Ready for Vacation

So...  if I tell you that I'm going to be taking a break from ye olde blogge for the rest of the month, does that make me sound like I think I'm one of those hotshot mommy bloggers?  Don't worry, I'm not taking a break because I have other projects to work on (not even writing projects!).  And I'm not overly worried that I've ignored Craig and the kids too much because of this blog and therefore must force myself to take a break.  I'm not even telling you this because I'm worried that you'll go into withdrawals when I don't post anything for a couple weeks.  (Nope, I've never managed to feel quite that grandiose about my blog.  Aren't you glad to know?)

No, I'm signing out for the rest of the month because...                                                                              

We'll be in Hawaii!!!!

And my plan is to be largely unaware of internet-related things while I'm there.  And we have so much awesome stuff planned that I doubt computer time will be much of a priority.  Right now, just the idea of it all is rocking my world right now-- I can't wait to see how much actually being there will rock!

Peace out until August, my readers!

And a very hearty Aloha, too!  Catcha on the other side!!!

She's Crafty!

It's taken me a while to understand my true feelings about making crafts. For a long time I just took the attitude that I hated doing them.  I figured since it didn't come naturally and since I hardly ever bothered doing them, I must not like it, right?  But then I noticed that I had a really fun time at Super Saturdays.  In fact, I even began looking forward to them.  So that didn't make much sense.  It finally dawned on me that I don't hate crafts at all.  In fact, if I've got a friend to chat with while I do them, I actually enjoy crafts a lot!  The problem is that if I don't have a friend to craft with, I will always choose to read a book instead.  (I know a few people who are both readers AND crafty.  I wonder how they have time for both.)

So anyway.  It's been fun to accept my "crafty" side, even if it's a very small side of me.  The funny thing, though, is that I've already convinced everyone that I can't do crafts, so now when I do try to do them with my friends, they usually step in and do most of the work for me.  This doesn't actually bother me at all-- I still end up with cute stuff and hang-out time!  And this is exactly what happened with my Father's Day project: I recruited a couple friends to help me make this for Craig, and they pretty much did all of the work for me.  But didn't they do a great job???  I love it!  And more important, Craig loved it, too.

Everyone wins!

Thanks to my awesome (and super-crafty) friends!

Summer Travels, Part I

We got back from our first trip last night! New York City and my whole family-- what a week! You won't be shocked to hear that I took very few pictures of the entire event. But trust me, we had a great time. And we're completely exhausted from everything. Here are a few pictures along with stories whenever necessary:

All of the cousins from the Bentley side of the family, from l-r: Kendra, Samuel, Caleb, Bentley, Eliot and Ryder.  What a crew!
We all met up at Leah and Brian's house in New Rochelle.  It was nice that there was a place with plenty of room for all of us!

Ryder enjoys sitting in Eliot's special chair

Riding the train into the city

Tracy very generously bought tickets for us to see Evita on Broadway!  It's one of my favorite shows, so I was super excited to get to see such a great production of it!  And added bonus-- Tracy and Rachael watched all of the kids so we could really enjoy it!

The actor playing Juan Peron has also been on Natalie's favorite TV series, Fringe, so Natalie was extra exuberant!

For our other day in the city, I insisted we visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I hadn't been there since right after my mission, so it was time to re-visit some of my old favorites!  Here, Kendra enjoys looking at the armor (and the horses).

Ever since visiting Mount Vernon, Bentley has been a big fan of George Washington (a fact which pleases me no end).  So I LOVED this picture that Craig snapped.

Getting crazy with Aunt Tracy

We didn't actually plan to all wear pink.  It just happened.  Aren't we cute, though?

I guess Craig chose to ignore the pink rule.  That may have been for the best...

I love this.  When we walked into this room, I asked Kendra if she could find the picture that we have at our house.  As soon as she spotted this Van Gogh (which I've had a print of since I was in high school), she got so excited she ran to get Bentley so she could point it out to him, too.  They both stood pointing at it jumping up and down-- my Mom commented that it was the most excited she'd ever seen little kids get about artwork.  That made my little humanities heart so happy that we needed to document it!

Those are all the pictures we took. I know other family members took more, so hopefully they'll email to me (hint, hint) and then I can add them to the blog.  Not pictured much is all the food we consumed: two trips to the Shake Shack, one trip to Mughlai, a fabulous Indian restaurant, two trips to Levain Bakery (best cookies in the world.  Really), barbecue on the 4th...  We ate like the complete gluttons we really are but try not to be.  Maybe all that walking around worked off a little of it, though?  Right?

Also not pictured was the fact that my kids kept getting sick!  Kendra had some weird rash all over her a few days before we left, but it was fading by the time we were in New York.  But then a few days later Bentley got it, and in addition to the fever and general sleepiness Kendra had had, he decided to throw up all over himself and me.  That was on the 4th.  It wasn't my best day, I have to admit.  And then by the time we were leaving, Ryder also had spots all over him, although he seems fine other than that.  So, yeah, we're exactly the kind of houseguests everyone hopes for!

So now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that none of the other cousins come down with whatever they had.  Please?

An Anniversary, of sorts

I began running a year ago!  My goal was to run twice a week, and I think I've made it most weeks for this whole year.  And if I missed, it was probably due to weather.  I tried flipping back through my planner to confirm this, but either I've been terrible about writing down when I've gone running, or else I'm severely delusional about how consistent I've been about running.  I'm pretty darn sure that I've been consistent, so let's just assume it's my record-keeping abilities that are flawed, not my memory.

Okay?

Anyway.  I wish I could say that in order to celebrate this bench mark, I had my best run ever today.  But the fact is that I slept in late, tried running at 9 o'clock in the morning, and quickly realized that it was just too dang hot.  Even walking downhill I was still gasping for air.  Once I was home in the air conditioning and had downed a bottle of water, I checked the temperature.  According to weather.com, it was 86 degrees, but with the humidity, it felt like 98.  I'm going to tell myself that running would have been suicidal and that I still get points for trying.

Next week I'll get up early to go!

And we'll just see if I can manage to keep doing this for another year!

I Am Ridiculously Excited About This

Today is a red-letter day.  First of all, it's the first day in July, and this month promises to be a truly spectacular month of travel and fun for our little family, starting with New York City with all my family, then moving on to Hawaii with all of Craig's family, and ending with a quick visit to see my parents in Seattle.  It's almost too much goodness packed into one little month.

And as if that wasn't enough joy and happiness, Bentley and I began reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone this morning.  I read the first chapter, letting Bentley read a couple sentences (well, very slowly sound them out.  We all have to start somewhere!).  And we've been discussing what we read.  And he can hardly wait until after lunch when we'll read some more.

Getting to share wonderful things like Harry Potter and Hawaii and taxi cab rides with your children must be some of the best things about being a Mom.

My life is so good right now.

Happy July, everyone!