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.

lake anna

Saturday, we wanted to hit the beach.  But so does everyone else for Memorial Day weekend.  I was reluctant to make the two hour drive to VA Beach with Carmen...factor in the unpredictability of 64E traffic, and I was picturing a tiring nightmare.  

So I suggested Lake Anna.  We'd never been, but it had the same idea...sandy beach + water + a little bit closer.

The kids had all sorts of questions, the first of which was probably "Will there be sharks?"  Not likely.

We were happily surprised by the beachiness of the lake.  The May water was way too cold for me, but the kids jumped right in.  There was even a little surf with waves to destroy nearby sand creations.

Did you know Lake Anna is a man-made lake created to cool the nearby nuclear power plant?  There are two sides to the lake, a public side (which is cooler), and a private side (which is warmed from the water discharged from the power plant).  That sounded a little radioactive, but I googled it, and it said it could have a build up of heavy metals and salts but is not considered radioactive because it never comes into contact with those materials.  Phew! since I didn't learn that until I wrote this.

Carmen is quite particular on what she walks on...like grass bothers her little tootsies....

and so does sand, apparently.  Yeah, she doesn't really care for sand yet...so good call on the closer beach.

She spent most of her time at the cooler full of ice-cold watermelon.

It's nice that there's a huge grassy area right next to the beach.  We decided to set up there so everything didn't get too sandy.

Wasn't Saturday a perfect day?

Carmen liked the view from the chair the best.  She spends a lot of time climbing in and out of this at soccer games, too.

Put me in the zoo!  There's a nice playground close to the beach, too!

Here's Joaquin enjoying his sandwich.  We didn't get to the park until 4pm.  That was on purpose...we'd miss the burning midday sun, but there would still be plenty of time to play...the beach closes at 7pm.

I caught Diego crawling around in the sand and scrunching his 'paws' leaving bear tracks. 

And later I saw him digging a hole off to himself with a shovel full of wet sand lying beside him.  It was his own golden treasure.  He buried the wet sand and made an 'X marks the spot' on top, hoping no one would steal it and so he could find it when we come back.  Joaquin pointed out, "If there's an X on it, that's where everyone will look!"

There were life guards on duty...

but you can see in this picture of Isabela, the water up to the first rope was pretty shallow.  She's sitting on the bottom.  

Packing up and time to go home.  Next time, we need to remember to bring a ball, a frisbee, and we even saw one family that had hooked a hammock up between two trees.  Now that's relaxing!

And here was Joaquin's favorite part...sliding down the railings on the steps.  You should have heard all the kids asking their moms, "Can I do that?"  I think they all said no.  In their defense, I told him not to do it the first time, too; but then I realized it was fun, and it was safer than it looked, so why not?

The kids are already asking to go back to Lake Anna.  It's a keeper.

praying?

If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience?  Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?  If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous?  If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

--God, from Evan Almighty (played by Morgan Freeman)

life lately

I've rediscovered the farmer's market.  How about this hamburger-size strawberry?

We are lucky to have the Chesterfield Berry Farm market so close to the house.  They are always giving something free away, plus the prices seem to be really good.  The other day I bought red grapes for $0.99/lb., got one free cantaloupe and a free container of strawberries for spending $15.  

Unfortunately, the strawberry crop wasn't very big this year so they didn't have their huge celebration and U-pick month.  I imagine that gave them a big setback financially, which makes me feel even better to support them weekly.  What do you like to buy from your farmer's market?

Saturdays are finally letting up with this one's soccer schedule, so maybe we can visit some other local farmer's markets.  That would be a fun summer challenge:  visit a different farmer's market each week!

Doesn't Joaquin look like one of the Beetles with his long hair?  

He has a spirit that rebounds from any setback.  He tried out for the Elite Travel team, but didn't make it.  "I suck at soccer, " was his quick response then he went on to some other activity.  I think he knows he doesn't suck at soccer every time he dribbles through three defenders and gently and simply taps the ball into the goal.  His last game he scored five of their seven goals...and had to leave early at the half!

God works things out though.  He was able to try out for the U11 Classic team, the one that all his friends play on and he made it.  Next season is going to be the best year of his life, whether they win or lose, I'm sure of it.

And this guy turned one year older this month.

Latinaish gave me a great idea for a birthday present...is anyone else collecting World Cup stickers in this album?  The album is only two dollars and each sticker packet is, too.  Fun to trade.  Fun to learn about.  Can you fill your favorite team?  Can you fill the whole book?  Juan Pablo wanted to cut to the chase and buy a whole box of sticker packets, but really that's not how you're supposed to do it.  I think I'll surprise him every now and then with a packet and see how far we get that way.

We made a little banner of all the teams flags that are competing this year.

It's a great challenge trying to name them all.  We had a little dispute over England's flag.  See that white one with the red cross?  Who knew?

Here he is with his dad and some of the kids.  His dad has been busy making a vegetable garden in the back yard.  I'll have to snap some pictures of it.

And these two are just so cute together I can't stand it.  Carmen looks for Diego as soon as she wakes up in the morning and reaches out to hug him when she sees him.  Diego has taken to carrying her around the house which always makes my heart skip a beat, but he's very careful with her.

Look who's walking.  Well, just about to take off...any day now.  She's at the two-second balance, time is frozen stage, before she crashes onto her diaper cushion.  She's got a cute bye-bye wave, too.  One is so fun!

And pool time is upon us!  

Have you made your summer bucket list yet?