summer has begun

This view pretty much says it all.  But I'll elaborate for the fun of it.

Uncle Shep plays keyboards in a band and invited us to a party at his friend's house in White Stone on the Rappahanock River.

I wouldn't normally go that far with the four kids by myself (JP was down and out with a back injury), but we hadn't seen him play in like.... forever, and he said the two magic words:  pool and beach.

That's Aunt Beth with Carmen.  She got passed around a bit and didn't get crabby until the evening.  Good job, little baby.

Aunt Beth is always so thoughtful.  She brought a bag o' squirt toys to entertain Carmen.  She loved that blue hippo.

The kids headed straight for the pool when we got there.

Joaquin had to test out the limits of the diving board....to him, a pool without a diving board is not a pool at all.

This is the amazing view from the living room window of the house.  Diego was a little scared of the diving board at first....

....but that didn't last long.

I found my little spot of heaven pretty quick.  Imagine a steady, gentle breeze, waves lapping on the shore, music in the distance, kids happy, eyes closed.

It was a most perfect spot for a hammock.

Isabela spent most of her time on the pier.  She caught five fish and loved every minute of it.

This is a croaker.  It makes a sound like a frog when it's out of the water.  Very cool.

The kids found some pieces of a crab and saved them.  Several days after the trip, the car strangely started smelling like fish.  Don't save crab parts in a ziploc bag and leave in in your hot car during summer.

Diego was fascinated with this magnolia bloom.  He's such a naturalist.

Carmen jammed out to the music....

...and crammed potato chips in her mouth.  

(It's good they don't make bathing suits like this in my size.)

There were bushels of crabs, shrimp, salads, and watermelon.  Yes, it was one amazing party.

The kids left asking when we could come back.  That's when you know it was good.

Thanks Uncle Shep for a memorable day!

And thanks Aunt Beth for loving on us!  What a great start to our summer.

raise the roof

What is he doing on the roof?!!

Juan Pablo's dad, the architect, replaced and raised the roof on our shed while he was here, with plans to turn part of it into a chicken coop.  Unfortunately, he had to return to Bolivia earlier than planned, so this is pretty much what it still looks like.

I don't let the kids play on it, but they got away with this stuff with dad and grandpa, so I thought I may as well document it.

Joaquin's new stunt is called the endo.  Pedal fast, then slam on your brakes and be prepared to fly high.

These two are hard to watch sometimes.

mess

Summer's here.  Life's going to be a little messy for awhile.

I did make a summer list of fun stuff to do.  But this year, it has stuff on it like whistle with grass, watch clouds, family talent show...

Nothing too big or too much work.  This summer will be about slowing down.

I also made a jar of 'I'm bored' activities with Diego's help.  Lots of scraps of paper cut up, just pull one out and no more boredom.  But so far, they pull one out, say, "I don't want to do that", and put it back.

Plus, Joaquin just informed me tonight that the reason we're almost late for vacation Bible school every morning is because of the chores we have to do before we leave.  Fine.  Let's not do them.  I'm tired anyway.