September Is...

Lots of playdates with new found friends.

Hammock time!

 Sunny and warm, relaxing, playing in the backyard.

Lots of home time after a busy summer.

 

Hiking in the mountains with friends.

Beautiful colors, glowing Aspen trees.

 



Pausing.  Smelling.  Looking. Touching.  Enjoying. 

Soaking in every moment, every little detail.

Watching for moose.

 How many pink hats would you expect to see on one hike?

 

Recording sights and sounds, thoughts and colors, animals and observations, in pictures and in words:



 And at home once more, there's always more climbing:)  Ruthie is attempting to get on the roof of the house, which, I have since found out, she can do.  I stopped her as she was starting to snake her way up onto the actual roof. 

 

The days of the girls in this house have been filled with sun and outdoor activity, friends new and old.

And I walk beside them, in and out of their play, guiding, directing, spotting, helping with new things, channeling the settling of disputes, watching, slowing down the pace as we slip into Fall so there is time in their lives to settle down, to feel grounded in place and time, to truly engage in the activity at hand and the people we are present with.  My own work weaves in and out of that barrage of activity as Warming Center work begins again, FEEDs in the park continue, the daily life of HOME settles around me in laundry, food, preserving the bounty of the late summer apples and grapes that fell into our hands, dishes, snuggles, biking back and forth to school, reading out loud, grounding the life of our home and attempting to remember to pause every now and then to make sure I am watching the changing of the season.



Weekend Afternoons

Weekends always seem full around here, in a good way.

In the summer heat lots of time is spent at parks or in the creek as a family.

Anna and I went tubing down the creek past our house for the first time the other day.

Yesterday after church we headed to the park for a picnic with friends and spent most of the time jumping in and out of the creek.

But then those late afternoon thunderstorms come through and we duck back inside while the outside air cools off, the garden gets watered, and the thunder claps loud enough to wake the girls from a nap if they are sleeping.

This afternoon was Josie's date with Daddy. He takes either Anna or Josie on a date once a week and today was Josie's day. The other two always feel a little lost at first with their constant playmate gone. But they quickly find their feet and dive into play.

Today their request was for finger painting. Ruthie's first time.

Quite a tactile, gooey experience.

She ended up with paint everywhere-face, arms, hands, legs, belly, bottoms of feet, knees... Then back inside they came, found their dollies and curled up in their billum hammock rocking them to sleep. Bunk beds have many uses.

Then Daddy and Josie were back, stomping through the summer shower bearing treats for the rest of us. Josie is one who constantly thinks about and looks out for those around her. She can't go on a date with her Daddy and get to choose her own treat without wanting to also choose something for each of the other members of her family. Sweet spirit, sweet girl.

Special times with Daddy'O.

Gold Hill

Did I ever tell you that I like camping? Well, I do. In case you hadn't figured that out by now. Getting away from the noise, the lights, the home chores, the screens, the lack of dirt, all the stuff we have, and getting back to the basics of enjoying who and what is real around us. I do love it.

This weekend we went only about 15 miles from our front door up into the mountains past the little town of Gold Hill. We camped on Roosevelt National Forest land where camping is allowed, BYO water and TP. The girls and I left early on Friday and Mitch came up on his bike when he got off of work. Don't you love living so close to the mountains!

We found a great kid-friendly campsite. And the girls were in heaven for the weekend.They had a wrestling house:

S'mores toasted over the fire:

A hammock boat to play in:

Great trees to climb:

A fort (or hospital, as it became in their play) that we built for them to have fun in:

Can you see Anna and Josie in there?

Dinner cooked over the fire:

And lots of time for this little family to spend together without the normal distractions of city life as we know it.

It amazes me how fast these girls can get dirty. I guess it is a camping rite of passage. For the mom, I mean. Getting past caring how dirty your kid's face and hands and clothes are. As long as you clean their little hands before they eat, right?

Although, I have to add, maybe it has nothing to do with camping. Maybe all the dirt has more to do with being a kid, so free and innocent with none of the adult cares and joy-stoppers that we all carry around with us:

Little miss Ruthie. And I thought you got dirty camping! I got out the hose before I let that little munchkin back in the house!

Cozy Hammock Pile

See?! It really was a pile! But it's a bit of a chilly day here, so it felt cozy, as opposed to squishy or hot or crowded. These are the days when I say that the weather feels coastal: cool and grey. A nice contrast to all the bright sunshine. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving all the sunshine, but I also like change when it comes to the weather. Too much of one thing is, well, too much.

We were excited because we finally figured out a way to hang our hammock up outside our house. All the trees in our courtyard are too far apart, but one huge spreading Maple has some large branches that are far enough apart to hang the hammock from. Anna has been asking me every day this last week to put the hammock up ever since we discovered this place. The first time we put it up was on a sunny day when all the kids that live in our whole courtyard were outside. They all piled in at once and had a blast. The only problem was that the littlest ones kept getting lost on the bottom of the pile. Today was a little more peaceful. On grey days we tend to have the courtyard to ourselves. I suppose you could say that no matter what the weather is I just like to be outside. And what better way to be outside than to snuggle up in a cozy hammock with your three little girls?