a life beyond running shoes.

we were supposed to go to yosemite this past weekend but apparently there was a governmental shut down and we had to come up with plan B. hendy woods state park.....north of sonoma county in mendocino county.  daddy and little bit eating breakfast  a fort right by our tent made for hours of unstructured play    fisher girl who was much braver at picking up bull frog tadpoles than her oldest brother  steel head trout. apparently rare in these neck of the woods a redwood root system. this was about eight trees that were growing together  apple farm where you cannot pick the apples and they do not have apple cider donuts.   so we played apple baseball with the ones that had fallen on the ground. we make our own fun!!!

visiting the academy of science in golden gate park griffith observatory with mimi and mr. denny (the hollywood sign is in the background) santa barbara with g'pa adams sweetpea's cousin's first bday our time in tennessee with family we had lots of other adventures including golfing, more cousins in palm springs, a road trip via I-40 to tennessee, signal mountain with friends, monterey aquarium with more friends, and more exploring "the city" . and hello september.

i have a new book group. it is pretty much all i have read this year.  wow, this year is different from last.  i poured myself into my books last year.... this year i don't seem to have the time. i guess that is a good thing considering the previous year was a move and lost of transition.  it is a good thing.  here are my book club reads: the invisible bridge by julie orringer (which we all appreciated the historical context and insight into hungary during WWII) girl in translation by jean kwok (provided a much deeper discussion than read but a worthy insight into a immigrant experience) the unlikely lavender queen by jeannie ralston run with the horsemen by ferrol sams (i am determined to finish this) my discipleship group read: celebration of the disciplines by richard foster give them grace by elyse fitzpatrick & jessica thompson my summer reads: looking for alaska by john green the woman upstairs by claire messud and other books:...

we got to really celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  sunrise. dinner at sunset. hiking.  shaved ice (aka snow cones) while watching surfing. more sunrises. snorkeling. despite the one day meeting that husband had (like the obligatory timeshare meeting that you have to sit through in order to get to stay there), we had an amazing time!! this was my first time snorkeling and i LOVED it!!! one of my highlights was running on the beach with hubbie.  funny how it takes vacation for us to see this activity as a luxury. it was amazing to finally get some nights away from kids and enjoy just having time together. thank you friends and family that helped make this happen!!! maybe it won't take over six years for us to do it again! and i read two books:   the weird sisters  by eleanor brown   and eddie would go by stuart holmes coleman:  one a novel threading shakespeare quotes through a story about sister all with fata...

i am working backwards.... we got to leave town for a few days before school started just the five of us.  this does not happen often since we live far from family, we usually take our vacation time to travel to them.  we always love it but don't often get time as a family of five. we got to head north to the coast. mendocino. hiking, walking, eating, bike riding, beach exploring, tide pools, tadpoles, baby frogs, wine, and reading.  wonderful...... and delightful.  we are so thankful that we are loved so generously.  we are thankful to have enjoyed our children.

caveat: this is summer reading folks. i did try and throw one meaningful read in there but just to make myself feel better. the thief lord by cornelia funke. one more YA read for my summer vacation.  venice, magic realism, orphans, and that element of a story that captures you and intrigues you to the end. it was not the most amazing book i have ever read, but i did enjoy the characters, youthful intrigue and suspension of disbelief. i have heard her inkheart series is worth checking out.... i liked this enough to try her as author again.  and i did love it being set in venice. she captures that element of mystery, an old theater home and just a few adults to help move the story along.  the age of miracles. by karen thompson walker. okay, what?  time is slowing down.  and what happens at the end....oh, wait....you aren't going to tell me. but okay, this is really just a story about coming of age in a tense, challenging time. right? okay........

we galavanted around the southeast visiting family. after months of new friends, it was nice to be with those familiar.

camping at camp fresno. no....not in fresno... thank you, dear lord. not tent camping....but not much higher up on the luxury spectrum. kids welcome to the sierras. dinky creek....not so dinky. smores. redwoods. creek swimming. fishing. climbing. hiking. family. and lots and lots of dirt.  what a great week! i might just need a whole year to gear up for it again!

hiking to turtle rock with daddy. sonoma to train town and olive oil tasting. sausalito for the bay discovery museum.     point reyes for whale watching and elephant seal sightings.  so cool!!! i've been whale watching before but have never actually seen a whale....we saw at least five (or perhaps it was one whale that we saw five times). and lots of movies in jammies for rainy days in between.