Reunion

Cris Ann, Cristi and I (plus our families) were able to reunite this past weekend and it was so much fun to be back with good college friends.  We met up with the gang at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and then went back to the house they rented in Colorado Springs.  Watching all of our kids run amok and toasting to old memories and new adventures was a treat.  After the kids fell asleep, we adults stayed up late sipping cocktails and playing an old version of Trivia Pursuit.  We lauged at some of the dated answers and it all felt so comfortable.  With the fires burning so intensly all over the state, it felt like exactly what we should be doing....just enjoying the company of friends and family.  Cherishing small moments.  Realizing that everything that truly matters cannot go up in flames.  

Ever fed a giraffe?  After doing just that, I am now in full planning mode to own my very own.  I just couldn't get enough of their gorgeous brown doe like eyes, with long lashes.  I loved the way they would nuzzle my hand and chest as I scooted in toward them.  Their purple tongues swirled around my fingers and gently pulled,  rolling away with the lettuce tucked neatly in the fold in their mouths.  They are, hands down, my favorite wild creatures.  Well, except for the two critters in the photo below.  They are my truest favorites. 

The kids loved the giraffes also and  told me that they would agree to it if we needed to move somewhere to accomodate my new giraffe. 

Mia and Jack

Lola and Mia

Luca, Mia, and Isabel

Mia and Luca mid hug.  They do this sometimes, like wild monkeys, throw themselves at each other and collapse together, in a heap of arms and legs.  I used to tell them to be careful.  "EASY ON EACH OTHER.  PLEASE.  SOME OF US ARE CIVILIED."  But I have since stopped.  It's the way they communicate I suppose. 

The boys. (Minus Owen).  Nothing like a cold popsicle in a hot tub. 

All the goofy kids together.  They had a BALL together.  I wonder if in about 15 years, all 7 of them will be running around together on some college campus like their mothers and me.  That would be a great sight. 

A quick (safely contained and short lived) fire just for the sake of S'mores.  We all sat out back enjoying the treat and the kids, all while watching fat plumes of smoke rise threateninly into the sky from the nearby Colorado Springs fire (which has since gotten much worse in the last few days).  The fire season is unbearable.  Record breaking heat and no rain for days has us feeling hopeless. 

Luca and Jack

A quick family photo up at the top of the zoo.  Notice how hazy it is. 

First Crush

Mia has started tennis lessons and I love watching her out there on the court.  Tiny pink racket and her small pony tail bobbing after her as she hits. 

Luca loves watching Lana, Mia's tennis instructor.  She has long brown hair and even longer, browner legs.  Luca watches her every move, holding the door for her as she enters and exits the court.  He beams up at her as she coos, "Hiiiiii Luca!" 

Love at first sight. 

He didn't even stand a chance. 

Father's Day

Luca wearing one of V's Father's Day gifts...a new fitted Yankee cap. 

The kids wrapped some scraps of paper and a homemade flower in an old marker box.  Here V is opening the gift. 

You really are an amazing dad V.  These kids simply adore you, and it's so easy to tell why.  Happy Father's Day!!!

A Family Picnic

The family met up at a park the day before Father's Day to have an early celebration.  It was a BYOB/food/stuff/kids and it was such a great time.  The kids played in the creek and out in the grassy fields and we adults sat around and chatted.   

Luca and Owen

I love this picture of Hadley carrying Luca on her back and the little girls running along with her. 

The cousins, minus a few, trolling the creek.

Post creek trolling.  That's why one member of the tribe stripped down to his skivvies. 

The after pyramid shots are way better than this shot.  There were some tears, a few squished kids, and one blonde boy wearing his underwear.  Just another day at the park. 

Childhood



It's a pretty decent gig....childhood that is.  Remember the penny horse at the grocery store? Yup, ol' girl is still around.  Still a penny. 

Ice cream on a 90 degree plus day.  I never order anything with my kid because I get the leftovers.  Motherhood isn't a bad gig either. 

Both kids have rub on tattoos that haven't come off in over a week.  I swear we bathe.  On occasion. 

Good Love

"I have a good love in my heart."

This is Mia's start to her homemade Father's Day gifts. She was in her room calling out to me as I was downstairs.  She asked how to spell "have" and "heart".  I wondered what she was up to and eventually wandered upstairs to find this on her bed. 

Luca was in his room zooming his cars in his closet and I just felt overcome by all of the small things they say and do that I never want to forget.

Hadley's Riding Lesson

The kids and I set out to watch Hadley ride this past weekend.  If there is an afterlife, I swear the tree lined dirt road leading to the barn is the path you have to take to get there.  As we drove along slowly, heading toward Emily waving to us from a distance, I morphed back into the excited girl I was for so many years as I drove to my own riding lessons.  Hadley rounded a corner, wearing her jodhpurs and her riding boots, carrying her grooming bucket.  She was the picture of equestrian divine.  She carefully groomed the horse she would be riding, Winona, and walked Mia and Luca through the process.  They ran up and down the aisle of the barn to greet the other horses by name.  Heart.  Mowgli.  Baloo. 

There is an energy around horses that is most intoxicating. All of it, from the smell of leather and manure to the sound of hoofs gently slapping against the ground.  Their snorts and nuzzling sounds as they lip things around them. The tinkling sound of the metal from harnesses and bridles banging up against metal hooks.  The dim light in the indoor arena and the dusty feeling on your face as you head back into the blazing sun.  I leaned down to Mia and Luca and asked if they too wanted to ride, knowing what the answer would be.  Why am I asking, I thought?  The expense of it all.  The commitment.  The dedication it requires.  Why am I encouraging this?

But I know why. 

And they answered with a resounding, "Yes!"

You think she looks good off of the horse?  You should she her on it!  Straight back.  Heels down.  Eyes up.  She's a natural. 

Maybe a future rider?  Here she is trying on Hadley's helmet. 

We perched Mia, Luca, and Finn on stools and chairs so they could peer into the arena as Hadley rode. 

A summer day

We went down to City Park today to the "Get Outdoors" Festival.  Our friend Rob set up his rock wall and the kids had such a great day.  Luca got on the wall for the first time today!  He finally weighs enough.  It was one of those unexpected and unplanned adventures.  We canoed out on the lake.  The kids biked through obstacle courses and created "environmental art".  One of the coolest things that was set up was an area for "environmental design".  There were poles and sticks, bricks, pine cones, rocks, and any other type of material you'd find outdoors.  Luca was amazed and totally transfixed.  He befriended the older woman running the area and charmed her at hello.  Together they worked out a fabulous design.  It was such a brilliant concept - the idea of letting children have control over an area and envision a concept.  The day ended with face painting, because, really, what day shouldn't.

Look who was sitting by a tree!  They were gathering the handmade ornaments the kids designed on wooden circles to bring to D.C. to display on a tree there this Christmas.