It's been awhile...

We've been on the road for most of the summer - thus, the silence on the blog. Had a great trip back to the Midwest to visit family and friends. My kids got to go strawberry picking and run through a sprinkler (two things that they don't get to do with all the watering restrictions in Colorado.) Behold the joy that is fresh picked, red-all-the-way-through strawberries:

Pure bliss!
Then, we spent a week in Maine on the ocean. Our friends Mark and Kristen are expecting, so I was great to catch up with them before Baby Girl makes her appearance.
Here is the amazing lobster dinner that we created one night:


Here are the kiddos enjoying the very relaxing porch at our rented cottage. Harmony Cottage in Northport, ME. Check it out for your next rental. Peaceful, cozy and just what we needed to spend time with old friends.

And the beautiful flowers that were growing like crazy in front of the cottage:

Must have been all that rain in Maine - the was falling mainly on our heads, not on the plain!

Since we returned home, the summer has been filled with swimming lessons and playdates with the boys' favorites friends. We tackled the woodchip pile which took on a life of its own that has been in our driveway for almost 9 months. It is finally gone. We have lots of trails that run the length of our property. The boys love exploring all the nooks and crannies of their climbing rocks - which can now be accessed by trails.

And...of course, I've been mulling over lots of new projects. I'll post pictures as time goes on. The project of the week is coverting our guest to 1/8-part guest room and 7/8-parts craft room/office for me. It's all still in the measuring, organizing, planning stages, but I'm hoping it will be drool worthy.

Glad to be back!

Vacay...Away...Hooray!

I haven't completely let my new priorities take over - the blog is still on the daily to-do list. Kevin and I took a kid-free vacation, and I've been swamped with "real life" stuff since we made it home. The vacation was wonderful.

We spent three nights at our condo in the mountains. We skied three days in a row which I don't think I've done since 2004 (Before Kids - or BK for short). Got to eat Indian and Thai food which is an experience that has become infrequent since our kids became old enough to express their EXTREME opposition to it. Had a leisurely dinner in a restaurant with friends. No "feed bag!" That what's we call the red zipper pouch in which I carry all of the emergency snacks and toys to keep my kids occupied in case of a slow (or even average) wait person.

I even took a very quiet and languorous trip to Target by myself. Never has perusing drive belts for vacuum cleaner felt so indulgent! But something else happened in the midst of all this child-free bliss. While waiting in line at Target a toddler two check-out aisles over started chattering to his mother. She understood every word of the incomprehensible babble...and I physically hurt. It was that primal milk letting down sort of pain that twinged through my body. That little voice made me ache for my kids. Not enough to get in the car and run home that instant. (I may be attached, but I'm not crazy -- it was only the first night), but enough to realize that my threats to run away to Mexico are full of hot air. I'd be on the next kayak out of the Sea of Cortez to get back to all of the nose wiping and argument refereeing. What can I say? I'm a sucker for my kids!

We came home on the day of Alex's 4th birthday party. Pictures to come soon of Scuba Party 2009. I guarantee the scuba diving birthday cake is unlike anything you've ever seen. Pretty? Probably not! Unique? Definitely!

The Song of Purple Summer...or Red Fall (as it were)

In November, Kevin and I took a long weekend to visit our friend Brian in Los Angeles. It happened to be the weekend of the wildfires that were engulfing southern California. This picture was taken in broad daylight (not at sunrise or sunset). The eerie pinkish haze was the bi-product of the smoke filled skies. It made for a beautiful pic - although not very beautiful breathing.

This picture was taken after a day in downtown Los Angeles. Although I've visited L.A. multiple times in my adult life, I haven't spent much time downtown. Our friends have always lived in Santa Monica or Hollywood. We've either hung out at their local haunts or spent time walking the Santa Monica pier or the boardwalk in Venice Beach. It was a monumental weekend for visiting downtown L.A.

First off - the wildfires. The town was hazy and smoky and abuzz with the latest news of where each fire had spread. To most L.A. residents, it must be second nature to see Ahh-nald on the news every night, but I'll admit, it's still a novelty to me to take the Terminator seriously when he's talking about a state of emergency.

In the midst of all of this, this was also the weekend of the Proposition 8 protest marches. We took the subway down to City Hall to check out the spectacle of it all, as well as show our support for the protesters.

As we walked to City Hall, the newspaper boxes were filled with pictures of Sean Penn's face. Milk was schedule to be released the following week. Brian, who is friends with Dustin Lance Black (the writer of Milk's screenplay), was reveling in how crazy it was that this group of guys that he calls friends could very likely win an Academy Award for their work. How prophetic. It also didn't escape any of us the significance of the Prop 8 marches in the wake of Harvey Milk's recent popularity resurgence. Just 30 years before (almost to the day) Harvey Milk's life was taken from him at the San Francisco City Hall. And now here we were watching a fight for the same basic human rights that Milk believed were not only possible but deserved by all. Two steps forward and one step back. The story of our world!

After the rally, we made our way to the Ahmanson Theatre a few blocks away to see Spring Awakening. Brian had seen the original Broadway production, but this was our first time. I have to say simply that I loved it. Spring Awakening is one of those shows that people either loved or were indifferent about. When I've gushed to friends in the theater community about how much I enjoyed it, some have shrugged it off with, "Oh, it was okay."

Let me qualify the "I loved it" statement. It wasn't like being that 15 year old sitting in a theater in Chicago watching Les Miserables for the first time. I loved that show with every fiber of my being. The music, the staging...everything. But I was also 15, and I loved (and hated) everything with that sort of passion.

I loved Spring Awakening intellectually. It didn't move me emotionally. I wasn't weeping at the sad ending. But the music was exciting (I'm always a sucker for a cello), the concept was unique, the lyrics were poetic. The staging was creative and the lighting was phenomenal!! Loved the blue lights that came down during the second act.

And to this day, whenever "The Song of Purple Summer/I Don't Do Sadness" comes on my ipod, it takes me back to that weekend in November. The orange skies filled with wildfire haze, the red faces of those fighting for their rights that had been revoked, and the purple summer of that small moment in Spring Awakening when Ilse still has hope in spite of all that life has taken from her.