Bye Summer

This weekend marked the end of summer for our family. Last vacation over. Weather noticeably cooler. Preschool (at home) officially begun. Summer decorations boxed away and autumn decorations placed out. Storage containers of long pants and sweaters sitting in the bottom of the boys closet, waiting to be sorted.

We said goodbye/hello in high fashion, though. We spent the morning of Saturday at Greenbluff, picking nectarines and the first of the apples.

Then whiled the afternoon away with a visit from good friends.

(TV- the babysitters secret weapon)

Sunday morning was the usual rhythm of church, lunch, nap/dog park. But after that we went to enjoy the last day of the county fair. The boys seemed to each have a very distict goal for the evening. Zeke- to ride a horse.

Malachi- to touch as many animals as possible. But in particular a llama.

Its bittersweet as always. Fall is my favorite season but summer is oh-so-fun.

That was...anticlimactic

Today is Josh's first day back at work. In all, he was unemployed for exactly 1 week. Instead of the months of job searching and tightening of belts we were all geared up for, he was hired at a slightly better wage then he made before, and did it faster then his severance pay was out. How in the world being laid-off became financially beneficial is beyond me, but I'm not going to question it too deeply. This company apparently even does regularly scheduled evaluations, complete with regularly scheduled raises- a thing that never happened in all the years Josh worked at his old one. So all in all we are very, very happy and in a general awe at how things always seem to work out for our good.

Now I just feel silly for all that worrying I did.

In other news I got sick of waiting for summer to start. While the rest of the country is in a record breaking heat wave, I can count on my fingers the number of days we've reached the 80's, and I'm not 100% sure we've reached the 90's at all. It is the end of July, however, so I'm starting to suspect this is the best we will get.

So we've been fruit picking,

having picnics,

doing really weird art projects,

going to the beach,

and all the other activities that mean summer. Eating otter pops, and running thru sprinklers, and visiting the public pool, and welcoming ourselves to friends' raspberry bushes, and making berry cobblers, and grilling hamburgers and corn cobs and sausage dogs and kabobs and BBQ chicken and zuchinni's fresh from the garden and pretty much anything else I can talk Josh into making for dinner.

We missed the renaissance fair as usual but the royal fireworks concert is next weekend and remembering how enthralled Zeke was with the ballet last year we are pretty set on attending at least that portion of it again. We also missed the first Concert Under the Pines at our local park, because that was the day Josh was laid off and we forgot all about it, but the next 3 are on the calender ready to be remembered.

Even if the season wont do itself justice at least we will :)

Summer Lull

I don't know if its the summer heat - the sudden expansion of the season finally arriving...

Or the fact that my mind is full of Les Miserables, which I've watched almost 3 times this week. I still cant tell if its as good as the old 10th anniversary DVD...

Or maybe it's after-vacation exhaustion...

Or the growing excitement of Dance with Dragons being released AT LAST this Tuesday! And Harry Potter 7b (as I call it) Friday!

But I've been getting nothing done. Not even any writing. Sorry for the silence.

Malachi vs The Peach

We went peach picking.


We all enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.

Especially Malachi.

You see, Mal, I am afraid, is a picky eater.

He doesn't like baby cereal, green beans, peas, applesauce, pears, squash, or carrots.

In fact, after much experimenting, the only foods we've found that he WILL eat are graham cracker, banana, and avocado.

Oh yeah...
and peach.

Fireworks Festival

We didnt do much this weekend. We played Wii, we played Scrabble, I finished a book and started another. After over a month straight of non-stop weekend activity, we didn't much mind the on and off rain that kept us home.

So I'll blog about LAST weekend :)

On Sunday we went downtown for the Fireworks Festival. Its a rather small one, and we had never attended before.

But a day downtown is a summer staple and since we were out of town for the 4th we didn't get our traditional 4th of July day downtown.

I think we got there around 4.


Almost right off we had to find the "big clock" and wait for it to sing. Zeke adores the big clock. He talks about it, and the song it sings, all the time. He talks about it far more often, and in more varied company, then I am comfortable with, in fact. If you know Zeke and the trouble he has pronouncing his "l's" then you can imagine why.


After that we went to go play in the fountains.

The first plan was to go out to eat and then come back for the ballet at 8, and the music at 9. There is a 60 piece windpipe band (oboes, trumpets, horns, ect) and as the finale there are fireworks set to Handel.

But we played in the water too long and realized we wouldnt make it in time.

So instead we got take-out.
And watched the ballet while we ate.
Zeke was enthralled with the dancing.
And also later with the piccolo. Oh yeah, and the fireworks.

The 4th downtown is a tradition but honestly, this was so much more fun. Less crowds for sure and way better entertainment. The fireworks show, I'll admit, didnt really compare but I think this was a winner.

Cherry Picking

Here in Spokane we are lucky to have just about the best growing community that you can think of. My family goes up to Greenbluff at least once a month June-October, and usually even more often. What can I say? We love fruit. Strawberries in June, Cherries and Raspberries in July, Peaches in August, Apples and Pears in September...The strawberries this year weren't the best, I have to admit. It was a wet spring, with quite a few late frosts.
But the cherries...
The cherries were amazing.
Zeke collected quite a few in his bucket.
Josh collected even more.
Malachi and I most hung out in the shade.

And then we hung out in the pea pit.
Malachi likes the pea pit almost as much as Zekey.
We even got to see some really nice animals.


Unfortunately, as soon as I found a pie cherry tree my husband informed me they weren't quite ripe. I had really wanted a pie, and how a person can tell if a pie cherry is ripe is beyond me but no one knows fruit like Josh knows fruit so I believed him. Lo and behold when I asked about raspberries they told me neither them nor the pie cherries would be ready for another week and a half.

Its just an excuse to go back ;)

Welcome Summer

Ah Summer, one of my favorite seasons. (Fall and Summer, in that order, in case you were wondering. I love the heat and all the activity, and then I love the relief from the heat and all the activity.)

But Summer truly DOES have it's particular joys. It's the season of Ice Cream, after all.

And laying in the grass, looking up at the trees.

The season of digging freely in the dirt.

The season of scraped knees,

And warm earth under your toes.

The season of BBQed burgers and corn. And zucchini, and chicken, and peppers, and kabobs, and, and, and...

The season of baths. Every. single. night.
I am very much looking forward to summer. The fair, and the u-pick farms, live music at the park, strawberries, peaches, backyard picnics, weekend hikes. Kiddie pools, and ice-cream trucks. Farmers Markets. Splashing in the fountain downtown. Salads every other night in August because its too hot for the oven. Letting the kids stay up late for 100 different barbeques.

And then when we're exhausted from it all, we get to welcome Fall. Sweaters, and filling warm meals, and falling leaves, and pie. :)

I love seasons.