Meditations on Life and Parenting
“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” – Robert Frost
Our road trip to the other side of Washington State. Such a wonderful pleasure to see my kids enjoying the attractions I loved as a kid including the garbage goat and the carousel. (Yes, the goat sucks up garbage fed to him). I’d count those miles well spent!
Cooper has grown so much in the 5 weeks he’s been with us that he doesn’t chase cars, he eats them!
The heart and the sign of the week – a two-fer with a two-fer.
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzo
Celebrating the unofficial end to summer with a campout and a cookout.
When the weather didn’t cooperate with our end of summer plans to go to a spray park, we put on our Seattle best and enjoyed it anyway, all by ourselves.
Cooper is growing up, or at least growing bigger. The last picture is him soaking up being the only “kid” at home after school started.
Mr. D is doing his best to make the cat feel better about dog invasion.
The heart and the sign of the week.
“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” – Andy Bernard
Someone’s growing up…and by that, I don’t just mean the dog.
Clockwise from top left:
I suspect that climbing route might be the closest experience my kids have of a telephone handset.
Miss O and Mr D vying for honorary Seattle ambassador status.
It didn’t take long for Mr. D to get someone to ride on the back of his motorcycle.
Mr. D puts the service in service station.
And speaking of service, the bottom left shows a special forces soldier doing mailbox reconnaissance.
Heart of the week is an air pocket in a baguette. And the sign of the week is courtesy of my tea bag. It feels like the message might be a koan. My head isn’t quite sure what to do with it but my heart feels like it’s true.
“Recognize what is simple. Keep what is essential.” – Lao Tzu
Mini Cooper is figuring out his world.
Mr. D has perfected the pose to ward off unwanted puppy attention. I told him he doesn’t need to scowl when he does it, but it’s quite the look! His pose reminds me of this sunflower in the community pea patch.
Whether it be Mr. D’s scowl, or the fact that Mini Cooper gained 4 pounds in a week so he won’t be mini for long, the squirrels coming into the yard to eat plums will likely not be doing that for too much longer!
Tricks for having fun in a heat wave.
But it wasn’t too hot to play.
The heart and the sign of the week.
“A Joyful face is always a beautiful face.” – Sadhguru
Meet Cooper! And thank goodness a picture is worth 1,000 words because I’m too tired to write anything.
In fact, the whole getting a puppy thing has been so monumental this week that I pretty much forgot that we also did other things this week like going to IKEA and building a loft bed, an outing on my brother’s tugboat to see the Blue Angels perform, and other usual fun until I looked at the pictures. So here are two pictures from SeaFair.
The sign and the heart of the week (raspberry cookies from IKEA) as demonstrated by Miss O.
Hope you all have had a great week!
“A bird is safe in its nest – but that’s not what wings are made for.” – Amit Ray
Riffing off the quote of the post – apparently wings are made for rides at the fair. At first the tame rides we’re fine but it wasn’t long before Miss O wanted to try out the Tornado. At the end, we talked to a turkey and that was Mr. D’s favorite part. I think he invited it over for Thanksgiving.
Meet Cooper aka named Mini Cooper for his puppy stage. He’s coming home on August 11. At which point you should all expect this blog to go to the dogs!
Except for Mr D and Miss O, of course!
The sand castle heart (aka Castle Heart Island) and the sign of the week.
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
All these pictures are from our week vacation on Whidbey Island – starting with Whidbey wildlife. I’m unclear why deer go down to the salt water. Are they licking the rocks?
Beach hi-jinks. Mr D was super interested in fishing which is not my forte so he wrangled three turns reeling in a rod from someone he befriended. Then he said (after 3 tries), “Why do you keep missing the fish?” Before I could tell him it’s called “fishing” and not “catching” for a reason, he turned and found a dead flounder floating in the surf and proudly proclaimed he caught one. The pic is his imitation of how the fish looks.
Some of our visitors: Deirdre (my meditation teacher and guest on podcasts), my mom (note: Mr D is wearing my shoes and they don’t even look that big), and Mr. D’s birthday train.
Two of my favorite pictures of the week. Mr. D carefully following in Miss O’s path. And the beach cartwheel (one of the at least 1,753 Miss O has done this week).
The heart and the sign of the week. Miss O and Mr D got to see their first Shakespeare play – Romeo and Juliet as performed by the Island Shakespeare Festival. It’s possible I could have prepared Miss O better for the play because near the end she looked up and said, “Romeo isn’t going to die too, is he?” But even though we started with a Shakespeare tragedy – she loved it!
“Time wasted at the lake is time well spent.” – unknown
Endless amount of fun in the cool clear waters of Spirit Lake in Northern Idaho
Hiking, swinging (with a mist for a twist), and reading at the lake.
Miss O and Mr D figuring out how to work together to get Cheerios at the hotel on the way. Amazing how Cheerios can bring a family together! 🙂
I kinda thought Mr. D would be done with time in the car for a while, especially after we took an extra 20 minutes on the way back from the lake for Giving Lift. But he was ready to jump back in and go for a spin.
The kids learning how to pick lettuce in the garden with the best sign ever (see below) and the only rule is that you have to eat what you pick. That doesn’t apply to dandelions!
The heart and the sign of the week thought up by my brilliant friend Katie (from the family gardens at Spirit Lake).
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius
4th of July!
And the guest of honor for the 4th of July show was blogger, Betsy Kerekes (Motherhood and Martial arts blog, formerly Parenting is Funny) who came with her hubby to spend 2 days in Seattle. So fun to hang with this dear blog buddy in person!!
Chasing after my favorite unicorn.
This is how we roll.
Hearts of the week – brought to us from CA by the amazing Betsy Kerekes. And I love this sign of the week!
“Sometimes you have to travel a long way to find what is near.” – Paulo Coehlo
It was neck and neck in the Tour de Greenlake training wheels stage (thank goodness for the kindness of sisters)!
It’s all picturesque until someone slips and falls … but thankfully no one did this time!
A little work travel. I took a red eye to the East Coast which pretty much just ensured that I spent the whole next day falling asleep on mass transit, grateful for the kindness of strangers willing to wake me up. AND I got to meet the fabulous blogger (The Goddess Attainable) Libby Saylor in New York City!! So much fun!!
And one of my favorite parts of the travel is the wonderful feeling of coming home!
And the sign and the heart of the week…
Surprised By Joy 