The problem with blogging so sporadically is I forget the specific details that occurred in each of these pictures. I love the specific.
In the specific is the universal.
So for this blog post, I am going to do my best to only recall the minute, specific details.
I slapped these pictures onto my blog in the order they came in my phone, so there will be a bit of back and forth...but I like that because it shows the timeline of events from the last few weeks.
Like this picture. This was from Nettie, keeping us updated on her refugee situation.
Jim texted me "any updates on the Petersons?"
and she had just sent us this picture that maps out how close her home came to being flooded. Her neighborhood is on the other side of the levee.
She had to field so many text-questions from us sisters. I wonder if that was annoying? or distracting?
While Jim was in Chicago for a boys-only trip with Joe and Joe and Kyle,
I fed Lisa and kids dinner.
We ate zoodles with fresh garden tomatoes sautéed with garlic, and onion.
This is the kind of meal that you can eat and eat and never get full. All veggies. Chick food. I think if the husbands were here we would feel obligated to include some meat.
Eat and talk. Lisa and I have the best conversations.
Nettie let us "see her" while she was making her getaway from the flood waters. I love this visual of how spread out across the country we are/were.
Also while the boys were in Chicago: we went to a Birch Bay Crab Festival parade.
I hate parades. What are we even doing? Besides battling for candy that is thrown at us?
There were some old fashioned cars that drove by. They were probably the coolest.
Lisa told Evan to yell, "Light em up!"
and I guess that's car-speak for "rev your engine super loud and obnoxious", because that's what they did.
Meanwhile...
The boys had an amazing time in Chicago.
I was soooo jealous of these pictures.
Jim and Kyle are in a Joe sandwich.
When me and Lisa and Lauren (Kyle's wife) heard that they rented bikes, we all three gave knowing nods of the head...
We knew exactly that they didn't just ride their bikes like normal tourists around the city...
they bunny hoped, tail slapped, and wheelied around/on/at/over/through the features of the city.
Kyle is a wheelie maniac. He can wheelie around his neighborhood without resting. That's like, 20 minutes of wheelie-ing.
This sounds so fun to me.
Our favorite place to blackberry pick is through the forest and into the nearby campground.
This day was our last time picking.
I cannot remember anything specific about this picture...
Oh yeah. Avery had to poop, so Jim took her home, and me and the boys kept picking and picking.
Then I made a blackberry crumble and ate it prettttty much all by myself. I made it kinda healthy - no sugar - so that's ok, right?
If you're looking for this guy, he's probably in the garage tinkering with his car.
Do you know he learned how to code and coded upgrades to his car? I don't even know what that means, so that's my best explanation.
Also. The other day he passed a kidney stone at 37000 feet.
At work. In the cock pit. In the air.
Threw up a few times from the pain.
Had to pull himself together to perform his duties to get the plane on the ground (which I think is extremely impressive. The man was practically dilated to a 10 and ready to give birth).
Landed in Vegas and was the first person off.
Escorted through the terminal to the quick care facility at the airport.
Puked from pain along the way.
Got hooked up to some narcotics. Felt better.
Still waiting for the stone to pass out of the bladder.
Continual updates from Nettie. Once the evacuation order was lifted, they went home. They have worked every Sunday helping flood victims strip their homes.
So, Andrew.
He knows all his letters. He knows how to spell at least 20 words. You want to know how he knows these things?
Word World. That PBS show.
Friday morning, he, Jim, and I went on a hike/run at Pt. Whitehorne. As we were walking back to the car he would spell words.
"k-i-t-e"
and I'd say "what does that spell?"
and he'd yell,
"kite!"
On and on until we got back to the car.
The take away: the less I try to ram scholastic learning down my preschoolers' throat, the more hands off I am with teaching, the smarter they become. They learn when they want to learn and when they are ready to learn.
Soccer this year is so fun!
Evan is on a team full of all his friends, therefore I am on the sideline with all my friends.
Speaking of not pushing school on my kids,
off to preschool with you!
haha
He was so excited to start. He would wear pajamas and his backpack down to the bus stop to get the big kids off to school. He started two weeks after them, so that's cruel.
His teacher says he sings at top volume:
"HELLO, MARGOT, HELLO, MARGOT! HELLO MARGOT! WE'RE HAPPY TO SEE YOU HERE."
We found this trail we've never been on it. Forget about running, let me get out the camera and stroll about slowly with heart eyes.
I named it "the magical trail" because it's so pretty and it's also kind of enigmatic. It's not on the map and it's a secret connector between two trails.
He fell asleep in the car. I carried him into the house to wake up, but he just kept sleeping on my shoulder. So I surrendered.
One day after Jim got home from work, we hitched up our bikes and went to the zoo for an evening bike ride.
The red panda was scampering all around. It's usually a private creature, so this was such a treat to see it being playful.
We were riding through this back trail. I stopped to talk to Jim or something, and startled to see this giant stating there silently watching me. I didn't notice him for a few minutes.
We watched the flamingos be "put to bed". The zoo keeper yelled out "time for bed flamingos!" and they flapped around and followed the leader until they filed into the barn for the night.
I will take a break from "the specific" to announce this generality:
Bike riding through the zoo is soooo much fun! I love it.
Day dates!
While the kids are at school, we go out and adult around the city for a few hours.
Adults everywhere! Adulting!
We were trying to take a selfie without our necks looking like we are 40ish years old.
I really weaseled my way into a crab festival with the Blacks and Frank.
Here's the thing about Frank: my kids love him. He's an older man from our ward. He reminds me of my dad in the way he talks and the way his hands are big and calloused. My kids enjoy him so much they assume he is a peer. Shy Andrew climbed up to the table next to Frank to eat his dinner.
Frank is the one with the boat and crab pots. He set out some traps and caught us 12 big dungeness!
We ate and ate and ate crab. It's so delicate and sweet. Boiled in sea water, it is self seasoned. No butter needed.
Then they sent us home with the leftovers.
I made crab cakes for Sunday dinner tonight, and the kids called them grilled cheese.
I've been reading this book called The Child Whisperer. It describes four distinct personalities that children tend to encompass.
Evan is a type 3 personality. I was laughing out loud at some of the descriptions. That's EVAN!
Type 3s are loud and full of energy and want to be a leader and don't realize they are loud, they just want to be understood. They need movement and accomplishment. If given a job, they will focus all their energy on getting that task finished.
Instead of getting a type 3 to STOP! you should REDIRECT their energy, or funnel the energy into a task that can be accomplished.
For someone who has a strong dislike for parenting books, I have read A LOT of them.
Necessity will make you do things like that.
This particular book's big take away for me is: embrace the type three-ness.
And by the way: I am also a type three.
Sunday afternoon I was getting bored, and Evan was getting bored,
so we set off on a bike ride to the forest and the beach.
(fyi Avery is a type 2: sensitive and peacemaking. I'm not sure about Andrew yet.)
One last specific:
The other day we were driving home from soccer. A bird flew right in front of my car. I couldn't avoid it, and I watched in my rear view as it flapped it's final flap on the side of the road.
I said, regretfully, "oh dang! poor birdie"
and Evan said, worried, "will we have to go to jail?"
and Avery said, seriously, "no, it's open season."
haha
