exclusively for craig (by emmett)

D&D!! we have started to play (well we started our characters we have not started the
role playing yet).
My character is a human ranger named Regdar Axelheart. I surely fit the ranger category because I have crazy abilities such as navigator and blind fighting.
Mom's character is named Fig Fallenstar, shes a human theif.(she has 18 dexterity. dang its gonna be hard to hit her.)
Mac's is Ave Hornblade. She is a human fighter with 18 strength (holy cow)
Pop's Dungeon Master.








A little story, by Emmett.
"ah what a refreshing island i am going to stab it to inflict damage just for
the heck of it" said the idiotic dude (stab) "rowwr" said the island "oh my gosh i just stabbed a zaratan." (swallow) moral: make sure the island your standing on is not a zaratan

om shanti shanti shanti

Cami,
I wish you were here to take this yoga class with me.
Today the teacher told the story about ..."a woman climbing a rope with tigers
down below her and tigers on the cliff above her and a mouse
nibbling on the rope...she looks up, she looks down... then she sees, in a
crevice in the rock next to her, a patch
of wild strawberries.
Without much else to do she eats a perfect wild strawberry and smiles."

Then our teacher says that we should think of the tigers as what we all
face yet fear everyday and the mouse as time ticking away and the strawberries
as the happiness in the now.
Then she tells us to let this guide our practice and let go of our tigers for the NOW.

So...Later, after chatteranga-ing my butt off, sweaty and all vibratey, she says
to get into "happy baby" pose...my mind drifts to all the "tigers" in my life and of course
"the strawberries" too and "the mouse" and she says ....
"surrender, we are going to be here for a while."
(tears, tears)

When yoga is all-encompassing like this, stories, sounds, breathing, work, rest,
thoughts, feelings, pure physicality...
I love yoga.

Farm-Pool-Drums-Zoo-Toddlers-Knitting-Paints-Beach-Love-Zucchini-Cousins-Summer

I think this past week was the very best.
I'll never forget it!

Hot Bubbly Tub

They loved this!

Blue Babe Group

We decided to have Feee and Silas paint some
garden stepping stones for fun. And within minutes
they were both completely blue. So innocently,
accidentally blue. How did this happen?

We especially liked the strapless dress look Silas created.
Showering them off ended in some serious tears...it was, after all, NOT washable
paint. Finley did not enjoy the washing part.
All in all, pretty hilarious though.

The Bahia: the Best Stay-cation Destination Ever.

This place has got everything... pool, bay, ferry, ducks, lounge chairs that rock, kayaks and funcats, harbor seals...just a perfect place where everyone can be happy! If we can save up
enough we will do it again next year. Kinda spendy, but worth it.
Ok, now I feel completely vacationed. Back to reality.
But wait, Cami and Finley are coming tomorrow so we will just have to postpone reality for another 10 days or so. Hurray!

Photo Caravan!

Nana treated us to a photo caravan at the Wild Animal Park. The kids have gone with her before but it was a first for me.


Just Amazing!

We met and fed giraffes that came up to us and we saw the one of 7 remaining northern black rhinos and even a unicorn. (well it looks like it!)

Actually it felt as cool as seeing a unicorn.

Being able to ride around for 3 hours with an animal expert...

We heard all sorts of stories about the animals and their experiences.

I may revise my "next life" plan. Instead of being a choreographer/farmer I would like to add zookeeper.








Thanks Nana!

good news all around

#1 Zarina came home tonight hungry and now kind of spunky and antsy to get back out. Our theory is that she was trapped somewhere, in a garage or something and after the kids put out 50 signs our neighbors opened some doors or heard her...anyway, she's home and we missed her and we are so relieved. Now vacation can commense.












#2 Ry and Silas had some fun (in between ridiculuous quarrels about who could be Zerg. Not entirely sure who that is...)
Matt put up the tent and Ry impressed us with his climbing while Silas liked to spin around it again and again.


#3 This zucchini got this big in 3 days. I wish we took pictures of it every 3 hours. I am sure we would see a difference. Plants just amaze this time of year. That's Mac's hand!

WE CAN'T FIND ZARINA ANYWHERE!

THE KIDS ARE MAKING FLYERS. SHE'S BEEN GONE SINCE MONDAY MORNING, AUG 3RD

IF EVERYONE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD COULD CHECK THEIR GARAGES AND PEEK INTO CRAWL SPACES, MAYBE SHE IS TRAPPED SOMEWHERE.

IF YOU SEE HER, CALL US RIGHT AWAY!

Palm Springs, "The Trip"

Getting out of the car in Palm Springs, 1:00 p.m. , 115 degrees, checking out the view, the outside of the condo, kinda excited...and..."oh-my-heavenly-desert-oasis, Batman!" we are in the coolest modern retro condo ever!!!!! ...everyone freaks out and within minutes is in swimming gear...Papa goes Hawaiian, Mac's got wetsuit chic...



...(above, must zoom in for this one) the boys are all about wearing 'em low ...(below) mama, kinda hollywood glam (suitable for the awesome 1945-48 condo, architect Albert Frey) and of course we can't forget goggles...OFF TO THE POOL!!


This "trip" was just amazing for being so short. Since we had to cancel our original vacation
plan because of Matts promotion (yes, he is in charge of 80 men!) we had to do some rescheduling and fun-maximizing. We are still on vacation this whole week while papa works, but for most of it we are home so... San Diego, here we come! We have so much planned its sick... or is that sic?? (Megan?;)
Next weekend we will do another short away adventure. And how grateful we are to get to do all this.

JOHNNY AND GEORGE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS PERFECT PLACE WITH US. Did we tell you that Silas called the condo "the trip" because all day we talked about the trip, the trip...so when we walked in he said, "is this the trip?" So, to us your condo has a name. The kids are already saying, "when can we go back to the trip?"
Anyway, it was great experiencing Palm Springs this way, from the tram ride, to the architecture and history to the chaos of Soak City....


...and we rested a little too!

For Erin...

...who said this morning (when I dropped off Silas at preschool) that
she loves to walk on the beach everyday
watching children do the happy-wave-wind-in-the-hair-dance...

summer is just ridiculously good...

...the dragon fly couple that hangs out near the tomatoes!




















...my favorite food!...














...and why I go to the beach in the morning...
it's all mine!

ok, I am not stalking Jonathan Safran Foer but...this guy seems like NY family doesn't he?? ...a bit like a young Marty Sternstein?!

I do realize that he spends most of this interview talking about vegetarianism and not his books at all but he is just the opposite of what I expected a "literary genius" to be like. Very approachable and unpretentious seeming. Yes, Marty/Paul Simon/Matthew Broderick etcetcetc. (and some Dmitry in there too!)

PS Just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. So so so good.

girls...

...so I snuck a video of these girls. They just sat down and started singing this song, "on the radio". Gotta love em.