Sweet July

Will had the month of July off, and our top goal for our vacation time with him was relaxation.  Last summer we had a rough time of it with the loss of our chickens, our neighbor tensions and the icing on the cake, our kids hosting head lice.  Not to mention, Will totaled out our car in an accident and began the fall hospitalized for ulcerative colitis.  If a summer redo was possible, we wanted this summer to be it.  I am happy to report that our plans went off without a hitch.  We spent as much time as possible in our backyard and sitting on our front porch.  The weather has been mild and breezy and with low-humidity which we have not taken for granted.  Our windows have been open, letting the breezes in and it has been perfect sleeping weather too.  Here we are below, relaxing in the yard.  In the bottom, right hand picture below, Will is painting the girls nails.  In the left hand picture next to it, the girls are painting Will's toenails.

We did lots of slip and slide time, the sprinkler and swam in our kiddie pool.  Violet refers to the kiddie pool as the kitty cat pool and no amount of trying to convince her otherwise has worked.

 We had summer desserts made with our backyard berries and shared them with neighbors on sweet evenings and enjoyed popsicles and sidewalk chalk as well.

We harvested lots of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries from our own backyard this past month. One of my neighbors borrowed my cherry pitter and in exchange, gave me a giant bowl of cherries.  We do not have a cherry tree in our yard (and probably will be content to just lend out our cherry pitter for a free bowl as pitting the cherries took a really long time and I can't imagine pitting an entire tree's worth!) and so I have never had the pleasure of making a homemade cherry pie.  Let me tell you that this cherry pie may have been the best cherry pie we have ever eaten, and it was made sweeter by the fact that we shared it with our neighbors on an easy, breezy, backyard summer evening.

If Charlie could pick a favorite month of the year, I think he would pick July.  All of his favorite people spend almost all of the day outside in July, and Charlie loves being as close to possible with us.  In clockwise order below, starting at the top left - Charlie, staying close to Will while he picks berries, Charlie inhibiting the girl's hopscotch game, Charlie interrupting the girl's jump rope game (he is obsessed with the jump rope and goes into attack mode anytime the girls try to play with it), Charlie being fitted with doll sunglasses, and finally, Charlie, rolling around in the girls' sidewalk chalk, giving himself a nice, pink sheen, and smudging the girls' drawing.

 We spent the Fourth of July at my parents house who had a party to honor my Uncle who lives in Africa and comes to visit us a week each summer.  The girls helped my mom pick blueberries in her yard, and also decorated a Fourth of July brownie cheesecake that we had brought to share for dessert.  We also spent time this past month swimming at our Aunt and Uncle's outdoor oasis, their backyard pool.

We enjoyed s'mores with them as well after a swim, and celebrated the graduation of the girls' babysitter and the birthdays of two of our friends.  In the bottom, right hand picture below, Lucy, Emma and even Violet played an impromptu piano recital for the relatives on the Fourth of July.  This was just days after their piano teacher had passed away, and it was hard to hold back the tears as I thought of my friend and how proud I know she would have been when the girls told her how they played for an audience like that.  Granted, I know she was there, smiling her sweet, quiet smile.

Carrie has been making her presence known to me, as if I am outdoors thinking about her, a monarch butterfly will without a doubt fly past me.  The other day I was driving in the car, thinking about Carrie, and right down the road in front of me swooped and floated a beautiful monarch butterfly.  How unusual for a butterfly to be flying down the middle of a busy road, but I know without a doubt that Carrie was just telling me hello.  It's gotten to the point where the girls will point out a butterfly and say, "Carrie's saying hi!"  On our way to the cemetery this past month, much later than we have ever gone to plant flowers at Luke's grave, we spotted a rainbow and it hadn't even been raining.  I am certain that Luke was telling us that he was with Carrie and that all is well.  At the cemetery by our house that we walk through in the evenings, we have been seeing two mama deer, each with a set of twin fawns.  In the bottom picture below is one of the little deer families.

We had dentist appointments in July, visited Will's work...

...and eye doctor appointments this past month.  Lucy got new glasses (NOT pictured below) and Emma and Violet passed another year without glasses.

The Lavender Festival was this past month, and although it was no where near as stressful as last year when I did the Lavender Festival for the first time, there was still items that needed to be done, including making and labeling lip balm, cutting wire stakes for yard signs, stamping my logo on shopping bags and packing the car for the three day festival.

The girls did a great job helping us set up, and Violet helped me make the lavender cooling mists that we sold as a fundraiser for Ectodermal Dysplasia.

We had friends volunteer each of the three days of the festival, and it really made it fun.  My sister helped all three days and it was great bonding for us.  My kids were there for the food and enjoyed ice cream, kettle corn, French macaroons with gorgeous pictures of lavender hand painted onto them, strawberry slushies and all sorts of other treats too.

Will and I got out on a couple of dates this past month, and one of them was especially my favorite as we started out in our bee hives at the bee yard north of us, picked up a pizza from our favorite pizza place and then ate it by the lake at our favorite metro park before we biked the six mile trail around the park like we used to do almost every day in the summers when we were dating.  It was a perfect afternoon/evening.  We celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary this past month too, and let me just say that I am grateful for the man I married and the life that we have built together.  We are at the point where we have known each other for half of our lives, and I have to admit that in the beginning I was worried that I would no longer find Will funny after years of listening to his jokes.  I am happy to report that I still find him hilarious and that no one can make me laugh like he can.  I remember in a Spanish class in college where we had to write, in Spanish of course, the top three traits we appreciate in a significant other.  I wrote, 1. Makes me laugh, 2. Hard worker, 3. Shares similar interests.  Check, check and check!  Amazing that I had that insight back then, and amazing that it holds true to this day.  Here Will is below, working in our bee hives.  We have reached the point in the season where the boxes are so full of honey, I can no longer lift them on my own.  Will tells anyone who asks that the bees are my hobby, but he doesn't hesitate to zip up his bee suit and bee right there with me for every step and sting of the way.  I truly couldn't do this without him.

 The last week of July we spent up north in a rented cottage with friends.  Four adults and six kids amongst us could have been utter chaos, but it worked beautifully.  We had family meals and family story time before bedtime, and the kids got along splendidly.

We snuck in some relaxing while the kids played together and the littlest one napped...

...we enjoyed watching our brood play with all of their might at some gorgeous beaches...

...and we enjoyed a hiking trip together with what felt like 1,000 stairs and an amazing view.

We took walks and made fairy houses...

...visited a local farmer's market and enjoyed the shops, sights and eats of the tourist towns nearby.

 We were all sad when it was over and that is evidence of time well spent.  July, you were sweet and I am very pleased with our summer redo from last year.  I only wished it could have lasted longer.  Will is back to work and we will be starting school in a few days.  The memories of this past month though are still bringing smiles to our faces and I hope that they can carry us through until next July when we will have the same agenda - to sit back, relax, and enjoy!