Wildfire

Never a dull moment here. A week ago Friday we got evacuated--again--due to wildfire. Added to the excitement was the new twist of evacuating with guests. Adam's dad and step mom had been here for less than twenty-four hours when I got a reverse 911 call alerting us to a wildfire. Due to the reported location and the distance (or lack thereof) from us, I knew it was only a matter of time before we'd be told to leave. Our guests were troopers and never missed a beat as they packed up their belongings and then helped us gather kids, cats, dog, guinea pigs, photo books, and a few irreplaceable photos and paintings.

Evacuation is an interesting exercise. Since this is the third time we've prepared or actually been evacuated, we've got the drill more or less mastered. Our fire department and home owner's association prepared a checklist that makes it easy to think about what to gather. We finally got smart after the last fire and put our most important papers into a safe deposit box. So the most basic stuff is taken care of. But then comes that instruction on the checklist to pack a week's worth of clothing. This is when push really comes to shove and decisions must be made! Here's what I learned this time, in this season. I was not willing to let my Smartwool socks burn, or my Ibex pants, my ancient and tattered denim shirt or my favorite gray sweatshirt which I dug out of the dirty laundry. Oh, and let's not forget my Levi's jeans. A few favorite earrings, a few books and I was good to go.

I don't want to make light of what I know is traumatic--losing all of one's stuff to a fire or some other disaster. But I must say that going through this sort of reduction of my stuff to what is the most important brings me face-to-face with the tyranny of "stuff." Even though we're not big shoppers or collectors, and despite a number of moves over the years (which, for us, always forces a paring down), our belongings have amassed and sometimes it feels overwhelming. So I have this fantasy of it all (okay, most) disappearing in some fairy-with-a-magic-wand sort of way in which no one is traumatized by any scary event, it all just disappears.

Could I make it "all" disappear? Yes, but not without lots of hand wringing and angst. I imagine that if it disappeared (with the truly most important stuff staying--this is a fantasy, after all), I could shrug my shoulders over the few things I missed and that my load would feel lighter. Guess it's time to go clean out a drawer.

Killing Two Birds with One Stone

I said to the kids the other day, "Well, we killed two birds with one stone!" Oliver looked at me quizzically.

"Do you know what that means?" I asked him.

"No."

So I explained that it meant to accomplish two things at once, by one action.

"Oh. I wonder how else you can kill two birds at once?" he wondered.

And hence, I was treated to all the ways he could think of to literally kill two birds at once. Dynamite, double barrel shotgun, set the tree on fire, . . . . Boys.

It's a Lego World

The living room is strewn with Legos. The kids have moved on to the small ones now and they seem to find their way into every nook and cranny. The come in "sets" now, always themed like the new Ninjago (ninjas), Star Wars, Atlantis (sea theme) and come, depending on the size of the set, with elaborate instructions. Oliver (the birthday boy) has recently received and built a ninja's "dark fortress," a vehicle with chomping teeth on the front, and other constructions from various pieces for now disassembled sets.

Most sets come with some sort of "mini figure," a Lego person that goes with the set. Of course, their separate parts can be taken apart and combined in different ways so we also end up with an interesting array of characters. The building of a new set is always exciting (to me too!) but what I really love to see is what happens next. The kids' imaginations are off an running.

Earlier today, the turned a plastic tub upside down and had a Lego catapult sitting on top. Several feet away was a little fort built of Cuisinaire rods (wooden rods of various lengths used as math manipulatives but apparently also useful for mini-figure sized forts). The game was to fling a mini-figure at another figure inside the fort, try to destroy the fort and knock the other figure over, thereby earning "money" to be used to buy other figures. So now there are mini-figures and Cuisinaire rods flung everywhere.

The game moved on into Levi's room where they build an "entire civilization" (as I was informed). I have yet to be given the details of this one and I imagine that it will be too complicated for me to remember.

I love to see how their imaginations run so quickly from one game to another, how they can instantly develop stories for their games and how long they can stay involved in this play. I remember imaginations as a child so strong that I could almost feel, taste, see, smell what was in my mind. I hope they keep the power of imagination long into their years.

What I Love About Home Schooling

On the days that the kids are home, we start our day with a morning walk. This serves several purposes--to get energetic boys outside and moving first thing, to make sure the dog gets a walk, and to make sure I do to!

We are blessed with a wonderful place to walk--around the 40 acre lake in the middle of our neighborhood. Throughout the year, we see wild turkey, bobcat, deer, moose (!), mountain lion and bear. Sadly, to me at least, we haven't actually laid eyes on a mountain lion or bear yet but our neighbors on the lake side see them frequently.

In the fall, the level of the lake is drawn down. It's a reservoir for irrigation water for those below us and this time of year means less water everywhere. Now that the lake is low, much more of the rocky shoreline is exposed. There's a little slough that is now empty of water and we like to walk down it, out the the lake. When we walked out yesterday, we discovered a few cairns or stone statues. The kids were captivated and we started to build. We probably spent an hour searching for the perfect rocks, balancing, toppling and rebuilding. I was so grateful to have the time to take this lovely detour, to have no need to rush the kids on, and to be able to sink into the joy of building and discovery with them.

A slide show of our creations is below.

Fall

Summer has ended in Boulder--sort of. We have continued to have warm temps while the sun gets lower in the sky and the leaves turn. We had grandparents visit a few weeks ago and went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. The museum building is ultra-modern and I'm curious to learn more about the design and architect.

The Kin Tut exhibit was amazing--but I was disappointed that none of the outer casing of the his mummy were there. Amazing to realize those artifacts are 4000 years old and to see the sophistication of jewelry making and tools.

I feel we would be remiss if we didn't introduce the kids to the cultural gem of King Tut by Steve Martin. Thank goodness for the internet--ha!

If you want to watch it again, here it is:

king tut

Daniel | Myspace Video

Summer wrap up

As usual, I lament the going of summer. I feel like I'll never be ready but then somehow when the cool of autumn does arrive, I embrace it. But I'm convinced I'll never be ready this year! Somehow the summer has slipped by too quickly and without many things done as I had imagined. What did do was: take our annual trip to the CT shore and Cape Cod. There we spent time with long-friends and family; met our newest niece at a mere 2 weeks old; swam in the sea, played in the sand and soaked up the sun to our hearts content; ready many (but never enough) books; visited on of our favorite independent bookstores, RJ Julia in Madison, CT and more.

After our New England visits, the kids and I headed south to see Grandmama and Papa

Jimbo on the farm in NC. The kids picked apples and each earned a few dollars picking up drops, a constant job even in a small orchard. My dad has about 40 remaining apples tre

es from an old orchard. They have some old varieties like one green apple they grow called an Early Transparent. The highlights there were fishing (and boy did we ever reel them in!), driving the tractor and the kids' first experience with a high dive at the local country club. Oliver promptly did a front flip off the high dive, leaving me with my heart in my throat. After a double-dog-dare, I jumped off the high dive too but nothing would make me flip off of it. Oka

y, well, maybe a million dollars. But I do still have what it takes to flip off the low dive!

The rest of our summer has been given to family and friends visiting us in Boulder, playing with Bibi and Papa Jack, who were living in Boulder for the summer, swimming and kayaking in our neighborhood lake, playing with friends, road biking for Adam, and a little hiking.

As fall and the school year approaches, we are turning our sights to what's next. The kids will both be home schooling this year, giving us a chance to do a lot of fun and interesting things together. The King Tut exhibit is at the Denver Art Museum and is high on my list of things to see. The Denver Botanical Gardens has a new children's garden. As the weather cools, I hope to do some of the hikes from our new guide, 60 Easy Hikes

in Boulder.

Oh boy!

What ever happened to my determination to keep my posts updated? I think I happened, thinking I had to have the "time" to really sit down and write, but that's not gotten me anywhere, now has it? So, a mid-year resolution (or "revolution," as Oliver puts it).

So . . . summer has finally arrived in Boulder after a VERY slow start. Now we are waking up to sunny, cool mornings, having warm, dry days and are back to cool at night. Ahhhh. Already lots of beach time at the lake--kayaking, jumping off the dock (kids, no me into that freezing snowmelt), picnicing with neighbors and friends.

We're off next week for our annual Clinton Beach/Cape Cod trip. We'll get to see our new niece while there. She did us the favor of arriving quite early so we could meet her! Siri Elisabeth Chung, weighing in at just under 6 lbs. Welcome, Siri!