From Richard this morning - a nice memory. This is Ben about 6 months old after hiking out to Kaena Point. That's a shave ice he is really interested in! Look at that little hand grabbing mommy. And Sam - you are a trooper, man. You hiked out on your own! Gosh - we still have that little red plane, too. Unreal! You were playing with this yesterday morning! I love you two boys so much.

Dave is working late tonight so I’m stealing a few minutes to record the events of the evening for him.

Dave still at work so I enjoyed those little boys all to myself tonight. They get so enraptured with things – it is fun to follow them from thing to thing to thing even though it is exhausting with them both exclaiming at once. We bought both of them stop watches because they love to race around the house. So this means that since yesterday at 5:12pm when we set the time on Ben’s watch, he has been asking “Mom, what time is it on my watch?” “Ben – can you read me the numbers?” “It’s – uh – it’s FIVE TWO TWO!” “So that is five-twenty-two.” And so on. This morning while I was watering plants it was more of the same, from 9:40 to 9:52. Every minute. I’d say “Now it’s nine forty three, what minute would be next?” “Uh – Nine forty FOUR!” Then “I wonder if I can be done by 9:50?” “When is 9:50?” … Tonight we were doing laps around the house – outside on the gravel driveway and walkways. Many of them. Timing ourselves. My hamstrings are sore because of course I had to set myself a PR, in my Wal-Mart jeans. I was hot. You should see my hair now, after flapping around and getting hot! ha ha! I have WINGS, baby!* We had fun, though. We each set a PR. Then we found a wooly caterpillar. Had to set up a habitat for him. Now he is camping out in the room with the boys. I really hope they remembered to close the lid on their terrarium…hmmm… Sam was very animated thinking of things the caterpillar might want. Both boys worked hard to set him up well and comfortably, and tried to get me to touch him. I faked it.

*I cut my own hair yesterday in an effort to look nice for my first day helping out with a few students from Sam’s class doing math. I usually cut my own hair, have been doing so for years now, but yesterday something possessed me to try a new technique to get more layers in front. It looks better today after a wash, but yesterday it was…interesting. More like a mullet, which if you Google it apparently it’s coming back, but only among the quite daring, edgy crowd. So I’m a trend-setter of sorts. I am not releasing pictures, but suffice to say when Sam’s teacher popped in with the camera to take a picture of us I was thinking about diving under the table along with Ben (who was also at the school with me and was picking up some pieces of a puzzle from under the table!). Now it’ll be in the yearbook!!! Truthfully it is not bad – no one would know. Those who noticed said it was really cute and when I confessed they told me they couldn’t tell. Just a little touching up perhaps needed…

We had another great day out on Liberty Bay in Poulsbo this morning. It was much windier so that made it more interesting for me on the SUP (but I do like a challenge!). Just not so much with Ben on the front and the water so cold. Thankfully Amy and Brie graciously toured Ben around in the canoe while I struggled to keep up with them (I was more like a sail today!). The seals seemed pretty interested in us - even launched off their napping spot to come intimidate us into leaving. They followed me for a while. Do I look like an Orca or something? (My SUP is black and white, and BIG!) Ben enjoyed seeing a jellyfish and probably the biggest star fish on the planet. Seriously. Then he convinced me to go out to lunch at JJ's Fish House - our favorite spot. Reminded me of those times I went on a hike with my girlfriends when Sam was a baby riding in my pack. We'd sometimes wrap up with a nice citrus salad at JJ's. I hope I remember this day with my young date for a long, long time. He loves to relax at lunch. In NO hurry whatsoever, just chillin' for an hour over his lunch, chatting from time to time with me. Then we stopped in at a little gift shop and got a treat for my brother and a good friend of mine. Very nice day. Then back to work at home, and now off again to a park with TWO big boys!

And while all this is going on, here’s a sample of Dave’s life lately. I had asked him what the night and weekend is shaping up to be…

> think I will be leaving shortly, will likely not have to come in tonight or
> really early again tomorrow, will take a few calls throughout the night. I
> may be working and/or on call through the weekend or I may not. I was
> supposed to travel next Thurs but I may not.
>
> I am already behind a lesson or two with Randy but I am bushed tonight –
> been up since about 2.

Today I got a 4×4 and a 5×5! I also went on a camping trip. Do you no what’s funny is that we call it “wet wood and a dull ax.” Mom had trouble starting the fire! I learned how to play a song that my Mom loves (Andante).

I have had a little trouble keeping up with posts this summer, haven’t I!? Well…maybe it’s the 12 cubic yards of gravel Richard and I have shoveled, or the 16 cubic yards of top soil, or the wood we’ve stacked, the ground I’ve cleared with my machete (trails and a campsite on the property), plants planted, moss cleared (that’s mom’s painstaking contribution, although she managed to find an excuse to break out the saws-all yesterday for some roots!). We have had a wonderful time working very hard to landscape and contain the overgrowth on 3 of 4 quadrants around the house. We’ve also found some time for fun, even though we were pushing the ibuprofen every night 🙂 Here are a few pictures…and I’m in the process of loading more into the album. In my spare time…ha!

Sam in flag football camp! He had a great time last week.

A day trip to Mt. Rainier turned into a gorgeous outing. Overcast skies gave way to this amazing view of the mountain topped by a lenticular cloud (which means rain in 24 hours on the mountain). Richard drove us all over there and back in his "big black truck", much to the boys' delight. We had a great time, topped off by dinner at a cute family-friendly place called Bruno's. How could we NOT stop there - do you remember Ben's plastic dump truck which he pushed around the dunes and sands of Kailua at break-neck speed? He still does that! Oh, and the wild flowers were in peak bloom. Breathtaking, really. I want to be a mountain goat and live there, grazing in the fields.

After eyeing "ferndale" on our property for a year as a possible tent cabin location, I hacked out a campsite with my machete on Saturday so I could camp out with the boys to unplug a bit. We had such a good time. It feels really remote out there, and we enjoyed watching stars come up through our tent's skylight (we didn't use a rain fly as no rain has fallen in 29 days here!). I even saw the big dipper straight up through the tent screen when coyotes and owls woke me up in the middle of the night. It was so neat. The smell of SPAM grilled the night before made it really feel like old times out camping with them.

The view through the skylight up through the trees. Hawaii-style clouds!

8-3-2012

Erleer we went to the SPACE needle. And had lunch in the café up theyr. I also Biult Robo-Gater. We went to Lake Cresint. I lerned how to ciac (kayak) at Lake Cresint. I’m now constructing a strang masheen that I’m not done whith. Do you know why I love to biuld? Baucus it seems to Me that It’s fun to biuld. My Grand-parents came for a 15 day visit! I did a 100, 300 and 750 pise puzzle.

(all original spelling and punctuation retained)

This is what PopPop (Bill) said after chicken-proofing the garden, the second time! We think it is chicken Ft Knox now, but only time will tell. Some of these creatures can fit through very small holes, and their feathers act like little greasing agents which help them slick right through fences which would trap us. Every time Nana and PopPop visit we end up with a short list of very memorable quotes. In Coronado we will never forget Bill’s two: “Our goose is cooked” and “Who did this? Who DID this?” Here we think the first two candidate quotes have already been logged – “Chickens will find a way” (or will have their way?) and Gail keeps asking “What is that noise? What IS that?” pertaining to different house noises they’re getting used to. They are so funny! Nana is also getting her mind around the fact that our cold hardiness zone is 9a, and theirs in upstate NY is 5a – stuff that would die there in a winter can live through it here. She’s looking around in wonder, especially this morning at our fuschia in the ground! They are so much fun and SO nice to allow me to have a few laughs at their expense. You know I LOVE a good laugh! 🙂

Nana getting her hands dirty in the garden! It is so fun to have them here! See the wonderful chicken-proofing, with enough room for veggies to grow?

You can guess who asked and answered that one! Today we had a FABULOUS time out mountain biking at Grand Forest. Click on the picture for the whole story 🙂

For JUNE pictures, click here: http://www.kampkrug.com/album/2012/2012-06%20JUNE/index.html

For JULY pictures, click here: http://www.kampkrug.com/album/2012/2012-07%20JULY/index.html