Chasing Bluebirds

last day of summer

someone or something is "pooping" in this picture! naughty girl! off to the park with the most insane parents yet (uptight!!) first day of school tomorrow, man that was one fast summer!

close encounters of the family kind

i had to use that title again (i had it on my facebook status and really liked it) i could use it for our entire vacation so far actually, close close close. we are road tripping each day, seeing the local sights of colorado, wyoming and southern south dakota and have settled in to a pretty good routine. i have always enjoyed reading books on families who take a year off and travel the world together, what an awesome gift you could give your kids. i am not willing to sell my house and do that just yet, but i really admire those who can manage it. the girls are finally able to entertain themselves and work together on projects without constant help, it makes the sight seeing so much easier. all this togetherness has its ups and downs, mostly ups which include lots of lovely conversations with the girls. lizzie is growing up so fast, she has wonderful ideas and thoughts, so chatty and fun. being the baby of the bunch, her neediness and whining can get on nerves and its nice to see her maturing and joining in on conversations in a productive way. of course she still has her moments (like pooping out halfway around the tower) this is devils tower in wyoming, it is the first national monument and a sacred area to the indians who lived here. it was also used in the movie "close encounters of the third kind" which we are dying to see now. i recommend it as a nice day trip visit, it is relatively close to mt. rushmore. we really enjoyed coming over the rolling hills to see it off in the distance (the surrounding farm land is gorgeous right now as well). we took the short hike around it (liz made it about halfway) and enjoyed it from all angles. i'll leave you with some prairie views on our way back to colorado being the bookaholic that i am, i always choose a book to read to give my trip a "theme" and this trip i brought the third olive farm book (i had read the first third but couldnt get into it, moving on to the twilight books). it was a perfect choice and i have enjoyed moments of quiet reading, traveling to the south of france each day. carol drinkwater is a fantastic writer, very sensuous and lyrical, i cannot get enough! lucky for me she has two new books out making that FIVE olive farm books (i also have the companion photo book which is glorious all by itself) so i get to continue my journey with her when i get back home. we have one more day here and then its a two day drive back to so cal, back to house cleaning and work...back to school starting and camp fire meetings... energized, refreshed and ready to go!

black hills adventure

this trip: black hills tour (southern south dakota), mt rushmore visit, custer state park and devils tower (wyoming). i would highly recommend this part of the country to families, lots of beautiful scenery and kid friendly sights. my only complaint is the food (expensive and BAD for the most part) we did best when we made sandwiches from our cooler and stayed away from restaurants. the best place on our trip was a super grungy mexican place in wyoming, just off the highway that was EXCELLENT and cheap. here is some of the tour: this is custer state park and mt rushmore, i will post more photos and add devils tower later...more adventure today. we are off to estes park (we once had BIG plans to move there and a visit is always in order when we are in town). stay tuned!

camp wintaka

emily is off to camp today, a whole week of fun for her. i truly can't believe how lucky i am to have a kid who wants to go to camp and embraces it with as much enthusiasm as i did as a kid. hooray!

for all of you who wonder how it is possible to let your kid go to sleep away camp, lets just say this is the best experience for them, the greatest gift you can gift them. they learn to be independent and strong, to fall in love with the outdoors and being one with nature, to make friends they will have for a lifetime (i sure did!) and to feel the magic of CAMP!!! oh how i miss her already, but i know she is having a blast. I'm Wintaka born and Wintaka bred and when I die I'm Wintaka dead! rah rah Wintaka, rah rah Wintaka, rah rah Wintaka, rah rah rah!!!

adventure playground

nature in the oc

rafting, tree house building, mud slide, tire swing...perfection a new dog, oh how lovely she is! (not ours!) concert in the park

let summer begin!!!

glad to have a completely errand free day! now if i could just stop my mind from spinning on to new projects, stop it already! happy sunday!

liz

oh lizzie, what am i gonna do with you? this kid, so different from her sister. i know you shouldnt compare kids, but emily has always been the kind of person you can just have a nice talk with and settle whatever needs to be settled. liz? you need to pull out your mr. rogers voice or make a game out of whatever it is to "trick" her in to doing what needs to be done. it goes against my natural parenting style (whatever THAT is) which is based on talking talking talking, over planning, over organizing rather than quick on your toes spontaneous put out the fire type parenting. here's what happens: liz needs to get dressed, you cant just TELL her to, you have to "shop" for the outfit with her, there has to be a fashion show, you have to "bribe and beg" when the outfit she chooses has holes and is the wrong size or looks a little "hookerish" (and you cant just toss things out, this kid has issues with specific clothes, toys and blankets) last you have to yell and theres a lot of yelling going on around here lately.i need to change up my game i think, but you still gotta love her! she keeps me on my toes for sure! happy wednesday!

whirlwind

my blog has definitely taken a back seat to this rummage sale (and facebook) but i am still here!! we are doing our guerilla art along the street trying to spread the word, i feel a mad dash feeling with one week left to the sale, hope i can pull this off! lizzies graduation was today, from pre kindergarten (preschool really) which made me tearful. emily went here first, this summer will be the last for liz, she is starting public school in the fall (can't say i will miss the tuition! but this was a very special place for both girls. if you are local i can let you know more about it!) congrats liz! boy was she excited! but the day wasn't over, we still had her dance recital to go to: at her preschool there is a dance school that teaches once a week. emily did this as well and it was such a great idea. you dont have to take your kid anywhere, they come to the school each week and teach. to me, it was the best kind of multi tasking! they run a swim school during the summer which incorporates the same idea, the kids are pulled from class each day for swimming lessons. this kind of thing isnt cheap, but there is zero hassle and i love the variety the girls get with different kinds of lessons. swim lessons are a must to me. i forgot to mention the frantic friendship bracelet making we are up to, we will be selling these at the rummage sale and offering "lessons" and i have to admit this was HARD to learn. as crafty as people may think i am, if i cant learn something fast i usually lose interest. the problem is i COMMITTED to this project BEFORE i learned so i was stuck. this was actually a good thing because i am forcing myself to learn and i am finally getting the hang of it! i found a few books on it (one was in my daughters bookshelf, she remembered getting some kind of kit once) and this post was the original inspiration. here is another link too. i will leave you with this lovely chalk drawing: chalk art on the sidewalk is working really well for us right now. its cheap, easy and the girls can really spread out. not as much bickering. we had a pretty rough day yesterday (an overscheduled day at the end of a busy week with a to-do list a mile long is not something i recommend) at one point i had a major meltdown but somehow we made it through and so far today is much better.

d day

liz finally drove at autopia small world, after all ice cream break (you can take my word for it) my block for the wetlands, oops!! major set back. oh well! i am loving my week off from work, but definitely busy.

mish mash

a few bags made for the preschool teachers

and a bag made for a future camp fire girl (lizzies group starts soon) a little something from the thrift store (my dad of course) breakfast at a favorite hang out love this hammock, it was just taken up to the cabin but i think we need another here at the beach! lots of tomatoes coming in, couldnt find the juliets this year so i planted some strange ones: pineapple, plum and two different kinds of roma hanging at the skate park, liz was fascinated by it. i see a skateboard in her future, she is such an interesting kid. you never know what your kid will be attracted to, just gotta go with the flow i guess. since i have been facebook obsessed, i thought a little update was in order, i think we are pretty caught up now. happy weekend!