A Scrap of Life

When I was a teenager, 35 seemed downright ancient. 35 year olds wore outdated clothes, drove boring family cars, worked stuffy grown-up jobs and had lost the luster of youth. And while this is somewhat true, 35 still isn't exactly what I envisioned. Sure, I'm older and the luster of youth is starting to tarnish a little. Yes, I drive a minivan. And no, I'm not trendy. But I do have a pretty great life. I have such an awesome family. I have good friends and a fulfilling job. I have a wonderful man that I look foward to getting old with. This is what 35 looks like - and it's pretty darned good!

On a whim we decided to make a day trip to the beach on Tuesday. We went to Long Beach for the Washington State International Kite Festival. We had never been to the kite festival before so this was all new to us. The weather was beautiful and it was the perfect day for kite flying. There were hundreds of kites in the sky - big twirling kites, huge animal kites, spinners and foils in every size and shape imaginable. They even had choreographed stunt kite teams flying to music. It was amazing to see so many kites in the sky at one time! By far our favorite display was this one: Hundreds and hundreds of kites lined up one after the other, streching as far as the eye could see (and then some). We were told there were 250 kites on this line, which is easy to believe. Just looking at it from the ground it seemed that they stretched all the way up to the sun. It was unbelievable! On our second time past this display the kite owner asked the kids if they wanted to try to pull the kite in a ...

As always, summer gets away from me. It has been hard to find much extra time between teaching summer camps, camping with the family and chaperoning Boy Scout camp. Thankfully this is my last week of summer camps this year and I get 3 full weeks off before returning to a new year of preschool. We're hoping to end the summer with a few more fun family activities and maybe a trip to see my brother, sister-in-law and adorable nephew. Boy Scout camp with Chase was good. We went to Camp Hahobas in Washington and it was a GREAT camp! The staff was amazing and the boys all had a great time. I only stayed a few days, just enough to help get the troop settled, get all the paperwork done and help organize the boys schedules. Then I took off and let Chase and the other boys enjoy some "non-Mom" time at camp. Chase earned another 3 merit badges there and brought home 4 partially finished merit badges. He also earned his star rank, one of only 4 (of the 20) boys in the troop to have a...

I admit that I LOVE summer! The lack of schedule, the relaxation, the not having to get up early. *yawn* Yet things are slowly shifting and changing. This year it isn't so relaxing. I am having to get up early (albeit 8am! LOL). I do have a schedule. And I don't have much time "off". So it's been a busy time already. We got out of school late this year, on June 17th. Had to make up all those snowy days right before Christmas break. I did actually have a little time off right away, time to decompress and take a few relaxing breaths. It was great. The next week we went on a trip to Newport. I hadn't been back in a while and we were really looking forward to it. We stayed in a yurt at Beverly Beach and it was fabulous! I love not lugging around a tent, I love having heat and lights but still hanging outside and having campfires. It was the best of both worlds. The first day we drove down to Newport and quickly met up with Darla. She is my late best friends mother...

Carissa was part of the Sunsations softball farm league team this year. She had Coach Randy and Coach Mike again, her 3rd year in a row with them. It was a great year! We had a wonderful team with a lot of fun and talented girls. Carissa could, of course, be counted on to do her own thing at times. When she was bored she would play in the dirt with her toes or just crouch down and relax. Once, when she was in the outfield, she decorated her entire mitt with things she found in the field. When she wasn't bored she did very well. She showed a lot of progress this year, throwing harder, hitting better. She even got the chance to pitch one game and did well when she calmed down. All in all another great year of softball with her awesome group of coaches.

Finally! It seemed like such a long school year, mainly because we added on so many days because of the snow days we took this winter. But today was the last day and the kids are officially done with school! I was able to attend the awards ceremony and field day at Tristan and Carissa's school. The kids both got awards from their teachers. Tristan got the "Truly talented artist and 'creative juicy word stories that come alive' writing award" from Mrs. Fisher. Carissa got a writing award and her word this year was "gentle", very close to "kind", which is what Ms. Carolyn gave her last year. After the awards it was field day. The kids had a great time going to all the stations, playing and chatting with their friends. It was just a fun day. Here's a few of my fave shots from the day. Just hanging around... How hard can you stomp the stomp rocket??? Carissa on the obstacle course Tristan running for the finish line And now school is over for t...

So in my mind I had my summer reading planned out. I would start the Twilight series again, the series that I became obsessed with last summer. But this time I would slow down, savor every word. I envisioned evenings outside on the porch swing, book in my lap, watching the kids ride their bikes and play with their friends. So it was with this anticipation that I started reading Twilight last week. And then it hit. The obsession of it all. The feeling that you just have to keep reading, have to keep turning the pages. The need to know what happens next, even though I already know. And so my summer full of Twilight turned into a week of obsession. And 2,444 pages later I'm sitting here wondering what the heck I'm going to read this summer!

Today is a day of many welcomes. First and foremost, I welcome SUMMER! Today was my last day of teaching for this school year. I bid goodbye to my classroom and my preschoolers and look forward to the fun and freedom of summer. Tomorrow night is graduation, so I still have that to get through. But the teaching part is done for now. Of course, I do still have plenty of summer camps I'm teaching this summer (my first is Fairy Camp, which I'm SOOOOO excited about!), a few trips to the beach, theater camp and Boy Scout camp on my agenda. Oh, and how could I forget the most exciting - the Nickelback concert we're going to see to celebrate our 15th Anniversary!!! So a great big YAHOO! to summer!!! My other welcome is to the new members of our household. After having Peach put to sleep last week, Chase took some time to get over it. A few days ago he came to me and told me that he was ready to start looking for a new pet rat. One trip to the pet store and he found it. Of course, ...