A few pictures from our trip

I Can't Believe It's Gone :(

I am not happy about school starting tomorrow. As I think about each of my kids I wonder if I spent enough time this summer giving them my love and support and attention. Did I nag them too much? Yell at them too much? Ignore opportunities to talk with them? And now they're going to be gone all day (except for Goose, of course) and by the time I have next summer with them, they'll all be a year older and that much closer to being gone.

Some good things happened this summer. We did go on bike rides together and sometimes we worked in the yard together and one day we colored pictures together. But so much time was wasted on my part.

Our trip to San Diego was good. At the time, there were occasions when I thought we had way too much time all together, but all in all, it couldn't have been better. The ocean was beautiful and fun and T-Bone, Janey, Husband and I all got to snorkel around the cove and see fish swimming around. The zoo was interesting and Goose actually walked almost the whole time. She came face to face with an orangutan and said "Hello." Cheeseball couldn't believe how big the anaconda in the reptile house was. Janey liked taking pictures of the panda in the tree. Legoland was also great. Even Beulah couldn't resist the charm of the millions of legos that made up Miniland, with it's replicas of New York City and Las Vegas. Cheeseball had the time of his life, and T-Bone had a fun time being big enough to do everything he wanted to do, including selecting a level 5 intensity for the ride that picks you up and shakes you.

Yep, the summer definitely went too fast.

From the Fourth

It took me forever to get the pictures from Janey's camera, but we finally did. We had a fun 4th of July and enjoyed the parade. We were in shade and cloud cover for the most part. This vet in the jeep rides in the parade every year. He is a Pearl Harbor survivor. Ever since I saw Saving Private Ryan I have had a huge appreciation for these brave men who have fought to keep our country free and safe. Goose's favorite part of the parade was seeing Darth Vader.

Remember, it's only wind

So said a man as he passed me and Husband as were riding up to the canyon. The road has a slight incline and the wind is really strong, so it provides a lot of drag, making my slowness extra slow. Of course, I knew the wind was a factor and I wasn't about to give up, so after the man was ahead of us, I made a snarky comment to Husband that the guy was probably one of those obnoxious motivational dudes who has statements like, "Remember, it's only wind,' stenciled on his wall.

I am frustrated that I am such a slow biker. Everyone passes me, always. I don't care too much because I'm not competitive with things that I'm not good at, but I would like to be just a little faster somehow.


Speaking of faster, yesterday was my first time going downhill on a bike and not being scared. We had ridden to our target destination (we arrived there a couple of minutes after I excoriated Husband for having deceived me about how far away the place really was--I am really not very nice when I've struggling with something and I was struggling, struggling up this hill). And then we turned around and somehow the downhill going was different than it's been before. It felt good and I sensed I was in control, and I smiled at and "Good Morning"ed the bikers going the opposite direction (after one particularly big smile, I gloriously swallowed a tiny bug, yikes).


Janey and Cheeseball are home from church sick. Janey has been dizzy with a headache for a couple of days and Cheeseball was dizzy and throwing up a little this morning, but seems to feel better now. We have been really blessed with good health this year and have hardly missed anything due to illness.

Love to Anna

A couple of days ago, we got the call that Husband's grandmother passed away at age 95. It was not unexpected but it's sad that I'll never get to see her throw her hands up in the air and laugh again.

I met her 15 years ago, right at the time Husband and I were engaged. We spent an afternoon talking while Husband and his dad were involved with something at the DMV, and she told me about how she was born very premature, and how her parents kept her in a match box in the oven and fed her gruel to keep her alive. She also recalled that Husband's dad was born with a tooth and said that when she was pregnant she felt so great she wanted to be up chopping wood. She had great stories about the interesting people that comprised Husband's family. She wasn't one to mince words, and when she paid a compliment, you knew it was absolutely sincere. (A few years ago--probably before their cousin Dave had kids--she told someone that Husband and his twin brother were the best fathers in the world, which of course I have to agree with). She was a very strong woman, and she raised her children to be hard working, good, and happy. She was a remarkable, fabulous woman, and I thought enough of her to give her name to one of daughters.

Her last years were diminished, just as with many in my family. Everytime I saw her (maybe once or twice a year) she seemed a little bit less of her self. She would sit around quiet, almost like she wasn't there. I hate what old age does to people, how it robs them of themselves. But I believe she is now in full command of her mind and chatting it up with many of her loved ones who went before her.

Say Hi to Twila--I'm sure the two of you would like to talk about how great Husband is:)

So I survived cub day camp. It was mostly fun--the only downer was when all the boys had to sit down in the mid-day heat, after hours of fun activity, and listen to a teenage boy drone on about "Leave No Trace," the Scouts' new environmental initiative.

In the later afternoon, as I was serving my family by taking a nap (who wants to be around me when I'm cranky and tired?) Janey noticed that Goose was singing, "Bye-bye pretty hair." She looked up and Goose had cut her bangs and the side of her hair short, short, short.

We're missing Beulah, she's off at YW camp but should be home this afternoon.

I took Goose in this morning for a hair cut. Her bangs are so short they almost don't exist and the stylist at Fantastic Sam's suggested an A-line cut to try to blend the sides. I just keep remembering that hair grows really fast.

Orange You Glad She Didn't Choose White?

Not really! Janey managed to convince me to paint her room yesterday, and she choose a color called Orange Juice. It is the exact color of it's name and the frustrating thing is that even after two coats, the laveneder color that had been all the wall previously still peeks out. Yikes! I'm also annoyed that whenever I paint, it looks like a 10 year-old did it all.

Buelah survived Trek. Her face is almost healed from her horrible sunburn. I was happy that her only complaints were the sunburn and mosquito bites (both were signficant!)

I am healing nicely from my fall last week. All in all, the biking is going pretty well. I still dread going up big hills (not because I'm worried of falling, but because I am lazy!) and we've avoided them the past couple of times.

Our weeds have come back with a vengeance but I have one tiny little tomato growing on a plant, so I am thrilled.

The summer is going pretty well. Janey is the only kid who has been busy. T-Bone and I have a date to go to Cub Day Camp next week and I've been having nightmares about it. Seriously.