Warm summer sun, shine kindly here. ~~Mark Twain

We have got some good plans for this summer, let me tell you. Rose Festival, soap box derby, beach trips, zoo trips, Oregon steam-up, park days, slip n' slide, picking strawberries and making jam, harvesting our garden, bbq, ice cream, movies, visits to the cabin on Mt. Hood and the beach; hoo boy, have we got plans.
As the weather gets warmer and I look ahead at the 3 months of summer in front of us, I wonder what will we think when we look back at the summer of '09? A year is a long time, so many things can change, and it's possible that by next summer things might be different. When you have little kids you tend to look forward to the days when maybe you can go somewhere without packing your entire life in a bag that is never big enough, without crying and diapers and whining, and have I mentioned the ever-loving crying? We are in a good place now, both kids can walk on their own and are generally well-behaved when we go out. It's still unpredictable though. But when I start looking ahead to maybe when things are a bit easier I can't help but wonder, what if next summer my kids don't find going through the tunnel on the way to the zoo almost as exciting as the zoo itself? What if they don't get excited every time they see, or hear for that matter, a train? They are really at the perfect age, of innocence and naivete, when they see things and experience them for the first time, and that will certainly be different one year from now. So, even though I dread hot weather I am for sure going to enjoy these moments when our family is what it is right now.

Here are some of our adventures so far.

I looked out the window one evening and saw this. (No, I do not let my children play alone outside, Bryan was out there)

I can't decide if this one is entitled Please Don't Take the Hose Away From Me OR Watch Out, I'm Going To Spray You.

From the same night, this one will soon be hanging in our living room. The best parts: they weren't posing, and they were having a little conversation I couldn't hear.

At the park with friends, Heather and I happened upon this little scene on the way back to the car. We silently, if somewhat frantically, motioned to each other to get the dang camera out and take a picture, right quick.

The kids spent several minutes in silence looking at and picking these little daisies. It was magic.

A trip to the Rose Gardens, momentarily distracted by the tennis players.

Rose Gardens again, Molly hopping down the path. These two crack me up, seriously.

Amos smelled all the flowers he could find and then reported "Pelled good!" p.s. do you like his capri pants? He nearly always refuses to wear shorts, but will wear jeans rolled up. Hence, boy capris. This is important when it is 85 degrees outside.

Last day picnic for Molly's preschool. I call this a teeter-totter, somehow Molly calls it a see-saw. Whatever you call it, it's A Good Thing.