Heart of Summer

So, as I'm writing this in December, I'm going to have to cut to the chase. It's been kind of a hectic year, but a good one. Lots of growth, lots of change. Working actively to fight off midlife crises and mostly succeeding.

In July, I went to my 20th high school reunion. It was really just what a needed -- being amongst the beauty of Alaska made my heart soar, and connecting with old friends who hadn't changed so much -- in fact, people were really only better than they had been -- was uplifting.

These were some of my best friends in high school, but I also enjoyed reconnecting with folks that I hadn't know that well and were unexpectedly interesting. I remember feeling in high school like everyone and everything was so small and closed, and boring, and I was so ready to graduate and be an adult; now I sort of regret not having cast a wider net.

And of course, we have to show a "back in the day" photo. Do we look that different?

Back at home, the kids had several interesting camps they got to attend, like a few art classes at Laguna Gloria for Louis (a dinosaur-themed week and a kings/castles-themed week)

Just an awesome picture/collage of a giraffe he made for me:

A trip to Blue Hole, an annual tradition (see video below of brave Rosemary jumping off the swing!):

The kids got crazy with the glue gun and made a "city" (mostly while I was napping) out of cardboard and assorted art supplies that I hoard. It turned out really well:

A Cyprus tree:

A flag pole:

A rock garden:

And of course, there was RIDING camp at Switch Willo, Rosemary's first year. She went with Esme and Oliver, and was awarded the "most improved rider" prize at the end of the camp. Little did they know that a few short weeks later, she would be GALLOPING alone (and in fact, swatting the horse to try to go faster even) on the beach in Chile!

 

A cute boy in a kayak (James's father's day present):

 

The kids made very sweet tributes to their father for Father's Day:

Hot Chocolate laid her first egg and it was a perfect gorgeous olive-colored egg.

We had the most delightful, fun trip to Llano River with Amity, Robert, Patience, Brian and the kids. Highlights included an after-dinner night swim in the river, kayaking down the (shallow but navigable) river, and relaxing on the screened in porch. Louis and Albert did get stung by an attack wasp, but recovered quickly.

Rosemary went to smart-kids math camp. She IS really great at math:

Louis and James built a second coop for Hot Chocolate so she could get some space from her previous persecutors:

Snow cones at Barton Springs. It's summer!

Hanging out with friends at Stanley's Farmhouse pizza. The amazing thing about this summer is it wasn't very hot and we were still doing outdoors stuff up until we left for Chile in mid-July:

I don't think I'll ever be able to sift through the thousands of amazing Chile pictures we have, but here is my absolute favorite, taken in the hot springs in the Atacama Desert. See Summer's blog for more!