sometimes you get a virtuoso at camp...

wordless wednesday

campsick, but home...

We're home and while it's really, really nice to be sleeping in my own bed with just one other person who actually belongs there (instead of two very incredibly kicky little girls), I'm a little campsick for the late night wine and Weeds sessions we counselors indulged in most nights of camp.

Tomorrow begins another week where the kids are at home without camp to go to. I'm not sure how I came up with the brilliant notion that because I wasn't working, the kids would love to hang out with me day in and out and not be totally bored or tempted to chew each other's feet off. Or even, I'm not sure why after so many years of parenthood, it didn't occur to me that I'd begin losing tiny fragments of my mind trying to diffuse ridiculous and constant arguments between said bored kids while also trying to find myself a job.

But as my mentor Scarlett O. says, "There's always tomorrow," and I will come up with a grand old gameplan of activities for camp that will involve some rest-time for resume sending.

Maybe I'll even make them wear their Camp Runamucka shirts--just to get into the spirit of things.

off to camp and rock and roll...

Oh my gosh, if I don't finally post this post, I'll be writing an essay about what I did on my summer vacation.

It's just that this unemployed nothing to do summer has gotten itself very busy.

Sam is off to camp. Though, because he's pretty much the easiest kid in the family, life is just quieter, not less hectic. But even Tali says that she's totally bored without someone to pinch and fight with. Nice.

We spent the day last Thursday packing and gathering his stuff and while it was admirable that Sam wanted to pack his own bags, when I did my minor last minute check, I discovered he'd paid no attention to the numbers of items the camp suggested he bring. As in, instead of ten shirts, he packed five.

"You only have five shirts and it says ten," I say. "What are you going to do for the second half of camp?"

"You don't need to change your shirt everyday at camp," Sam tells me. "You're supposed to be dirty at camp."

"You don't know how dirty you're going to get. What if run you out of shirts?"

"Mom, last year I wore the same shirt practically everyday. I don't need so many of them. It just wastes water in washing them," he says, though I threw in five more shirts. And, oddly, when I look at the camp photos online, he seems to be wearing pretty much the same shirt everyday. What a sweet guy to be saving his mom the laundry and mother earth her water? Hmmm...

Also, last weekend I ran the Seattle Rock and Roll marathon and hit my goal time of under two hours at 1:57. I was pretty psyched and it was great to run with the group I'd been training with. There were 25,000 people running this race, but I think it was fairly well planned because it didn't feel like that many people.

This is us at 4am catching the shuttle to Tukwila, which for you out of towners is absolutely NOT Seattle.

Then, while the shuttles worked their way back to Seattle, we ran back. But it really was a nice route.

Here we are after the race. Note the team shirt not sponsored by Nike--just printed on their shirts. On the back we printed "Run like a Mutha..." which spurred a lot of conversation behind our backs while we ran.

"What's a Moota?" one woman asked. We didn't tell her that we'd used the spelling "Mutha" because Mitch didn't want to run with a shirt that said he ran like a mother.

Off to go send a care package like a good mother... Though at this point I'm sending it next day so that he at least gets it before he gets on the bus to come home.

"this is what summer is about..." --talia

wordless wednesday...

summertime living is not easy... yet.

Okay, so day two of my summer vacation and things are not mellow in vacation land. I think there are few reasons for this:

1. I've mentioned before that I'm not great with change, and well, it's true. For as long as I can remember, the first few days of vacation is spent with me thinking, "This is great, I'm going to be so relaxed, I'm going to relax, I'm going to relax, why don't I feel relaxed, DAMNIT, WHY AM I NOT RELAXED YET? (Oh right... I'm also quite impatient.) So I knew I wouldn't feel too relaxed just yet, but...

2. Too much going on. Yesterday I took Naomi to her two year well-baby visit where her doctor proclaimed her incredibly healthy and she did not cry when she received her vaccination in her well-endowed chubby.

Then I picked up my two lovely nephews, and then picked up Samuel from the camp bus where he actually expressed excitment over seeing us, then we went to lunch where I promptly lost my nephew, Asher (Naomi noticed first), found him quickly, then as a group, we managed to spill two large drinks twice and fall out of our chairs (not me, the kids) at least three times. I ate my lunch in the car on the way home where my children proceeded to fight with each other, with their cousins, and with me.

3. I'm crabby. I think it's because I'm on vacation. And because I haven't run all week. Because I'm on vacation. I'm not doing this right.

So today I sat down with Tali and Samuel and we made a list of all the things we should do this summer. Included were things like:

1. Teach Tali to swim.
2. Read ten books
3. Redecorate the kids' bedrooms
4. Clean out garage
5. Rebuild and paint the front porch
6. Paint the hallway
7. Paint the girls' room (have the kids do it)
8. End world hunger, too, if we have time.

Obviously, most of these things won't happen. I think the kids' really knew it when we were writing the list. But it made me feel more productive and organized. And really, who doesn't want their vacation to be productive and organized?

Sigh... I will try again tomorrow.

a good summer day begins with poop and ends with poop...

My friend Kim and I have a tendency to choose activities with our children that most sane people avoid. We thought nothing of hauling six kids to Ikea to shop for desks and as chaos broke loose, we were fairly good-natured as we fed the children junk and watched our crowd accidentally knock over displays (that we picked up, mind you). We did not laugh, though, as Kim was overcharged about one thousand dollars and we were so harried we didn't even notice. At first.

We also instigated a random trip to Chuck E. F*&%$L@ Cheese, which we enjoyed immensely for about an hour and a half and then quickly rounded up the kids, drunk on video games, and drove them home as they talked about what good moms we were. (Seriously, they really did do that. Who knew there was an upside to the loudest place on earth featuring robots dressed as rats?)

So when Boaz and I thought going to the Fremont Solstice Parade was a fun idea and our friends asked us what we were up to, we thought them perfect candidates to join us on a crazy day. And we basically knew it would be when, about 30 seconds after arriving at our house, Josh had to go home and change because Sophie suffered a serious diaper blow-out.

After clothes were changed, we all went to wait for the bus since that way we wouldn't have to wait for parking. The kids were thrilled with the idea of bussing it--it's funny how kids seriously love buses. And adults, well... I know I should love riding the bus, and I definitely love the idea of the bus, and I like not looking for parking, and I suppose there is some interesting people watching on it, and you get to be a part of the community, and blah blah blah, but there are also lots of big bumps and odd smells to help accelerate motion sickness, and it's worse when you're responsible for those smells, but I'll get to that part later.

There were 12 of us in all, including Bo's parents, Myra and Moty, visiting from California, so it actually gave us an amazing ratio of 1:1 adults to children, so things were very calm. The kids loved the two bus ride to the parade as much as the cool bus stops with painted murals and etched glass.




The parade was so packed that we couldn't see much, but the three boys squeezed their way into the front for a better view. There were dancers, people on stilts, colorful costumes, cool floats (my fave was the monkeys on the bed), and nude bicyclists. Yup, nude bicyclists. But they're painted. The boys' faces were a sight to behold. They went from confused to shocked to amused, but really, after the initial shock, you barely noticed the nudity. Not really.



After the parade, we walked with the crowds to Gasworks Park where we sat and ate lunch and hung out watching the people and enjoying the first day of Summer. And it really, really felt like Summer.


We all felt like we were on vacation--I don't know if it was so much sun after being holed up all Fall, Winter, and Spring, or if it was such a nice change to be out of our own neighborhood and regular daily ruts and routes, but it was lovely to be out and about with good friends and family.

And then came the bus ride home... The regular routes were changed because of the festivals and we ended up trekking six very tired kids under eight about twenty blocks to catch the bus. Luckily, a tuckered Sophie fell asleep after the first bus.

And it seemed fitting that just as we were getting on the second bus, Naomi announced to the world very loudly that she had a poopy diaper. And then once we were on the bus, she continued to inform us and everyone on the bus of her status. But by then, nobody really needed to be told anymore. We did not make any new friends on the bus ride home, but we all did get our own seats! :)

Happy Summer! Seattle is so glad to see the sun!

what time is it? it's party time--we're on vacation...

Yes, it's true... I just quoted HSM2, but it seemed appropriate since I've only seen it three times over the last week (well, parts of it at least three times--my kids sometimes do other things besides watch tv. Sometimes.) since it's the kids' new obsession. Don't even get me started on how weird it is that my five year old is totally into High School Musical since she doesn't even really know what high school is, but that's another story for another post...

School is just about out for the kids and my current project ends in less than two weeks, and for the first time since I was probably about the same age as those wacky HSM2 kids, I'm taking a summer vacation (maternity leaves don't count, though since I've taken three, some might be tempted to make them count).

When I tell people that I'm taking the summer off and not taking on any new projects until the Fall, the reaction I get mostly is, "Wow, that is so great. How amazing to do that." And my kids are thrilled. Tali is writing out lists and lists of things we'll do together (she's planning weeks of Barbies for us, and she's especially excited about the grand reopening of the Barbie Shoe Store in our playroom--"We should have balloons, Mommy!"). And Samuel wants me to help him make stop gap animation movies of his Lego adventures (very cool, but very, very, very, very p a i n f u l l y slow work). And I'm ready to put in some good quality time with these guys. I'm excited about having a lot of time to just hang out and move slowly from one activity to another. I purposely made few plans and even scheduled very few summer camps so that we can really experience a break from our usual manic routine.

And then every once in awhile, I freak out and cannot believe what I've done.

Weeks and weeks without plans? Alone with three kids who are terrified of boredom, but all with completely different interests? With no ad campaigns or content strategies to develop? No time to think about stuff other than potty training, educational development and (somewhat) well-balanced meals?

I like working. I really do. And despite the fact that lately I often feel that I'm riding the slowest track ever to career fulfillment because I make it a priority to pick up my kids from school a few days a week and spend a day a week with the baby alone, I truly love that feeling when I'm on my way to work and I know that I'll get a good chunk of time to focus on projects that are interesting and challenging and I'm only myself--not just somebody's mother.

Now, this is only a summer and I know that I'll be taking on another project or another job in a few months and that I should enjoy this time with my family. And I will. I will make that my priority for the summer. And I love that Tali's last summer before she begins school will be a fun and mellow one.

But I'm not the kind of girl who is naturally easygoing about changes, even self-inflicted changes, so I'm also preparing myself for a rocky start and taking notes about where the closest oxygen mask is stored. I've been making my own lists and plans and schedules so that I feel like we're getting somewhere, even if it ends up being how to figure out good methods of creating Lego movies. And since running keeps me sane, I will be scheduling my runs religiously.

And then I will work hard at making this a summer for us all to remember--by not working much at all.