29 June 2009

Bring the whole family








I guess our summer theme is waterfalls because this weekend we found another one to splash under. We saw second cousins and great aunts and got and gave many a hug. We ate casseroles and pie and fried chicken. It was a blast. My family has been a member of a fish camp in Mississippi since 1967 and the camp holds memories for virtually every person in our family, and now even my children. Three cheers for traditions!

23 June 2009

Down in the easy chair!

The main stage


View from our car. We had a great little neighborhood of new friends,
and were pretty close to the stages. The best parking spot we've had! We accidently stole our neighbors camp chair and didn't realize until we got home. Sorry dudes!


These were tiles covered by concert goers.
Todd Snider
Giant Lightening Bugs
The front porch.

I was REALLY bad at taking pictures this trip, but I did think to snap a few at Bonnaroo. Here's some of what we heard:

Midnight
Animal Collective
Grace Potter
Bela Fleck
Lucinda Williams
Beastie Boys
Phish
Jimmy Buffet
Katzenjammer
Brett Dennen
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Wilco
Todd Snider
Robert Earl Keen

The best part was seeing so many people have such a relaxing time.




22 June 2009

And it seems like I've got to travel on

There is nothing like the smell of tomato vines on your hands. So fresh and homey... We've been away gallivanting across this side of the US for two weeks, and as always, I feel renewed and refreshed. Just for today and yesterday, I am thrilled to cook in my own kitchen and eat my own food. I feel an exuberation from pulling clothes from drawers instead of a suitcase. Not to mention the obvious euphoria from my head hitting my own pillow in my own bed. I love home. I needed desperately to get away from the routine, but now as I have stepped back, I realize how much I love our routine. A series of perfect days sandwiched by weekend hiking adventures.

We have been on Phish tour, to Bonnaroo, and to visit cousins and aunts and uncles. I have ignored work phone calls completely, and have given in to sleeping late, nightly beer drinking and dancing. It was wonderful. We went to Asheville, NC, Knoxville and Manchester, TN, Terre Haute, IN, St. Louis, MO, and then home. We had planned to go to Wisconsin, but missed our back yard too much, and came home early.

We had adventures and met new folks, but in the end I missed my cat, my mom, and my tomatoes too much to bear being away much longer.

Thank you so much to those who pitched in to let us live out our young adult fantasys. Gone are the days of throwing a backpack in a friends care and heading to DC for the weekend to see the Dead, light and fancy free. We needed relatives to entertain and love on the children, feed the cat, water the plants, and scratch the dog. It took a team of people to make our vacation possible, and we are eteranally grateful for your constant endulgances and being involved in our lives.

Let the play dates and bread baking begin!

07 June 2009

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune

Video time! In our yoga classes, the teacher always asks us to picture a happy place. Even in hypnobirthing, we imagine our happy spots. Mine is always either outside in the woods, or dancing in the kitchen. Doesn't this make you happy? Where is your happy spot? No dirty jokes, Evan.

05 June 2009

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle all dressed in green,

We had a great birthday party for Eli, and I will post pictures soon,
as our photographer is away at the beach.
Ollie has had one week off of school, and he has spent the first half of the day at Dinosaur camp at our local and wonderful science center. Today afterwards, we made green slime and it was way cool and super easy.

Directions for slime:
OUTSIDE
Mix one cup of cornstarch with 1/2 cup of water. Add green food coloring. Mix. Poor onto paper, newspaper, or waxpaper.
Very slimy and icky and cool.