Good Bye Toby.

We will never forget what a great chicken you were, how much fun it was to watch you with your flock and especially how much Silas loved you, the gentlest of all the chickens. xo

Back to School: 11th Grade, 7th Grade and 2nd Grade

Aug 26th...Mac's first day was a week earlier than the boys.

and off they all go!

The Feel of Summer 2013

The highlights were …our stay-cation to Humphrey's By the Bay and the bonfire, eating out at Café Madeleine a few times on a whim, making grape jelly and passion fruit juice from the garden, mild weather (until the end), the beach!!!, brother-sister day movie dinner and presents (despicable me 2, soup plantation, board game, record, and wii game) seeing the East Coasties and getting to do what Cami and I do best…truck all over town with the kids having fun and appreciating what’s best in our lives… it was great raising new chics, playing soccer and b-ball with silas, running at night with Emmett, running through sprinklers , new noisier neighbors behind us (in a good happy way), many NY pool hours, just being together and as usual, iced coffee.

For Silas this was a summer of resting and jumping and reading and playing and all the while without a shirt on and often no pants. He loved to read Calvin and Hobbes at first and then transitioned into the Dewey Series and then into the Bone Comic Book series. Out loud we read 4 Ranger’s Apprentices! This is the summer Silas learned to make armpit farts, blow bubbles and swim with his face under the water. He also can go on his knees on the boogie board…he wants you to know this. Another first, he now likes tomato and veganaise on his cheese sandwich! He also spent many hours with Lucas and Ry playing “baby dragons” and ball toss and something involving every single stuffed animal flying around the room at once. This summer he went to only one camp called Roots and Wings where he did all kinds of dance and capoeira…he didn’t want to do it, then liked it while he was doing it and said he wanted to do it again, now he says he doesn’t want to. He is NOT interested in going back to school and wishes summer lasted forever! (of course) He had such a good time in NY and finds his closest connection with anyone in his cousin Finley…they played all day!!

For Emmett this summer was all about League of Legends, hanging out with Ellis and going to the beach as many Wednesdays with his friends as possible. At home it was about lounging and re-reading The Name of the Wind and A Wise Man’s Fear over and over. He also played lots of Magic the Gathering and started playing Dominion, which intrigued him for four days until he mastered it.  While in San Diego Em played at basketball at the YMCA for his third season. He was the oldest  on the team and a good scorer but also  he was really friendly to everyone and supportive of the less experienced kids. (I really loved watching that!) He also had the opportunity to record a single with Zane for free at a really cool studio where he got to play really amazing instruments. He loved it! Ping Pong with him is hilarious and Badminton too! Swimming, Boogie Boarding!
All part of Emmett's summer.

For Mac this would be her first very free-feeling summer I think. She went to Comicon on her own, meeting up with friends here and there but being gone most the days. She took the bus everywhere and is mature enough to go out for long periods of time on her own. She had a semi-solo day to herself in Brooklyn and likes going on adventures like that. Because I worked so much she did tons of babysitting very willingly.  She hung out with Aida, Lauren and occasionally Connor. She read voraciously... The Name of the Wind and A Wise Man’s Fear until memorized!... Catcher in the Rye, The Fool, Hamlet. She listened to her records, watched her chicks grows and cared for them completely, bought an SAT study guide and talked about her future apartment and ideas. She was a big help to the adults during all of the travelling and did it with kindness and smiles.  AND she slept in whenever possible, as a teenager should!  She is growing up! I am not sure what she would say but it seemed to be a summer that hit all its marks….a little travel, friend time, chill time, iced coffee and, unfortunately, mosquito bites.

Hmmm, what else...oh, this is what we movies we were into!

Movies: The Princess Bride—Silas loves it!  Chicago---We watched just he songs in NY and now can’t stop singing! The Way Way Back---we went to the movies in the hamptons with Cami, Mac and Emmett and me. Great!

TV Shows: Big Bang Theory---Mac and Em love it (I am on the fence.)  Phineas and Ferb---watched by all the kids always. Freaks and Geeks—Em and I watched all 18 episodes and we both really LOVED it!! Such great dialogue, true characters and situations that led to great conversations!

All in all a memorable summer with growing, changing kids. Who could ask for more!