underwater

I've been bad at blogging for the past few months. During hiatus I didn't want to even get near a computer and now that we're back at work, it's tough to find the time. I'm going to try to be better because so much has happened in the past few months, I want to have a record of it.

Here are some underwater photographs of Sally in the pool. She continues to be a little fish and started taking tennis lessons this summer, which she also likes, although she claims that gymnastics is still her favorite sport. Sally did Tom Sawyer camp again this summer and loved riding horses and hiking and building forts. As usual she'd arrive home after camp completely muddy, which means she had a good day! After a week in Wisconsin, she'll start art classes at the Armory for 2 weeks(an hour and a half a day) which I know she'll love. She'll finish the summer with a week of horseback riding camp with her friend Ana.

Maggie had another great year at Birchwood. She loved her cabin - all her best friends were in it, and she went on a 7 day canoe trip to the Boundry Waters in Canada that was amazing. She came home and did 2 weeks of theater camp here in Pasadena. After a week in Wisconsin she's going to New York to stay with Kate and see theater. Kate will take her to Next to Normal, Anne is taking her to Fela and American Idiot, and then the next night, Kate is taking her to see her favorite band, Spring Standards. When she gets home from camp, she has 2 weeks til school starts and she'll need it. She has 3 books to read and a huge math review packet to complete.

We're in the middle of a kitchen renovation that will probably take until early november, so we're kinda doing a lot of outdoor eating.

Also, our neighborhood has been having weekly outdoor movie nights this summer and we hosted one last week. All the neighbors came and we showed Home Alone on the side of the garage. Everyone brought their own blankets and we provided snacks - Milk Duds, Twizzlers and popcorn. It was so fun.

Tony and the girls left for Wisconsin this morning and he will stay til Wednesday. I arrive Wednesday and will stay til Sunday. We'll basically be passing each other on the highway. But work is busy and that's the only way we could swing it so both girls could stay at the lake the whole time.

Also, Sally, for the first time is going to stay in the bunk bed room with her cousins. Normally she stays with us in our room, but this year she really wants to try being a big girl. It's a huge room with 4 bunk beds and I just spoke with Tony who said Sally has unpacked her stuff and is on a top bunk above Payton. Fingers crossed she makes it all night, that will be a HUGE milestone for her and will be another step toward Birchwood next summer.

pigs

I haven't updated in a long time so I'm going to try and catch up. We had a hoedown in April and had Swifty Swine Pig Races come and show the LA types how people whoop it up in the midwest. Pig races, square dancing and BBQ. It was a great party and I have some pictures that I'll try to remember to post, but for now here's a shot of Sally holding one of the little piggies and a shot of Sally and her friend Ana.

Car Washing Girls

My car looks great, thanks to a pair of car washing girls. This wasn't totally a labor of love ... Maggie lost her bookbag at Westridge that contained all her books for 8th grade summer reading - Malcolm X, Farewell to Manzinar, Of Mice and Men and Infinite Jest. She looked everywhere, in every lost and found at school, but couldn't find it. To her credit, she felt awful. So ... we gave her a bunch of jobs to make up the money. Sally joined in for fun. Right now they're cleaning off all the outdoor furniture.

Walden Family Photo

This is the family photo taken at Walden this year. Each family was asked to bring something for the picture that was important to them. Sally brought Holly. Maggie brought her headphones. That says it all right there.

The Great American Pastime ...

... is lost on us. We went to a Dodger game a few weeks ago, it was a beautiful night, we had great seats... but we only made it through the 5th inning. I like baseball, so does Tony, but Maggie ... she ate sushi and brought a book to read ... Sally ... well as long as there was cotton candy Sally was okay ... and she liked it when people hit beach balls ... but the game ... sigh ... not for this group ...

giddy up

Ever since our hoedown(I'll post pictures soon), Sally has been playing cowgirl alot. She puts on her hat and shirt and gets a cat toy as a lasso and rides Pam, her big stuffed horse. I'm going to get her some boots to complete the look because she's taking a week of horseback riding camp in August.

New York weekend

Maggie and I went to New York at the end of April to see some shows and my mom and sister and her two daughters joined us. We had so much fun! We got two adjoining rooms and the older girls(me, Sue and my mom) shared a room so that the younger ones(Maggie, Kate and Sarah) could sleep in. We saw American Idiot the first night and LOVED it, Next to Normal the next night and LOVED it and Hair the next day, more LOVE. Maggie and Kate went back to American Idiot the last night while me, Sue and my mom met Kate for dinner. (Sarah was sick and stayed at the hotel). There was a little drama the last night because the girls were at the theater on 45th street, which is exactly where the van parked with explosives was. And so all the streets surrounding 45th street were shut down so the girls had to take a very round about way to get to the restaurant where they were meeting us. But they made it and all was well. We're already planning our next trip which I think will be the end of August. And we've totally turned Sally on to Next to Normal.