Day 307

On Thursday, and again today, Julia wanted to go over to the church parking lot to practice riding her bike.  Our home is on slight hills, which makes it hard to learn.  I think she's probably the only kid her age that never really rode a trike.  Sigh.  So she has a bicycle now, with training wheels of all things, and she was too scared to ride the thing.  On Thurday it got to the point of, "If you don't just pedal, already, we'll find someone else who WILL ride this bike."  Sounds kind of callous, I suppose, but good golly.  Anyway, motivation happened when her brother got on the tricycle and started racing around.  Amazing how quickly she got on and started to pedal.  Within 15 minutes she was racing around the parking lot, too.  We were there for two hours.  Yesterday, we rode from a friend of hers home.  Today before a baptism at the church we rode around some more.  She says she's ready to move the training wheels up.  We'll see how it goes next week!  Hopefully she won't have too many tumbles.  But she is so very proud of herself, even with the trainers, being able to zip up and down the parking lot, that ll I can do now is hold my breath.

Anyway, here are a couple shots. 

And none of Julia's face.  She has her tongue sticking out, trying to get the hair out of her mouth, in every single shot!  Beter luck another day. 

Day 306: Simple things for Christina

Christina, over at Soul Aperture, is celebrating a birthday today!  Happy Birthday, Christina!

Soul Aperture is one of the most beautiful blogs in the universe.  Beautiful photos, peaceful words, and an absolute oasis from the world.  Christina gives us a moment to sit and breathe cool, fresh air.  To celebrate, we're sending her lists of our favorite simple things.

Dear Christina, lover of roses and all things gentle and pretty--my offering!

The smell of toast in the morning.

The feeling of freshly lotioned feet (it's true!)

Cuddling with the kids after their bath.

A purring cat in your lap.

Finding that the birthday cake tastes just as good--or better--than the frosting!

Candlight.

Homemade bread, warm from the oven, with butter slathered all over it.

A honeybee deep inside a flower.

Garden dirt in your fingernails.

A letter from a friend.

A smile.

My favorite pair of flannelette jammies.

A child's giggle.

Fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden.

A cardinal splashing aroubd in the neighbour's birdbath.

Popsicles dripping on your chin.

Playing in the sprinkler

Bare feet in dewy grass.

The lovely Se' Lah is hostessing this surprise party, so drop on by her place. 

You can't miss it--the balloons and streamers are a dead giveaway!

A song *ahem*

Happy Happy Birthday Christina dear

Happy days will come to you all year

If I had one wish then it would be

A happy-happy birday to you from me!

OK.  Now go have a slice of that amazing cake that you posted today.  It looks divine!

Day 305

During which

I remind Julia that

indeed

She does not need to use

the whole roll

in one sitting.

Day 304: How does your garden grow? 11/14/2010

The birds planted the sunflowers.  But we planted these:

Day 303: Grease and dust

Love the thought of using this chili infused oil, but it's so pretty that I haven't.  So it has been instead gathering grease and dust and I should have cleaned it off before I took the photo but figured, meh--might as well keep it real!

And with this, I am CAUGHT UP!  YES!  I don't think I mentioned that sometime mid week, I went to turn my computer one one evening at camp when the kids were in bed, and there was no power to the computer.  None.  Zip.  Cord plugged in, hadn't charged the battery either.  So off it went to the nearest computer repair place, since I didn't have the heart to deal with Dell customer service yet AGAIN.  Anyway, it's back. Needs a new battery, apparently.  Not quite sure why, but since the technician got it working as long as the battery is removed and it's plugged in,  I'm not complaining too much.  So please forgive the late catch up.  Besides it being pitch black in the tent and having long, exhausting days, I didn't have a computer!  Of course. 

Day 302: 07/12/2010

 I wanted to take these out in the sand box, to at least mimic the beach, since I wasn't with it enough to actually do it at the real thing!  But nah, it was dark by the time I thought of it, so this is the best I could do  Still, aren't seashells pretty?

Day 301: 07/11/2010

Detail from my sunhat. 

Arrived back home at about 1:00.  Still emptying half of Assateague beach out of the car.

Back to normal--whatever summertime normal is!