100 Days of Summer, Week 5

June 22nd - sparkler season has begun

June 23rd - the never-ending joy one finds with boxes

June 24th - Sunday evening was spent watching a humpback roll in the surf, starting its barnacles. it was so close, you could smell it. this picture doesn't do it justice. the kids constant squeals, pointing their fingers at its every move, shouting "this is like National Geographic!!!" over and over again. It was like Nat Geo, as it'd poke its head up, or wave a fin at us. it was spectacular

June 25th - through the front window

June 26th - two days of solid rain and fog have made for lots of creative fort-building and games and rearranging of rooms and canning food. but it's time to pull out the sunscreen, the forecast head our way is stuff we dream of

June 27th - plotting their nerf gun battle

June 28th -hair like Poppy's, at midnight

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June 15th - when he was one, he grabbed a fly from our travel trailer window and quickly placed it in his mouth. we never saw it again. two days before nine, we delighted him with the story, after he pinned this one down. he was both disgusted and humored. 

June 16th - late night, sweet dreams

June 17th - my three, on father's day

June 18th - always a fierce competition for the birthday wish

June 19th - second round of wishes

June 20th - I keep thinking of the 3,000+ babies ripped from the arms of their mothers. there's an empathy lesson for children, where they try on different shoes of different people- to teach them to the concept of "walking in someone else's shoes." perhaps we should have people at the border, collecting the shoes from the asylum-seekers for us adults. because the way I see it, wen need a bigger and better lesson on empathy. there's absolutely not one single way to justify support for these kidnappings. not one. not a single one.

June 21st - making Solstice wishes

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June 8th - more sun, more scooters, more deck

June 9th - an evening walk in one of our favorite places

June 10th - river time

June 11th - as she crawled into bed with her usual stack of books, decked out in her gymnastics leotard for the gymnastics class we never signed her up for, she detoured for the baby books. "What's this say? What's this say?" she asked one very page and on even more pages, I asked myself "why didn't I remember to write that down?!"...the following day, she pulled out every single photo book and as all three kids poured over them, I felt a little bit better for the lack of writing in the baby books.

June 12th - on the outside, looking in

June 13th - popsicles in the park, after a very long day in the very hot sun at one of our favorite beaches. everyone was toasted to perfection. the kind of day we wait 364 days for, the kind that makes you appreciate the rain to settle the dust. the best kind.

June 14th - our very first zuchinni, we're actually growing something!

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100 Days of Summer, Week 2

June 1st - 11:00pm, summer's late nights quickly took over. they usually do, until I suddenly attempt for an earlier bedtime. unsuccessfully, of course. today, I told someone Alaskans catch up on sleep in the fall and I think that might be true. 

June 2nd - our little piece of paradise

June 3rd - on the walk back from the beach, she said "my tooth hurts and I think it wants to fall out," sure enough, her top front tooth was loose and her other front tooth and both bottom ones. " I can't believe a 6-year old has a wiggly tooth!" she keeps repeating. I can't believe my youngest is about to loose her baby teeth.

June 4th - photographing the front teeth as much as possible

June 5th - the net yard

June 6th - scooters on the deck 

June 7th - we stopped by the river after our town errands. as we drove there, my oldest says "I've been waiting to cast my pole since the end of last summer!!" for five minutes, it was peace, the snow-capped mountains gifting us the most picturesque background, the warm sun beating down on us, the kids each casting their poles, but then everyone was fishing in everyone's spot and there were no fish and the bugs were bad, but for five minutes, it was bliss.

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May 25th - officially the first day of summer, another soaking wet, blustery day, filled with too much time indoors, a wet walk outdoors and listening to the rain fall in the hoop house...and a complete avoidance of Crab Fest, we saved that for Saturday

May 26th - it always seems the last day of school corresponds with decent weather, a few years ago we unintentionally started the tradition of a fire and bubbles in the yard, to celebrate the kickoff of summer; this year didn't happen, courtesy of the rain, but we saved it for the following day, when summer really started creeping up.

May 27th - at the end of last summer, we put up our hoop house and prepped beds for this year. we're not skilled gardeners, our learning curve is huge, but we're excited at the prospects and hopeful for some success. we've also spent ample time in there in the last few weeks, sometimes to just sit for a moment. 

May 28th - it's special watching our kids grow up with their cousins, fighting and loving like siblings. it's an unique and treasured dynamic. 

May 29th - she opted out of hula hooping in her kinder talent show last week, hiding under the table as her classmates performed. she prefers the big stage, with hundreds watching her, but not so much the small stage. lucky for us, she also enjoys performing for family. 

May 30th - popsicles , also known as practicing for summer, we heard it's supposed to break 50 the next few days and sunny. we are ready!

May 31st - the yard crew

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