Tubing Boulder Creek with Nora

Nora came with us on an adventure to the library today, and, like any good adventure, this adventure involved water play. Tubing on Boulder Creek, to be exact.

Nora, relaxin' on the ride:And the not-so-relaxing part:

Perfect little girl sized tubing environs. The creek is low enough that at its deepest it was knee high on Nora. Not that the rest of her body didn't get wet. She's that kind of girl.

Taking turns in the tube:

Lots of big smiles:

Here's my cool picture of the day! On accident, of course.

Then Nora floated in the tube all the way home to our house from the library (almost, except for the parts I made her get out and walk around). I loved the huge grin on her face the whole way, and Anna running along the bank next to her cheering her on! Anna was jealous and says it's her turn next time. As long as the creek stays this low, Anna! We arrived home with one shivering, smiling Nora and three little munchkins talking all at once telling Michelle all about our adventure. Thanks for adventuring with us today, Nora!

Vedauwoo

We went camping and climbing this weekend in Vedauwoo, in the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. We all had a wonderful, relaxing time. The girls loved every minute of it and played nonstop with their friend Alex. There's nothing like the relaxed pace of camping for finding the time to connect and be present with the people you love the most. The weather was perfect, not too cold, no rain, not too many mosquitoes, more stars out at night than our girls ever remember seeing, s'mores over the campfire, lots of yummy food-homemade pizza grilled over the campfire, fun rock climbing for the whole family, good conversation with close friends, quality family time... Perfect.

Ruth, Alex, Anna and Josie sitting in their chairs around the campfire in the morning chill:

The threesome at play- Alex, Anna & Jo:

Darren O'Connor cooking sausage for breakfast:

Mitch almost to the top of a challenging Vedauwoo climb:

Darren belaying him:

Me with all the girls watching Ruth climb:

Me on the rock with Ruth belaying:

Alex, Anna and Josie all took turns climbing as well but I didn't get any pictures of them. Bummer. They looked great, though! We were too busy belaying them and coaching them on the climb.

But here's a picture of Alex at the bottom of the climb with Pat and Darren getting ready behind her:

Of course spending time camping means we all got covered in dirt. So when we got home I turned the sprinkler on for the girls and they took their shower!

There's not much that I like better than being able to be outside all day and all night like you are when you are camping, being able to use all five senses to connect with the world around me. I love feeling the warmth and the cold as the temperatures fluctuate day and night, feeling, hearing and seeing the wind, listening to and seeing the birds, the smell of pine and dust and campfire, feeling soft dirt between my toes, hearing all the night sounds of a world awake while we are asleep, seeing the stars unobscured by electric lights, not insulated from what is real and timeless and wild. I love the cycle of day and night as I love the cycle of the seasons, the feeling of being small in a creation that is big and beautiful and intricate and awesome and doesn't need me, and yet being an intimate part of that creation, bound by time in the midst of the timeless, connecting and present to the world around me as a way of connecting to the God who made all of it. For me, that is a piece of heaven in the here and now.

Thanks, Ruth, Darren and Alex, for inviting us camping and taking us climbing!

Vacation is Over

And summer has begun.

At least it feels that way to me.

Which is better? Vacation or summer? I love them both. They seem mostly synonymous this time of year. Vacation, in this family, meant Mitch not working or schooling (and me not blogging). Summer means sunshine. I like it best when they both go together.

For those of you who have wondered where we have been and what we have been spending our time doing:

We have been doing

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Well, that's not really true. It can't be true in a house where three active little ones live. But we haven't gone anywhere and haven't done a lot of things that we normally count as normal in the daily rhythm of our hectic 'dad's in school' lives.
We HAVE been on lots of bike rides, spent lots of time in the garden now that we're finally past our frost date and can plant all the warmer weather crops!, gone to bed at a decent hour and gotten up at a decent hour, felt well rested!, played, laughed together all through our dinner meal, sat in the sunshine together, had a few normal bumps in the road that go with being in a time of transition between a crazy schedule and a normal, healthy, daily rhythm, had lots of family around, celebrated a graduation, said good-bye to a good friend who graduated and left the area, started a new summer job, enjoyed our morning coffee sitting on the couch together with both of us fully awake!, finished a ballet class...
And basically have fully embraced and enjoyed switching to a healthier rhythm of life for our family.

Congratulations, Mitch, on graduating with honors!

Hooray for Daddy'O!

Mitch with his brothers Chad and Jeb:

(Thanks for the pictures, Chad!)

Meeting my niece, little Maia Sage, for the first time:Windy bike rides with Jeanette, Michael, and Maia:

(Thanks for those pictures, Jeanette!)

See, we are still alive and quite well! Enjoying our days, laughing lots. Hooray for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!