Where did the summer go?

Our summer got short changed because it consisted entirely of going to Utah, moving, and then going to Washington.  The kids school started three weeks earlier than their old school, so I am looking forward to making this summer feel more like a summer break should be.

We still got in some crazy fun like this, for example:

Yes, that is Carter's arm.

After moving, July was really just a rest and recoup and get settled month.  We made the transition to having a backyard for the first time and really loved it all around.  Each one of our kids fell out of the climbing tree in the back, but at least Tanner was wearing a bike helmet.  And we planted a bunch of edible plants.  Unfortunately, the ones in the front yard were also edible to the deer.  So, that was sort of a bummer.  I never have been mad at deer before.  So, we have to stick to the backyard which is fenced.  And we made a compost bin that I put all my kitchen scraps in.  Yay!  I have dreaming of this day.  I know, easily pleased.  I did get a little impatient after a few weeks and put compost on my strawberries we planted (and ate!) and my citrus trees, but then I got tomato and cucumber plants growing there, so I have been waiting more patiently now for the bugs and bacteria to do its magic.

I also decided that our walls needed some art, so I did some paintings.  One of the really special things about living in Morro Bay was our breathtaking view out our window.  I knew well before I left that I was going to miss it.  I spent so much time watching the fog roll in and out, and the sun setting over the ocean, the wind blowing the fronds on the palm tree, and the waves crashing on the breakwater.  My very favorite time of day was at the end of the day when the sun has just set and the sky is orange, the kids are in bed (sometimes), and it is calm.  So, before I left, I painted most of my view so that I could have it at my new house, and then finished it when I got settled in here.  So, here is that:

 

 

Then, I also needed something for above our mantel.  Our big mirror did not work there, so I wanted to do something with red in it to tie in the rug that I bought at IKEA when we went to buy a couch.  IKEA.  Love.  Keep me away from that place.  Dangerous.  The couch, though, was much needed.  Our old one was one that we bought from a friend twelve years ago because he was moving and in a panic and needed to do something with it.  I never liked that couch.  Since then, it has been peed on and spilled on too many times to count, there was a big rip in the back with a metal spring sticking out of it, and just generally very frumpy.  Anyway, I bought some really big canvases online so I could do some painting.  Well, I knew it was a bad idea, I mean how do you ship a canvas?  But it was such a great deal, I couldn't pass it up.  So, when they showed up both ripped and the backer bars broken, I was pretty disappointed (but not that surprised).  But the person gave me my money back, and so I cut off the torn part, modified the supports, and re-stretched the canvas.  It is still warped, but it was free.  And after lots of thoughts and sharpie sketches, I decided to paint an abstract painting of the sand spit across the bay in Morro Bay that we would kayak out to.  There was one time, when Ethan was three or four, and he just booked it up the hill with this determination that was unprecedented and Carter ran along after him.  They didn't even look back, they were on an adventure.  Here's the picture from my phone that day.

 

So, that is what I wanted to capture.  Well, I never really finished it because I made it to a point where I had to add footsteps and little boys, and I was scared to do that and ruin everything.  So, it has been sitting on my mantel like this since August:

 

 

 Someday, I will get up the courage to finish it and seal it.

 

Then, we also went to Washington and Oregon for a Wade Family Reunion.  I still smile when I think about the homemade slip-and-slide that Jared made on the side of the steep grassy hill at his parents house out of plastic sheeting and a garden hose.  Really, the highlight of the trip was probably watching Jared thunder down the hill and crash at the bottom and then get up, laugh, and do it all over again.  We also drove out in the Columbia River Gorge (breathtaking!) where we had rented a house in Hood River for several days.  Here is a view from the place we stayed of Mount Hood in the background.  I really liked Hood River, enough that I thought, I could live here.  And I have not ever, EVER felt that way about the Pacific Northwest.  Usually, I am just grouchy and cold.  But it was such a nice town in a beautiful setting.  And it didn't rain a single time the entire time we were there (That is a first!). 



   

Unfortunately, we had to leave after just one night at the reunion house because the kids were starting school, but we did get in a whiffle ball game, an afternoon at the beach along the river, and a doctor's visit for Dylan.  He got poison oak from his job and it was certainly the worst case of poison oak I have ever seen.  It started out on his ankles and his neck but spread all over his body.  Dylan going to the doctor on his vacation to get some meds says a lot about how bad it was.  He was soooo itchy.  The crazy thing is that he didn't even touch it!  They were clearing on his jobsite to get ready for construction and using a chipper to grind up all the brush (which is basically all poison oak out there), and he was nearby, and got it from the dust.  Pretty sad, huh? 

Then it was school time!  Both the kids have great teachers, and I have been impressed in many ways by their school over these last few months.  I am relieved to not be constantly worrying if they are learning.   And the school is very close.  There is basically just a forest between us and the school, or you can walk along the road for a block and a half.  I tried the forest route with the boys and although there is a technically a way through, you have to climb down a steep ravine, cross a small creek, and climb up a slippery dirt slope, and poison oak of course.  And there was a freshly burnt homeless camp in there, so we walk along the road instead.  I wish there was a sidewalk, but it is still great to be that close.

Tanner started at a co-op preschool here in Pacific Grove.  We go together one day a week and then he goes without me usually two days a week.  I have really enjoyed it.  It is in this cute little schoolhouse that is old by west coast standards, and it is nice to be at school with him.  Since I pay for five days a week (only option), I also can be flexible on what days he goes if I have things I need to plan around.  He was a little unsure about it all at first, and still asks most days if it is my day to stay, but seems to have opened up more at school, and seems to have a good time.   This is the first time I have had a child in preschool and no baby at home.  It is pretty awesome.  The time fills up really fast since it is only 2.5 hours in the afternoon, but it has been great to have that time to get some things done without feeling like I am actively neglecting him.

Dylan bought an above-ground swimming pool in August off of craigslist, and we filled it up and left it in our driveway for a few weeks.  Somehow, without meaning to, I again moved to the foggiest place in the area, so it never really got warm.  Hence, the wetsuit.  But it was fun for awhile, and once it got too icky, I watered our "lawn" with it (really clovers and sand, not much grass) and folded it up and put it in the garage.

 

 

We have found our ward to be very transient.  We were one of three families who moved in the week we came, and on the move-in sheet they gave us, there was a spot for "move-out date."  There are A LOT of people who are here with the military for DLI, the Defense Language Institute.  There is also the Naval Postgraduate School and the Monterey Institute of International Studies, but most of the people in Pacific Grove came here for DLI.  And they come for a short period of time to learn a language and then they and their families are sent off to all sorts of places, like Kazakhstan, for example.  So, that is taking some getting used to for us, but not as much as having to move to Kazakhstan.

 

And that about covers it for July and August.