A Year Ago....

A year ago this weekend we left Evalyn with Grammum in PA while Matt and I flew with Henry as a "lap child" to go house hunting in California. I was very pregnant and we drove 4 hours in the car at each end of the trip. We looked at over a dozen houses the first morning and more the next day. We toured through our future/current house 3 times over those two packed days. And here we are now.

Hard to believe how much changes in a year. Of course at that time we knew everything would be different because we'd already accepted the job and it was only a matter of the details getting settled. Not to mention our little Linnea being born! We still have the fall season to experience out here before it's been a full year (winter was already upon us when we arrived in November).

It wasn't until a few months ago that I felt committed to living here for the long haul. My mind was still thinking "in a few years we'll move on". But after a heart to heart with Matt I realized this place has a lot to offer and I needed to stop "looking over the mountain to see what I could see". I've felt more comfortable and settled with friendships and plans for the future since that point in time. I think it's in my nature to always be looking and planning ahead, but I need to remember to live in the now as well. What's that saying: "Learn from the Past, Prepare for the Future, Live in the Present."

Just to add to the ramby-ness of this post, I've been trying to "live" more and have been on the blogosphere less. I've started going to an informal preschool co-op a couple times a week with some other moms in town. It's a great little set-up with a drop-in option as well as monthly. Just the thing I needed last fall when moved here! We rent a preschool room from a church in town and have access to all the toys, an outside play area, craft tables, all that. It's not very structured and is lacking a formal curriculum, but it is a nice inexpensive way to get out of the house with the kids. It's more of a fancy playgroup than a pre-school, but it's serving that purpose for us so far.

So were enjoying the end of summer, some hint of fall weather with cooler mornings. We can leave the windows open and still get a cool breeze an hour or two past breakfast. The kids are finally getting burned out on playing with running hose water. We've gone to the pool at the "sports club"/gym we belong to. H & E love the water and are fearless about jumping in. I'm kicking myself that I didn't sign them up for lessons this year. But next summer they can be in the same class together so that will work out well I think. Linnea is a walking pro, almost running at times, and has moved on to honing her climbing skills. Her personality and skills are growing and changing each day.

I have a handful of other topics to catch up with: the Olympics, pear picking, quilting, running, soccer for Evalyn. Hopefully I'll actually write about some of those things this week rather than just think about them!

OD'd on Olympics

There's something about a big TV, 6 channels covering the Olympics, a DVR/Tivo box and the dog days of summer that entice one to become completely obsessed with watching as many events and medal ceremonies as possible.

H: Does this sound okay or too weird?

M: It's between weird and okay.

H: Well that's probably because it's really late and we've been watching Olympics coverage for 3 hours straight.

So, what's you're favorite part about the Olympics, Matt?

M: I like the woman's beach volleyball.

H: What do you like about beach volleyball?

M: I like the atmosphere.

H: Okay, this is a really lame blog post. I wanted to capture our witty banter a few minutes ago when we were laughing are guts out about the silly sports announcers making a big deal about Dara Torres' "amazing" sportsmanship to tell the officiators that a swimmer from Sweden had a problem with her suit. Or Matt telling me about the Swedish wrestler who threw down his bronze medal and saying "I didn't come here to win a bronze." Or the announcers wondering how a false start would affect 100m sprinter Tyson Gay's time in the quarter final. ("What does this do to Tyson Gay's psyche? Does it affect him at all?!?")

M: (laughing his guts out as I proof-read this to him, going back to watching the Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps conversation.)

H: Other than laughing about the over-analyzed banter of the sports announcers, I was really moved to tears at the end of the woman's gymnastics all-arounds when Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson won the gold and silver. These girls, who train so hard and have worked together for their team score then shift to competing against each other, had such stoic faces between the rotations. And then at the end of the floor exercises when the end was near and their scores were at the top, the relief and elation and joy finally spilled out as their eyes glistened and they hugged and waved and cried. They were so genuine in their happiness for eachother, even more evident later as they were interviewed by the ageless Bob Costas while sitting beside the animated Bela Karolyi. It just made me feel good about games like this where athletes have that feeling of love and comradery for each other.

M: (snoring)

H: I guess I'd better head to bed too. The swimming has been a thrill to watch as well. I was a bit miffed tonight that in our haste to get to Michael Phelps 100m butterfly we somehow fast-forwarded past it and saw him on the medal stand before watching the oh so close race. Doh! Oh well. I keep avoiding headlines in the morning or looking at news banners on websites if I haven't watched parts of the games. It's been a week now so I really should get back to real life. But the track events are next and that was my sport in high school so I don't want to miss that. Misty Mae and Kerri Walsh really are phenomenal to watch, I hope they make it to the gold!

Look Who's Walking!

It's been fun watching Linnea progress these past two weeks from 2-3 timid hands free steps to the 5-6 occasional spurts to just yesterday and today where she's cruising across the room with no fumbles. I captured the first stage on video but she's been so fast and fickle and our camera battery is having issues again so getting the "real walking" on video has been a challenge. (Not to mention spending a few late nights playing around with iMovie to get all the clips together with music and titles, etc.)

She's even got that "sophisticated" shift from kneeling to standing position down pat. She is still faster crawling than walking, but I'm guessing this week will be the turning point. I can see her getting to the running phase pretty quickly!

We sure love or sweet little girl! She is growing up way too fast....

I Can See Clearly Now the Smoke is Gone...

Today was the first day in several weeks that we could see Mt. Shasta again. The smoky skies have made this summer feel like Beijing or LA with it's hazy acrid air from the wildfires. One evening last week I was feeling so depressed by it that I could easily imagine day to day living from some apocalyptic post-nuclear disaster. we're talking one mile visibility. smoke as thick as fog. Ugh.

So today this sight was quite literally a breathe of fresh air. inhale...... exhale....... ahhhh. That's better. Nothing like that damp morning air with cool scents wafting in the window. The yellow streaming sunlight as opposed to the pink haze-swathed glow was another clue to the change. I haven't heard yet whether this is merely a reprieve due to weather conditions or if the fires are finally burning themselves out. (update: the two major fires closest to us are now 60% contained. but more thunderstorms are rolling in... let's hope there are no new fires this season!)