved movies. She laughed and cried at all the appropriate parts and hated the one movie that summer that was truly bad. Fisher took a little longer to warm up but we've been taking him once a month to Daddy's work movies and he loves that, so I think we're all set for Thursday mornings. Especially when he finds out that next week is How To Train Your Dragon.

9. With school getting out tomorrow, I guess we better get busy making our summer list!

10. I'm just finishing this at 9:50 pm and it's still 91 degrees.

Last day of school #1.

On the first day of school in September, Fisher looked like this. Decked out ready for fall, very intimidated about me walking across the hall away from him.

But we moved into the second part of the year and he got dropped off one day a week and figured out how to be just fine with it. I saw him enjoy himself and look forward to it and grow attached to his teachers. So I'll be a little sad that we start over again next year when preschool begins. Fisher has a lot of love for Ms. Sarah, and Jane and Jean and Darcy, too!He doesn't have any clue what it means to be at the end of the school year, other than he won't see his friends and that bums him out (actually we'll meet at the park once a week, buddy!), but he ran out to meet us like he knew school was out for summer. Before we headed to schools that morning, I got a happy smile, but I can't say it was happiness because it was a school day, or even that it was the last school day.

Actually, Vacuum Vic was on our street that morning. You know it's going to be a good day when it starts out with your favorite truck on your very own street first thing in the morning.
We love you, Fisher, and we're so so proud of you.

Birthday.

It's great that my husband's expectations for his birthday weren't too high, as in, it's ok if I don't get to even open my own presents. Because we do have a three-year-old in the house, and he wasn't having it any other way.Happy birthday (yesterday), sweetheart. We love you "soper ooper doper much."

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The thermometer has hit seventy-five already today, and we are practically sweating. Must get the boxes of summer clothes out today.

2. On Mother's Day the kids thought I needed to be woken up and celebrated at six a.m. Daddy sent them back to bed and they made it until 6:40. Must be more specific next year: On Mother's Day, do not wake Mommy up. At all.

3. They were pretty cute with their homemade cards and kisses, though, so I wasn't upset. (Just tired.) It was a lovely day with breakfast in bed, reading the (whole) paper while I drank my coffee, gifts, a run.

4. Perhaps the best part was getting to spend some of it with my own Mom; I don't remember the last time I could do that.

5. For dinner on Mother's Day, I got my favorite grilled chicken, which I had marinated the night before - here's the recipe that I'm sure someone passed on to me, but I can't remember who: 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 1 1/2t. salt, cracked pepper, the juice of half a lemon, the juice of a lime, 3 smashed cloves of garlic, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Marinate overnight and grill. Sheer perfection.

6. There is chicken for dinner tonight, too - curry chicken in the crockpot, recipe courtesy of my good friend Michelle.

7. Our poor garden hasn't been planted yet because it hasn't had a chance to dry out. It's just a big mud pit.

8. Currently reading You Know When the Men Are Gone, which is engrossing. As in, last night I truly tuned everything out while reading.

9. Two weeks until the Laughrey's come to visit!

10. Speaking of those guys, Happy Birthday, Katie!

Day to day.

When Alla was just three, Fisher was a newborn, with all the needs a newborn comes with. Still, he was a super napper and she and I continued our fun times and snuggles at regular intervals throughout the day. It was easy, we had done day upon day for three years.

And then the morning nap went and I really missed that time, the reading under the kitchen table, especially.

And then she off and went to kindergarten and my heart broke, but as I sobbed at the sight of her bus getting smaller and smaller, I also looked down at my little boy who was now all mine every morning, and my heart got a little brighter.
Because even though it would take me a few weeks to find a rhythm, and to look at the morning as full of possibility rather than emptiness, he knew none of this, only that he had his mom-pal all to himself.Probably our mornings are a little busier than hers and mine were. Some weeks it seems like we're running around on all the days we're not at school, and it's just such a relief when the weekend shows up and we can all linger in our jammies for a little while.

I hope he would say that even the busy mornings are fun. "We always see cool stuff when we got out together." It's true, we do - because he has these sharp eyes that always find the trash trucks and cranes and street sweepers and concrete mixers and car transporters. But I hope he would also say that we do spend plenty of mornings at home, in jammies, with play dough or crayons or blocks and snacks.

And so I just wanted to say that in this year, when I have missed my little girl so darn much, I have also truly cherished each morning with my son, with his still-dimpled fingers and big brown eyes and hugs and appetite and even his being a complete handful.

I am so lucky to see this, to be part of it every day.

Do you see what I see?

Look closer. See that little girl squashed between the chair and the window? That's where she retires every afternoon for quiet time. Forget about the playroom. Kids like the teeniest, coziest spots they can find, and this girl's been working on this spot for a few years now.

I finally put all her little figures into baskets and clear containers so she knows where all her stuff is for telling her stories. She'll come home from school and tell me she has such a great story to tell, and sneak back there for a few minutes while I make lunch.It's just the perfect visual of how kids don't need much, and they certainly don't need anything big. She's got animals and fairies and pollys and frogs and bugs and dinosaurs and ocean animals, and they are all super important characters in her stories.

Plus she's got the best view of Mama and Papa Robin swooping down for beakfuls of dead grass to build up their nest.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The sun is shining. Perhaps this isn't front-page news to anyone else, but here, on May first, we were in wool coats and UGGs and the north wind blew right through us. So sunshine, warmth, is very welcome.

2. Good news on the swimming front! Fisher walked into the pool on his own yesterday with enthusiasm!



3. I have no idea what we're having for dinner. None.



4. Alla's sixth birthdy party was this past Saturday - a bug-themed party. I think we've recovered.



5. The highlight of the party - pairs of kids wrapping each other in toilet paper "cocoons." Hilarious.

6. I'm willing to take a long break from parties for awhile, but then there's Fisher who hasn't had even one party of his own yet. And, of course, now that he's seen his big sister's party, he wants to invite "all the friends," meaning all of her guests, to his birthday, which he thinks will happen again soon.



7. I finally got some allergy relief for my poor, nearly-scratched out eyes: Allegra! It's all good except for this: it seems to be making me toss and turn all night. But if I weren't taking it, I'd probably be itching and scratching instead of tossing and turning. A trade-off, I guess, for a few more weeks.



8. I think Santa may need to bring Fisher a marble run this year, as he had quite a good time with it this morning in school. He happened to ask yesterday how to tell Santa what he wants, so I told him to write a letter and we'd mail it to the North Pole. He'd like his very own copy of the Oscar-winning movie Barbie and the Three Musketeers, which he calls "I For One," his version of the "All for One" song in the movie.

9. This will be a hard-earned spring, if it ever arrives. As a reward for our continued patience, a mama robin has blessed us by building a nest under our deck. Blue eggs and baby chirps coming soon! I read somewhere that robins or their offspring often return to the same place each spring to build again. So perhaps this is the child of last year's mama.

10. I'll leave you with an image of Saturday's party. I love that no matter how crazy it was, Alla was in her own little birthday world having a wonderful time. We love you, six year old girl!