Muy Thai Camp

Spent three hours at my gym's Muy Thai Camp with teacher Scotty Dingas!

last days of summer...

too hot to go outside...but there's nothing better than free time.

before babies and gardens, before pottery, before africa, before matt...

....before walden, before new york and san francisco.....when I was just a kid (only a bit
older than Mac!!!!)... I was a ballerina bunhead and these people were like family

and dancing was my whole world!! Seems forever ago and yesterday, of course.

I dug up these photos today along with a letter I wrote to myself (15 pages) when I was 14 years old.... about the state of my life in 1985 and the people in it.
What a time that was!

I gotta say this facebook thing is tripping me out a little bit. I feel very pulled in every direction
with all these memories from 4 very different times in my life...all of them incredible and different. If I were to go to a reunion or revisit a childhood home it would be different. One "era" at a time. But in 3 days I have covered the key players in all decades.
Weird.
Fun but definitely weird.
(I am even revisiting 14 year old vocabulary. ;)

And I have to say I am really impressed with all that is going on in the lives of these

people NOW. Really incredible people.

HI Facebook Friends from the Past.

I have taken the plunge and already found many long lost friends.

(and spent way to much time messing around in front of this

glowing rectangle!)

It's great to reconnect with you Eva, Melissa, Damion, Sean, Dawn!

Here is an updated, latenight, no make-up, keep it real photo for y'all.

Signing off, finally, and good night!

growth!

artichoke blossom!

baby pumpkin!

caterpillar on the dill that will turn into a swallowtail
butterfly!

An old one but a gooooood one!...

...check out Mac's long hair! I think Mac was 8 and Emmett 5 here.

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!