T-Rex pajama shirt, new rain coat (a $5 steal at Value Village—it’s actually waterproof!), gym shorts (please, Almighty One, let him be wearing underwear!), and a polka dot tie.  

 

Not as good as yesterday’s plaid shorts, striped shirt and same time, but close enough.

 

Hey, I’m working on my emotional depth.  I think I’m improving.

Other parents: Oh, my [1st, 2nd, 3rd, last] child is starting school today.  I feel a little bit sad and nostalgic.

Me: {sob] I still have one more at home!  For two. More. Years. WAH!

 

This brand new kindergartener should have a wanted poster around her picture.  I kid you not, Piper laid down on the classroom rug, declared Kindergarten to be “boring”, and chose to spend part of her half-day in the office instead of joining her classmates in first day activities.

Just one more story for the Piper legend.

    

 

I think Kyla is trying to hug me  as we struggle to get out of the house.  That’s my best explanation for this pose. 

The night before, I helped each girl pick out her school outfit.  The next morning, they were both dressed in something  completely different, and neither matched.  They also both decided to do their own hair.  Let’s just say they can both stand out in a crowd….

Coordinated outfits notwithstanding, it might be a long year. 

[Dwayne made this pop-up card for Kyla—using a box cutter because we couldn’t find the Exacto-knife! (Hopefully, if we can’t find it, the kids won’t find it.)  Isn’t he amazing?]

 

I have lots and lots to say about this girl, but I’m going to spend more time collecting my thoughts. 

First, plan the party on the middle day of the last long weekend of summer, so your guests can avoid the first and last day ferry lines.  Instead, they get to just wait in just as long as a line and get to be more surprised by it.  Oops.

Second, invite all guests for a, ahem, walk down to the beach. Consider plying them with beer before they get to the rappelling ropes.  Next time.  Do not look at the tide charts so that you can be surprised when the tide is in all the way and the party cannot walk along the beach. 

(That punk on the end is my husband who is allegedly not throwing stones at me.)

As a good hostess, be the first to fall into the water.  Delete the digital evidence.

Swing, swing, swing, swing!

Before returning to the cabin, climb a tree for the heck of it.  This particular tree all but has stairs built right into it.  My mother’s  (my  AWESOME MOTHER!) climb would be slightly more impressive if the dog hadn’t climbed up right after her.

Eat. Drink. Rinse. Repeat.  Use up every dish in the cabin.  Twice.  (Hand wash before reusing for dessert.)

Open gifts. 

Collapse.

 

Thanks, family, for making this special effort.  It meant a lot to Kyla to celebrate her birthday with loved ones!

Kyla turns 7 in two days*, so she had a small swimming party with the friends she’s had since she was a few months old.  It was pretty easy—swim, eat pizza, and smear neon frosting all over your face. 

I like how Piper and Wesley matched their frosting to their shirts.  The first time they try to color coordinate something….

———————————

Yes, yes, I post-date the heck out of this blog.  But let’s get back to my virtual reality now.

The first thing that must be noted, is that although the car is packed with all sorts of camping….crap…., Piper carefully cradled the brand-new bag of marshmallows in her lap the entire distance to Camp Casey on Whidbey Island (yep, just 30 minutes from the cabin—talk about temptation!).   Wesley still likes to hold hands all the time in the car and Kyla still, usually, obliges.

 

Why I Went Camping:

1) We bought a ridiculously big tent (it actually has four rooms) and I feel we should use it once a year.

2)  Some of the people I love most in the world—and their children (who I also love very much)—were going.

3) It was at a great place that had a private campground for just our church group which meant….free-range kids!!

4) Some of the meals were being provided.

5) Again, because it was greatest factor, our tribe was there.

 

And, gangbusters, the kids loved it.  Which kids?  I’m not sure. There was just this blur of kids running through the forest together.  Some I had given birth to, some just birthday gifts. 

Walks along the beach….  

 

and the old fort….

 

and forts on the beach!

 

There were the Family Olympics, which featured…balloons!

 

Talent (and “Talent”) show

 

And the most marvelous sunset.

 

See, with a little time and editing, one can forget the babies screaming at night, the gangs who ran around—yelling—before 7am, and the 90 minute ferry wait.  We’ll do it again next year!

One cannot have said to have conquered something until one can stand on top of it.  So must be the kids’ philosophy.  Unfortunately, a neighborhood friend is getting indoctrinated.  Sorry, Kelsey!

After spending the day at the zoo with Kristin, we went home by way of another completely out-of-the-way location—Traci and Eric’s house.  (Yes, I know calling someone else’s hometown inconvenient is a bit like like the pot calling the kettle black, but who’s writing this blog?) 

 

 

 

 

Just telling Kyla and Piper that we are going to see Cousin Traci gives me total credit for bringing them all of life’s good things.  Piper does her especially cute jumping up and down, clapping her hands, and exclaiming, “Did you hear that, Wesley?  We’re going to see Cousin Traci!  She’s the Funny One!”  Which does a great disservice to Cousin Eric for being the human jungle gym they climb on and plot to take down for most of their visit.

I laugh more in two hours with that family than I do in an entire week.   We love them.

Do you know how, in May, summer stretches out ahead of you as you make plans—supposedly just little dots on a large, blank canvas of free time?  And suddenly school is about to start and you’ve made just a dent in your Top Ten summer plans? 

Kristin and I have been waiting for summer so we could spend more time together—I’d bring the kids down and we could stay a few nights and do this and that….  Finally, last night, the kids and I drove south, so we could spend the night and go to Point Defiance Zoo the next day. 

And what a day!  Through impeccable timing (never underestimate dumb luck), we got to the exhibits just at feeding times or during training or lectures. 

And Point Defiance has one of the best animal-shows I’ve ever seen.  Evil Dr. Dolittle had a special ray gun to make people want to go indoors and she spoke in rhyming couplets.  There were caped superheros (both the human and canine variety) and lots of animal antics.  I enjoyed it more than the kids (to be fair, I wasn’t scared of the ray gun and smoke machine).

 

It’s a small enough zoo that we saw everything, even though Wes was beyond wiped before we were done.

 

Why, yes, that is a beaver strolling through the zoo.

 

Hey, kids, did you have a good time?  Oh, watch out for that shar….. oh, never mind.

We’ve always loved our W&C Galas, but we’ve always done them around Valentine’s Day or New Year’s Eve.  But between our middle child’s birthday, and the fact that there are too many children in our group to make hosting it in winter an option anymore, we hosted our first Summer Gala.  It was more casual, earlier, outside, and a ton of fun!

I was hoping to get pictures of everyone, but I mostly took them from the vantage point of the grill, so I missed a lot of the kids.  My apologies—next year I’ll put others in charge of the photos.  And my husband in front of the grill!

The shot of the day?  Piper and Anya after a trip to the chocolate fountain.  They both had to be changed. 

And because I realized I had taken all the photos, there wasn’t a single photo of my tres cute dress, Dwayne took this, perhaps a few hours past photogenic time.   But I loved the dress.

Thanks all for coming—I loved it!