Hazel has such a wonderful vision for creating things. She built a ton of houses and sets this summer - a school in the backyard, a house for their stuffed puppies, and, pictured below, a throne room for Princess Gemma. I have a hard time living with the boxes all over, but I love her creative spirit.
The kids love to go geo-caching with Todd. We take a nice family walk in some gorgeous location, then go off the path on a treasure hunt to trade our junk for someone else's.
I'm still into green smoothies. They're mostly spinach and fruit, and it's still a hit or miss battle to get the kids to drink them as well, but I love how easy they make it for me to get in my proper daily fruit and vegetable servings.
We went camping in Big Basin for a couple of nights. We camped here three summers ago, and loved how the tent cabins provide a warmer, softer place to sleep. The kids had a fabulous time playing in the huge redwoods. The scale made it quite natural for them to pretend to be elves almost the whole time. Their names: Farrin, Sapphire, and Naida. It was so fun to be in make-believe world all day long.
Our primary group took a trip over to the Oakland Temple the last week of summer. We toured the Visitor's Center, watched a video, listened to a storyteller on the grounds while we ate lunch, and walked up to the temple to touch the walls and feel the spirit of that sacred building.
I took the kids to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. They saw a whole room of owls and hawks. There was a great horned owl perched right next to the window at their eye level. It was pretty cool.
Hazel and Jack have been saving every penny of their allowance all summer, trying to earn enough money to purchase a Lego Elf set with their combined earnings. They helped me clean out the playroom and sat on the curb for several hours, hawking old toys for a nickel apiece, trying to speed up the process. They made a couple of bucks.
Hazel started first grade last week. Her best friend Mary is in her class, which is such a blessing. It has helped the whole transition be almost painless. Hazel still wishes she had her kindergarten teacher, but she's in good hands. I can't wait to start working in the classroom so I can get a better picture of what her day is like.
We have a traditional first day of school giant cookie, which she eats while she tells me every single detail of her day.
Our garden is sadly limping along. Everything died except for the tomatoes. Thank goodness for our lovely garden tomatoes! Those plants still look dried out and limp, but they are producing some delicious garden candy nonetheless. We're hoping for better results across the board on our next attempt.
