summer

confession: I honestly wasn't sure what to expect out of this summer.

 I spent most of the school year feeling overwhelmed with life and caring for the kids and house and never got to the point where I really felt settled into a groove - thanks to illness, surgery, sick kids, ER visits, sick kids, tragedy, sick kids...did I mention that our kids were crazy sick this year?

so I was wondering how this summer would feel - all three kids home.  would it be overwhelming?  would we all be sick, again? would there be enough to do?  would I feel like we had too much travel or too little travel? would I spend the whole summer breaking up fights?

as we are now embarking on our third week of summer, I find most of my fears laid aside and am relishing the laziness of each day!  We are all enjoying sleeping in and eating slow breakfasts in our pajamas, nowhere to race off to (except the pool or beach or necessary store run), catching up with family and friends we don't get to see as often during the school year.  and really, being all together is great.

And yes, there are the daily, hourly, sometimes minutely sibling fights to break up or the baby to peel off of biting someone and there have been enormous loads of laundry to do (9 in 24 hours, thanks Matty for taking that on) and often stressful traveling situations that involve high pitched shrieking (not my own).

but I'm happy at the end of the day that we can spend this time together and make these memories...

visiting Great Grandma 

 driving go carts for Father's Day

 playing a lot of Crazy 8s while waiting for food at restaurants

pool time with Grammy

(and Hannah swimming on her own, hurray)

running in cold waves with friends

 just being together

 getting really, really dirty

eating amidst the Redwood trees

singing a lot of "Let it Go"

cousin sleepover at our house

 perfecting the art of roasting a marsmellow

and teaching it to others

enjoying the fruits of our labor

 as it turns out, 

having these three little people all to myself and not having to share them with school

is pretty fun

most of the time. :)

photo montage

Montage /mɒnˈtɑːʒ/ is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information. 

(definition taken from here)

Here is my photo montage of some of my favorites from the past few months...

"Mommy, I need hot cocoa to warm me up!"

Yes, I have a climber.

this is how "water-play" generally goes in our family....from Peter to Hannah

coloring with pastels on our camping trip

our friend Sophie, enjoying the sand

beach happy

flying kites with daddy

me and my littlest one

California poppies, even at the beach

some cute baby faces

reading bedtime stories by headlamp with Alex,

 can't decide which is my favorite... 

snow fun

a daddy and his girl

I love his happy, post-sledding face

the 5 of us

bedtime reading at the cabin

my happy girl

a night away with my love, sleepy but happy faces...

It's been a pretty, good February and March. 

 I am incredibly grateful for it!!!

magic beans

Today we found "magic" beans.


At least Peter hopes that they will grow a large beanstalk.
(Can you guess what book we've been reading a lot of?)

Really, they are just amazing pink and purple beans in grandma and grandpa's backyard. 

Which, for our five year old, Hannah, whose favorite colors are pink and purple -
what could be better?

They worked tirelessly retrieving these beans from the pods
and delighting over every big one they found.

 

The plant responsible for these awesome beans. 

Part of our stash of what is formally known as Scarlet Runner Beans.

Unfortunately, I learned they turn grey when you cook them.
But we are taking some home to plant our own beanstalk.

I wonder what will happen...

london

oh hello,



I thought before I moved on to sharing about all the current adventures going on in our family I would back up and post a few pictures of our marathon day in London.
(no we didn't run 26.2 miles but we came close to walking it.)



I had never visited London before so we packed in seeing all the major sites in one day.
(okay, there's a lot we missed and I look forward to going back)

We started at the Tower of London

riding the conveyor belt over and over again to see the Crown Jewels.

 

 

We got a great view of the Tower Bridge.

And Matt tried out his sharp shooter skills.

 

Abigail spent the whole day in our Ergo carrier, sleeping, smiling at other tourists
and taking in the sights and sounds.

Our next stop was to ride a double decker bus to St. Paul's cathedral.

And then on to a boat ride down the River Thames.

 

I saw the The London Bridge I sang about as a kid.

We got off the river to see Big Ben

and Westminster Abbey.

 

 

 

 

After much searching and literally walking in circles,
we found a yummy Indian restaurant for dinner.

On this trip Matt discovered a love for almond Magnum ice cream bars.

 Our last stop was Buckingham Palace and we just happened to be there
for the changing of the guard.
(Can anyone tell me why there are "guards" and armed "guards"?)

Whew!  

Tired and with sore feet we got back on the underground.  

Back to our hotel.

And then flew home!