trading one beautiful summer for another

now that oregon is finally having a summer, it's time to pack up and go on a long awaited family vacation.  one where we're not attending a wedding (no offense), or visiting a zillion relatives. not that we don't love you, relatives. 

so goodbye evening farm concerts and industrial sprinklers...

goodbye opal and blueberries. please still be here for us when we return...

goodbye little farm of rabbits and chickens and cat...

goodbye house and yard and slip 'n slide and garden. goodbye housework and cooking and internet and spanish audio cd's.

we're going on an explore!

beautiful and hard:

that was what last week was like. 

friday, july 2nd was the first anniversary of bonnie's death, and it involved tears, a stomach ache of grief, incredible anger, time with aching family members, and a malaise that left me feeling like a terrible, irritable mother. 

the beginning of the week, however, was filled with metric tons of beauty and fun, so how about i focus on that for awhile? 

specimen 1: pie for breakfast! a tradition in our household when there is fresh pie. to be somewhat reasonable, we ate it over oats, with a mountain of fresh whipped cream on top. 

we spent monday accomplishing lots of things around the house, like making guacamole, peanut sauce, egg salad, forts, and this crazy dragon made out of empty egg cartons. we also jumped in and out of the pool, picked berries in the yard, and got stung by nettles while trying to clear out a portion of  the backyard for a secret hideaway. there was also the development of  the new tradition called After Dinner Walk with Popsicles: 

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tuesday: first time at the amusement this summer, and we brought sophie along for the rides: 

on the way home, sophie asked adah if she had a dad. adah said, "yes," to which sophie replied, "well which one of your moms is married to him?" and adah said, "neither. he's almost married to laura."  

"oh." and that was that. 

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wednesday highlights: ducks and dragonflies and water under bridges @ the rhododendron gardens; fresh bread and rhubarb sodas; a late afternoon visit with a new friend; alex and laura for dinner; evening walk and tree climbing...

                                                                       and these two are a trip:

   

on thursday i took them to the zoo and fed them blue clouds, and afterwards, they came home and impregnated themselves with stuffed animals. throughout the day, they asked each other things like: 

"When we get home, do you want to pretend we're big mama kitties who are lost and then turn into sisters? Your name can be Gigi and I'll be Rainbow Sparkle."

"For how long would you like to drive through a tunnel?"

"Wouldn't it be funny if our ballet class was at the zoo?" 

"Did you know that pink panther got ran over by a car?"

"Would you like to come over more often if I had a sleeping loft?"

" Aren't you glad you're not an umbrella so you don't have to get wet and cold?"

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loving the fierce and wacky wonderings, and this time that i have to listen.