John has a friend from college with whom he has kept in touch. I've gotten to know his wife and now our kids are getting to know each other. We all hung out a few years ago while in Montana and ever since then, the kids have kept in touch. Lucas and Sydney are twins and they get along with Job and Lona so well.  When we learned that they were coming out to visit the kids got so excited!  We met up with them in Seattle for the day and toured the Science Museum and Pike's Place Market.  Each time, it is like a vacation for me. We just don't get to Seattle for fun often.  Usually it's soccer or doctors and we try to cram some fun in but not just to be a tourist.  The museum was our first stop and it allowed the kids to get reacquainted while doing activities. They could let their guard down and just be who they are not who they think they should be.  I loved watching these four kids interact with each other, with parents, with the different stations and be fascinated.
I think Pike's Place Market is a study in people.  At one point there were about 6 of us strangers all remarking that we were MSU Bobcat alumni.  We all came together at one point at the same time and someone remarked on another person's MSU apparel.  I can't even remember who and then we were all saying, I'm from there too.  There was even someone from my hometown there although I didn't know them.  Truly we live in a small world.  We stood under the sign for the original Starbucks but were not going to stand in line for a moca.  We tried ginger beer and ate gelato and pain au chocolat. We posed for photos and took photos and listened to music and paid street buskers for their creativity. And we walked and walked and walked and it was great! I could go to Pike's Place Market every year and not have it get old but it's better sharing it with friends.  I see something new everytime and everytime it is different.

She finished 8th grade with honors.  Her first year at school and she navigated the social and academic structure. It wasn't easy, there were heart aches and drama and nerves and fears. She had to find and make friends. She had to break into a group that was elite and be OK when she was excluded by many of them. She had to deal with frustration of a slow governmental process and changes in requirements midstream. She did it and now is officially ready for high school.

I pick up a photo album, sit down and reminisce page by page.  I see the changes that happen and looking back they are quick, amazing and huge but in the moment slow, funny, sometimes painful, sometimes joyous. Then I find myself in a sea of people walking into a stadium, kids, looking like adults in blue with hats, chatting in groups as everyone else makes their way to the seats.  We look up and down, we climb the steps trying to find seats for 5.  People have coats and tape and programs blocking the seats, finally we find some and sit. We wait, looking around and wondering if this is truly happening and it is. The music plays, the people stand, mostly placing their right hand over their hearts but others just standing. Then come the columns of kids in blue. walking in pairs.  They sit in rows and the speeches commence. I look around at the kids, some hats decorated, some woven with feathers, signifying their culture, some just happy to be there at all. I pick out the one I came to watch and feel a swelling of pride.  He wasn't the star, he wasn't the end, he just is and I'm happy.  We open the program following along with what is happening on the field.  It brings back memories when I was in that sea of blue in another state.  There the girls wore yellow and the boys wore blue, here everyone is in blue. I couldn't begin to remember what was said except we had a main speaker. Here, listening I realize the main speakers are the kids.  It is their ceremony and they are addressing each other and the audience. I look at the shoes and marvel how different they are: tennis shoes, flip flops, wedges, dress shoes, and no shoes.  It has changed. The names are read, the ceremony ends and we stand and cheer making our way to the entry.  We see friends with their kids, we look for ours. Smiles on our faces we hug and then we leave. We leave him to find his friends, to chat, to make plans. It is over just as fast as the last 18 years and we are onto a new stage.  Maybe for him it was a little anticlimactic since he is still finishing up with classes at the community college but his time with the high school is done.

It seems as though our time as a family is dwindling rapidly. When we are all together for a whole day happens only a handful of times each month. We are going different directions and so on this day we purposefully made the kids set aside time so we could spend it as family.  Ever since we went on a picnic when Lona was about a year old at Deception Pass, I've always wanted to go back. I have no idea why we've never done that again but this day we were able to make it happen.

We stepped out of the car on the island side of the bridge and started to make our way over the bridge. One of us turned back almost immediately. The others continued on.  We stopped, we looked and admired.  As I gazed out over the water I could hardly believe that I live here.  It's beautiful, incredibly beautiful. People travel across the world to visit and it's right in our backyard.
We returned to the mainland side and found a parking spot, an hour later and there wouldn't have been a parking spot anywhere.  A picnic lunch of cold chicken, hard boiled eggs, babybels, and fresh homemade bread baked that morning.  It was perfect.  Then to the beach we went. The whole goal was to sit, relax, explore, and watch the dog.

It's funny but we get to a beach, Job just gets busy, building things like this pile of rocks on top of a piece of drift wood or rolling a large log around the beach.  The kid can't sit still at the beach.  He is constantly doing. Why?


There is a little point that has trails everywhere. We climbed down to the rocky shore, found crab, and small fish and barnacles. We stood on top and looked over the edge, balancing on one foot.







 We posed for pictures and then goofed off.  It's amazing how much brothers think alike.















 This is such a "perfect" family and then....
this.  This is reality.  Annoyed, mischievous, and happy?!
This is my life...



















and I love it. Most of the time.