Summer Fun + Friends ... and Spontaniety

This summer has been full of a lot of fun with friends and spontaneous adventures.  Summer is such a great but off-kilter time for me, as I go from the routine of the school year to weeks of vacation, camps, and unstructured days.  It is lovely to have so much time and be able to be outdoors, but it it is hard to keep up with the everyday stuff like laundry and grocery shopping.  I find myself often out on our block chatting with neighbors as our kids run around later into the summer evenings.  It's so nice to have truly kind and easy-going neighbors, and a luxury to be outdoors so much, since in the winter it's not very pleasant to hang outside together.  So I am thankful for these spontaneous gatherings, and try not to sweat it when I walk back into the house and find it is a disaster and there is nothing to make for dinner!  After all, summer should be a break from the day-in and day-out of the rest of the year, even for grown-ups, and I am trying to be more spontaneous the older I get.

We loved having our friend Tony visit, whom we worked with back in Prague ten years ago.  He is originally from the UK and had never been to Portland.  He enjoyed wandering Hawthorne, trying the plethora of local brews, going to a soccer game with Sam, seeing a concert at the zoo, and seeing sights like Multnomah Falls and Timberline Lodge.  It's always so fun to share our beautiful Northwest with new visitors.  Even better was reliving old memories from our days overseas and catching up on all that has happened since.

We also had our friends, the Langhams, come visit from Eugene.  We never get to see each other enough now that we have four kids among us, so it was great to have time to catch up in person, as well as watch our kids play together.  We visited Jameson Square and the zoo, and enjoyed a nice long dinner and conversation in our back yard after the kids were in bed - definitely a treat when you have young kids!

Another spontaneous summer night was spent at Kruger Farm on Sauvie Island.  Morgan and I went a couple summers ago to Farm Tunes, and it was just as fun as I remember this year.  It was even better that Morgan's two best preschool friends, Mira and Lilian, happen to be going that same night, as well as our neighbors and their kids.  It was an amazing, hot summer evening, and being out on Sauvie Island feels like being in another country completely.  I am always amazed at how soothing it is to get away from the city and have the freedom and simplicity of farm life, even if only for a couple hours.  Listening to musicians play, watching the kids run around under the giant farm sprinkler, an itchy hay ride, seeing Morgan soar on an old tire swing, and a gaggle of girls running around picking berries and climbing trees - simple summer fun at it's best!

And somehow after always failing to find weekends to get together, we managed to squeeze in a bit more summer fun with our good friends, Sue and Joe. Sometimes waiting to the last minute is actually a good thing.  So we just returned from a couple nights at beautiful Alki Beach in West Seattle.  The girls adored little Brody and the three of them had as much fun playing, as we had watching them.  Brody is such a sweet little boy, already with such a charming and easy-going personality at age one and a half.  Morgan really wanted to go to the "Space Station," which she was calling the Space Needle at first.  Sasha had zero interest in it but seemed to enjoy having a snack at 500 feet in the air.  We had lots of time to catch up with Sue and Joe, who are expecting baby #2 in a couple months.  Sam and Joe got to go to a big Sounders soccer game, and Sue and I took a nice walk on along the beach.  We also did a group bike ride, with our family in a pedal car, and the Belchers on their bikes.  I never thought I would be seen in one of those things, but it was perfect for all four of us to ride along the water, seeing fish jump, views of downtown, and even a baby seal pup napping on the beach.  What a great weekend and a great summer of friends!

Ahh....September

I can't believe we are already near the end of September and Morgan's third birthday is nearly here. This has been a mellower month, after a summer of busyness, but I am tired! I guess it has to do with the little one in my belly more than the little one I chase after every day. But it's also been a fun month. Morgan and I had a relaxing Labor Day weekend at the beach house with my parents and Auntie Erica. We were blessed with beautiful weather - if I wasn't in this odd, misshapen state I could have been in a swim suit laying in the sun, it was that warm. Morgan also got her first visit to the Octopus Tree and Lighthouse at Cape Meares. Now she likes to tell me, "Mommy, when you were my age you used to go to the Ockapus Tree just like ME!!!"

That weekend was followed by a fun weekend in Seattle, staying with our newlywed friends, Sue and Joe, in their new home at Alki Beach. It was a part of Seattle I had never experienced and it was awesome! We played with Morgan in the sand, Sue and I rode along the beach on their new cruiser bikes, and we had the best cinnamon rolls on the planet at a nearby bakery (cinnamon rolls have become a recent obsession of mine). We were also in Seattle to attend a wedding of a college friend, so it was a good reunion of old friends (and mainly a chance to hang out without our kids!) The wedding was on this rooftop along the waterfront and we were treated to sunny skies, a view of downtown Seattle, and Mt. Rainer peeking through the clouds at sunset. We were so lucky that our friends, Candice and Cameron, could watch Morgan while we were at the wedding. They adore her and she loved being with them, and their new puppy, Kingston. Morgan had them wrapped around her finger, because she got them to swing her between them forever as they walked down then sidewalk. So cute! The weekend was fun for many reasons, but mostly because it reminded us how lucky we are to have such wonderful friends.


For me, September has also been about spending even more time with Morgan since she hasn't gone to preschool this month. I've been trying to keep us both busy and the change of routine has been nice. We are doing a "tumblebugs" movement class, rejoining the Spanish play group after many months, and going the library story time a lot. We have also spent more time at our park with new friends. I met a new mom recently who has a daughter just one week younger than Morgan. She is not only very nice and easy to talk to, but seems to know every other parent at the park. Yeah! Just what I have been looking for. It is so nice for both Morgan and I to have someone to "play" with on a regular basis, as well as connect with other people in the neighborhood.

Morgan's birthday is next week and we are having a party for her this weekend. Once she turns three she will start two full days a week at her new Spanish immersion preschool. Sam and I are very excited about this, and Morgan has been itching to go to her new school for weeks. I am looking forward to having more time to myself - such a luxury! But then I realize that this will really only last a couple of months. After December, I won't be alone....ever!