Summery Summary, in brief rambles

Labor Day is the unofficial end to summer. Seattle has had it's rain (finally) and now we're all hunkering down with thoughts of apples, school books and perhaps a few more rebound days of summer left before Fall truly kicks in. We've had a truly great summer. It feels like Lucy in particular learned several "grown up" activities that made it a particular fun summer. We spent countless hours at Matthews Beach/Lake Washington, a mere 5 min walk from our house. Lucy swam and swam in that mucky old lake. Henry spent many hours avoiding said lake, all because half way thru the summer there was a freak "sand storm" that lasted about 10 seconds, but was truly a little tornado that knocked everyone off their feet and blew sand in Henry's eyes, despite being out in the lake. Henry holds a grudge! But still we went. (Henry continued to complain about the potential sandstorm every single time we talked about going, and would take a good 45 minutes to get out of the stroller or my lap to dig in the sand). We had a couple of Bigger lake days, where Lucy learned how to Kayak! She kayaked alone in a kid's size kayak, and out with Dad in a 2 person boat. A trip to Oregon at the beginning of the summer ended with strep throat for 3 of us, but we had a great time in the extreme temps of foggy cold coastal temps and record breaking high temps inland to Portland. We ended our summer with a 3 day trip to Whistler, British Columbia. Plenty of outdoor fun to be had there, including more water activities, bungee trampolining, gondola rides and exploration on foot.

And how many trips to REI to find and purchase just the right bikes for the kids? Lucy mastered a 7 gear, hand brake bike. One moment she was in tears of fear. Somehow mom found just the right words of pep talk, and then within minutes she was riding alone around the paved circle, over and over, squealing with pride and laughter. I can hear her laugh in my mind's ear. Henry got a pedal bike with training wheels too. His stamina or desire doesn't get him going far, but he does like to ride his bike for short bursts in the driveway. Watch out next summer!!

Piano!! Oh my goodness. Lucy started piano lessons this summer. We have an awesome teacher, referred by an awesome pianist friend, and despite her angst at mommy during practice hours, she is really loving it. She prefers just memorizing the tunes, as opposed to working on technique. But she still has a good ear and is enjoying the praise from her teacher. Henry has a REALLY good ear. He doesn't have the attention yet for formal lessons, but he loves listening to Lucy's suzuki cd, and even trys to play some of her songs.

Henry has started attending Sunday School without complaint! Basically on his 3rd birthday he graduated to a different class, and there is a hot wheels racetrack in there that keeps him engaged and happy. Definite growth for Henry this summer. The downside of that is there are a couple of boys who really love their "swords and bad guys" games. Henry has now become a "normal boy" and shooting is part of his regular vocabulary. sigh. He still relates to his feminine side (perhaps the result of Lucy's influence), but he's giving the "rowdy testosterone" a little trial to see if it suits him. He really still loves planes, space and rockets. He also loves coming into my bed and kicking me all night, but that's another story!

We are ramping up our activities now for fall, and are almost at full throttle. Besides our home studies, the kids are both in Lil Kickers (soccer), and Lucy will continue with Piano lessons, ice skating lessons, and new this fall is "homezone" at the YMCA. It's a 2 hour class for homeschoolers with art, PE, swim lessons and free swim. Henry will hopefully attend the adventure zone area at the Y, while I exercise and/or work on my way behind shutterfly albums. I didn't get "school pictures" done yet this year. Posing in clean clothes with brushed hair is apparently over rated. But included is a tiny glimpse of homeschooling in pj's on vacation. ;) and Tim's 40th birthday seaplane ride.