Blast from the past - Camping in 2006

I couldn't resist the urge to post a few pre-blog pics from way back in the summer of 2006, when we took our first camping trip to Lake Siskiyou. Car look familiar? I flat out refused to have the minivan talk back then. **Please note that Trevi is gnawing on Barbie's feet.
Clara was 5 1/2 and Trevor was two and change. It was on this trip that Trevor earned the nickname, "Wild Elf Beast" for his love of running around wildly and just generally being crazy and dirt-covered. Clara was having her last wild romp of a summer before heading to Kindergarten (I had forgotten how much I adored her short hair – she had just cut it herself ) –Oh, what the heck! Here's a picture of that:
A word to the wise: Don't leave your 5-year-old alone with green paint and scissors after watching Anne of Green Gables, unless you are fine with experimental coiffs. But I digress...

Camping three years ago:
I wonder if we can squeeze in another trip this summer......Pancakes taste better with a little grit.

Biomass

My non-horticulturalist self has always wondered why any sane individual would cut back beautiful trees to their bony knuckles. Growing up, there were some trees down the street from us that were hacked down to nubs every fall, and they sat there in the yard all winter, looking humiliated. I felt for them. I scoffed at their owners.
Well, I can scoff no more. The two mulberry trees in our backyard have, it seems, been knuckled for years (since long before we moved here), and now I am heartily nodding in agreement. Yikes. The growth rate and sheer biomass of these things is UNBELIEVABLE. One day you can run around unhindered in the yard, and the next, you find yourself crashing into inch-thick branches that appeared mysteriously overnight! Aliens?

The Hotel

I'm fairly sure I've sung the praises of both Tinkertoys and old school Fisher Price Little People in previous blogs. They're cool and oozing with creative potential, etc. etc.
Doubtless I've also gushed on and on about what utter geniuses/architects/inventors/thinkers my kids are (when they're using their powers for good).
The moment captured here shows the culmination of a full day of construction, destruction, reconstruction, and negotiation, infused with the odd teachable moment, and sprinkled with a bit of potty humor (the Little People do have a little toilet, after all).
Enlarge this bad boy, and check out the hotel room numbers, the furniture, and the harmonious faces on two children who would, under normal circumstances, be scowling at one another (at the very least).

Not visible in the above photo is the pulley-operated yellow elevator, so I'm including this alternate view from a bit earlier in the evening – about the time that Clara was tying a big pink ribbon around the top floors of the hotel. Why?Tomorrow's project: the Geodesic Dome.

How we love you, Siskiyou

As attached as I am to technology, it was oh so nice to be away from the computer (and all of the other stuff that divides my attention at home) for five glorious days at Lake Siskiyou. This trip made a threepeat for us, and it was made even sweeter by the company of friends.
Here's the lot of us:

I'm a believer in a picture speaking a thousand words and all that, so, despite my best attempts at whittling down the massive lot of photos from our trip, I've still got the visual equivalent of twenty thousand words or so. Add Ariana and Dave's curly-haired darlings to our two cuties, and the week was one big, fat, exuberant Kodak moment.

Even though Chad is the Tetris Master when it comes to loading cars, we may just have the minivan talk before our next camping trip.

While we were still relatively clean, I thought a nice family shot was in order.

Fast friendships were made this week. Tons of adorableness.

Clara and Holly had a grand old time.

And Trevi fell in love with both Owen and Tessa.

There were hours and hours of campy time to enjoy the water, the view, and, shockingly, some long, uninterrupted conversations with some of the best people I know.
We've vowed to make this an annual event, which puts a huge smile on my face just thinking about it. I love these folks, and I love camping. What a fabulous week.

This Guy Rocks

Dads seriously don't come much cooler than this one. Clara and Trevi won the lottery. Chad's not too shabby as a a husband either, I might add. Thanks for all that you do, Hun. We love you. :)
PS: I did a much more thorough job with the Dad Pics last year.)


Now, we're off to Lake Siskyou for a week of camping with Ariana, Dave, and their kids! These faces will be a lot dirtier the next time you see them! :)

A Whole Month!

Um, ya, so shame on me for letting an entire month slip by bloglessly. There have been many wonderful moments that deserved to be blogged since May 16, but the past handful of weeks has been both ridiculously busy, and fairly sad, so I just wasn't in the mood to tell the tale. I think I was a bit wary of being in vent mode, and I really don't want this blog to be a forum for my gripes. So, I just muttered to myself instead. Now I'm over it. Back on the horse.

The grumpy/sad thing was work related – I was forced out of my school because of budget cuts, leading to class-size increases, leading to less positions at my school. I tried to be all Pollyanna about the whole thing – I didn't get laid-off, after all, just displaced. And change can be a good thing, and I am good at rolling with it, and all that stuff. Thing is, I like it better when the changes are my decision. That must be true of most people, right?

So, blah blah blah, I've got a job teaching Kindergarten at a different school next year, and it will all be well and fine, but I've had my normal end-of-the-school-year-lump-in-the-throat since mid-May (apparently I'm in the mood for hyphens and dashes today – can you tell?) in addition to this yucky, bitter feeling of having to pack up and leave, just because I have less seniority than everyone else at my school. I was really digging 5th Grade, too. The goodbyes were awful, and I felt a bit cheated out of the almost-vacation joy that I was supposed to be feeling. Bummer bummer bummer.
(And even though this mini-rant seems contrary to the anti-venting policy that I just finished declaring, I figured I should at least dedicate a paragraph or two to a month's worth of angst. Whew! Glad that's done.)

Now, on to the good stuff!
What follows is a rag-tag collection of our recent goings-on:

My blogless month has been a buildy one for the kids. I love the fact that they build. Trevi now wants to be an engineer/inventor. Not sure if I've already reported on that. Clara still wants to be a professional soccer player/pop star.

Here's the entrance to Trevor's miniature (cat-sized) replica of the "Misty Maze" at Bonfante Gardens:
And here's Ken, with a maze map that Clara kindly provided:

A bit of Lincoln Log construction filled a lazy afternoon:

And check out the recycling facility that Trevi crafted from his marble run and trains:

This set of stairs was built for aspiring pianists who happen to be earwigs:
PS: I got a chuckle out of this, and tried to tell Trevi I was laughing about the thought of an Earwig van Beethoven. He said, "I don't know about that. I'm just talking about those pincher bugs." Well, I thought it was funny.

Speaking of pianos, Trevi discovered one day that if he held up the key cover just so, he could watch the hammers hit the strings. Hours of fun:

This unblogged month saw Clara's last day of 2nd Grade:

And, Trevi said goodbye to Preschool. Sensing the finality of everything, he refused to pose with his teachers, but he did offer to have his picture taken with the cat house that he and his classmates built:

We are in full soccer mode now, with practices coming out the wazoo, and a calendar jammed with the words, "Clara Soccer".

A recent birthday party offered cute pony photo ops:

And a super windy day prompted both kids to don their party hats (for "protection" from falling palm fronds), and get blown around in the yard. I include this photo because it's precisely these kinds of silly things that make parenting crack me up (in a good way).
Summer has begun! This one promises to be pretty low-key. Breathe in, breathe out.
The one possible glitch is that Trevor, having read Weslandia far too many times, would like to grow a crop and found a civilization this summer. So, we might be a bit busier than planned.