can i just say how wonderful it's been to have such substantial time with adah lately? thank you former family farmers who (albeit by necessity) decided that kids need summer vacations. we've been having the best time, and it's so nice to not have to rush right out the door for work, spilling coffee on myself as i drive. recently i've gotten to leisurely wake up to her singing a mixture of ABC'S and "happy birthday," and we nurse and read until we feel like breakfast and go from there. we've been out and about picking berries, playing at parks, hanging out with friends, caking our hands with bread dough, making homemade popsicle concoctions, going to library story times, and swimming every single day. can't wait to get to vermont, where we're going to swim in real water for much of the day. one of the sad things about living in oregon is that local lakes and rivers are ridiculously freezing and i am totally wimpy in this regard. anyway, thank god for skinned- knee summers!