Sometimes I want to be like everyone else.  Wheelie Dealie night happened at Awana.  The premise is to bring a bike, scooter, or roller blades and ride around the parking lot for 20 minutes.  The kids love it.  Someone always crashes and gets hurt.  Sometimes it's cancelled due to rain, but there is a makeup night for it.  One year Isaac brought his pogo stick instead.  Now they require the contraption to have wheels.  I say contraption because when they announced that it needed wheels, Job decided to build the wheel chair and bring it.  I've already posted about the wheelchair but it is making another appearance.  John allowed them to bring it to Awana and helped them get it into the truck and I hauled it out of the truck.  When the leaders saw it they went out to inspect it.  When it came time for the biking to begin, Job and Lona took turns pushing.  They'd go around once and then trade places.  This went on for 20 minutes.  The rule was everyone had to wear a helmet so they did.  They are crazy.

Our all time favorite field is Roozengarde Gardens.  We haven't explored many of the others but Roozengarde was the one with a climbing tree; until this year.  They trimmed the branches so they are too high to reach now.  A week ago we were planning on going as a whole family but that fell through. Luckily the tulips were late in blooming this year.  They can bloom anywhere from March to late April.  This year it was late April.  When I realized that we had a free afternoon I jumped on the chance to take Job and Lona to the fields.  The day before the weather was beautiful and warm, not so the day we went.  We grabbed are warm coats, rain boots, hats, gloves, and umbrellas, met John for lunch at McDonalds before heading south.  At one point I debated on weather to cancel it and go ice skating instead.  Job talked me out of it and we drove down there.  Just as we arrived, it stopped raining and it was perfect light the whole time we were there.  The kids were crazy, laughing, giggling, and being goofy.  Lona said they were creating an "audience" - no just a scene.  The fields were muddy but with rain boots it just meant that they could walk right through the puddles.  At one point Lona was standing in a puddle and when she went to step out, she found that she was stuck.  We all started laughing so hard.  I almost peed my pants.  I had to step on either side of the water so I wouldn't get stuck and then grab her boot tops and pull as she pulled with her foot.  I tell you, I have no strength when I'm laughing.  It was fun.  Giving them an umbrella made for some fun photos too.  I had them jump up, click their heels together while holding the umbrella and say "Their after me lucky charms!"  The photos make me think of Mary Poppins.  Then we had to walk around and do our perspective photos.  Job wanted it to look like he was drop kicking Lona.  They are a good sport.  We met a family from Birch Bay and are hopping to get together with them soon.  Then it was time to by carmel corn and some fudge for Isaac and John.  Just then it started to rain and it was time to go home so Job could get to soccer practice.  It was such a perfectly fun afternoon.  It's those days that I love.  The days that we are laughing and talking and joking around with everyone getting along. 

Cherry blossom

Plum blossoms

Plum blossoms



Hydrangea



Cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms

Pear blossoms

We've had the warmest day of the year so far.  Somehow Lona got it into her head that they should be sleeping in the tent.  I'm thinking that its too early yet.  John's thinking why not.  So the tent came out along with the pads and sleeping bags.  They were so excited that they were very willing to go out to bed.  Lona came bursting inside to let us know that Skagit was out there with them.  Apparently he peed on the rainfly.  Oy.  Why? 

Job and Lona just couldn't settle down and go to sleep.  I stuck my head out there around 11:30 and they were still up.  The next morning I looked out around 8:30 when they hadn't come in yet.  They were kind of moving around. 

Job is my inventer.  He constantly is telling me what people should invent. Often it's already invented or just not feasible.  His mind is always thinking of a project.  Hence he's been working on a blog for the last nine months.  Originally it was to have a post each week but the photographer hasn't always been with it.  Job on the other hand has a mirad of lego projects lined up.  I've been fine with the Lego projects but it's starting to spill out into the garage.  The other day he came in from the garage to let me know that he's invented a wheelchair.  I know a wheel chair has already been invented but we don't have one.  He took four roller blades and removed the brakes.  Then he attached the rollerblades to a chair in the garage with bunge cords.  Then he placed a helmet on his head and had his sister push him around the neighborhood.  I didn't realize that he had strapped his legs and feet into the chair until he had a near disaster.  His upper legs and waist could be fastened in but his lower legs and feet needed to be able to move.  Later that day the chair was sitting next to the drive way when a walker approached looking at the chair with a very puzzled look.  Shaking her head she went on.  There are days that I shake my head too.  He tells me that he wants to take welding in high school.  I fear that day. 

There are certain photos that I just love.  These are some of them.  It is a reminder of how blessed I am.

So winter has rolled away into a very rainy spring. With spring our yard is in need of some serious picking up.  We spent a day picking up sticks, branches and cardboard boxes into the dirt circle of the yard.  Then we called neighbors to have an impromptu campfire.  The only way to complete a campfire is with smores. John hates the smell of campfire on us and we all need to take showers afterwards.  I hate watching kids with flaming sticks of stickiness.  I do love the quietness of the house.  John's dream is to have someone playing the guitar and singing songs around the campfire.  It didn't happen with this one but hopefully someday soon. 




Our next door neighbors were unavailable so we invited others.  It is a good thing.

In the midst of the world's largest Art Deco neighborhood, there is this little street tucked away.  If you don't know to look for it you would miss it, and miss it we did the first time we wandered Ocean drive on South Beach.  The street is narrow and is only about 2 blocks long.    Boutiques and cafes line the street with other cafes and hotels tucked into nooks and alleyways. If I ever go back to Miami, this is where I want to stay. On the way back to meet our bus, we found an authentic french bakery and I bought an apple tarte with almonds.  Oh so good.  My mom took this most amazing photo.  I wish I had done that.  I could just stare at this photo; it feels like it has layers and layers. 

I just love fog.  I love the way it wraps around the landscape almost caressing it, holding it close.  I lov the way voices move through it, secretive and hushed.  I love the softness of it and the glow that it creates when it dances with the lights.  I love the stillness of it in the early mornings.  I love the way it is pronounced in french. It feels mysterious and adventurous.  Fog makes me think of all sorts of things:  tugboats in the morning, late night strolls in Paris (not that I've experienced that), clandestine meetings, passing of notes, men in fedoras and raincoats, any Rosemary Sutcliff books about old Roman occupied Britan, romance.  Silly, I know but that is what I associate with fog.  Hollywood has a hold of me I guess.  Sometimes we get fog here and finally I drug a child out of the house to snag some photos.  Some of my favorite photos on pinterest is early morning or late at night black and white photos with fog.  Someday I want a coffee table book of my photos in black and white of foggy scenes.  I'm planning now.

practicing her headers

practicing his meradonas

head in a book

John loves to play soccer.  He plays on an over 40 indoor team.  He's done this for the last few years.  Sometimes the kids go, sometimes it's just him, sometimes I go or sometimes we all go; but usually it is just him.  Well those 40 something plus guys can get pretty rowdy  (HAHA).  It's actually fairly calm and gentle.  However John came home about a month ago complaining about his right wrist.  Apparently he was slammed against the wall while going for the ball.  The guy was nice and asked if he was ok.  After a couple of weeks he decided to go see someone.  That guy referred John to a hand therapist.  He took a look at it and gave him a brace.  The brace is supposed to keep him from using his wrist. The problem is just turning the car off and getting the key out now requires him to use two hands.  It's amazing how much you use your wrist for just everyday activities.  This has not stopped him from playing soccer however.  The kids and I went down for a game and he can play just fine with the wrist in a brace. John saw a wrist doctor and had some x-rays.  Yep, there is a little bone chip. So there isn't anything to be done except to wear his brace when he needs extra support.
 Of course I had to take some photos of the kids too while we were there.

I decided to get some canvases done of the kids. I still have one of Lona to order but am waiting for that one.

Usually it goes something like this, "John, what do you think if we painted...." or "someday, I want to do .... to the house."  John, with lots of eye rolling has started to ignore me.  He tells me that if I didn't like the house then why did we buy it.  Of course I like the structure and style of the house but would like the accessories to reflect me and sometimes I wonder what were the builders thinking?  But lately it has been the other way around.  Actually he has been bugging me to paint the entry way.  I can't really paint two stories so I did as much as possible and then hired the rest done.  The painters also fixed a rather large crack in the wall in the kitchen.  So of course the kitchen needed to be painted. We rolled up our sleeves, bought paint and got to work.  We started on a Saturday morning and were finished by that night.  I am sad that we had to paint over our wall that we mark the kids' height but we enter it all in on the computer anyway so we have a digital record of it.  It's just fun to keep track of it visually.  I'm planning on making a chart and then entering all the kid's info on it that we have.  But one fun thing that we do when painting is to allow the kids to draw on the walls right before we paint over them.  It's just a fun little thing.  Of course normally there is no "art" work but if we're going to paint over it, well why not.  Lona was into it the most.  She stood on a ladder and drew her impression of Isaac when he wakes up.  Complete with Scooby Doo PJ bottoms.