Sunshine for a while longer, please

Already the air has that feeling of autumn. I'm not ready. I want more summer. I want more days of swimming in the pool, gathering veggies from the garden, clipping flowers and foliage for pretty bouquets. And I want lots more barbecues with friends and family.

I love being outside, but I can tell we are in the midst of the last hurrah of summer. Soon it will take forever for the linens to dry on the line, the thought of donning a bathing suit will make me shiver, we'll be reaching for a jacket in the mornings, and the light of day will fade way too soon.

Autumn used to be my favorite time of year, but since moving to the Northwest I've decided summer is my favorite season. We don't get a lot of summer here. In fact this has been one of the best years for summer since I moved here. Autumn here is not that colorful, and it doesn't last very long either. We have a season I call grey, and it lasts for about 10 months.

But while I can, I am going to enjoy every minute of summer. So I'm going outside now to soak up some of the sunshine.

New experiences, zoo style

When I flipped the calendar to August I suddenly started to feel an urgency to start doing. Summer will be over before we know it.  I hadn't even taken the kids to do anything fun yet.
I thought a trip to the zoo would be fun for both kids, but Lilly didn't want to go. Sean did, so I asked if he wanted to invite his friend Kyle to go along.
We picked up Kyle and did the Point Defiance Zoo for a little while. I got the yearly pass so we are planning to spend some afternoons there when school starts. Sean and Kyle attend different schools, though, so I'm going to try to fit in another zoo trip before summer ends.
The zoo can be quite expensive. Once you get inside there are still a lot of things that cost. We've never done those extras, so I splurged this time and let the boys experience some new things.
Here are some highlights.

I think it was $2, but they enjoyed the
hurricane simulator in the aquarium building.

We've never ridden the camels, so I paid the $5 per kid for
this fun experience.

Luckily we were treated to a free show
by the ever-elusive octopus. This was only
the second time we've seen him or her. 

A taste of summer

It was really hot last week. We had a couple of days in the high 80s, and that is pretty miserable for people who are native to this Pacific Northwest climate. For me it wasn't quite so bad. I really enjoyed the warmth.
Sean and his neighbor friend Kyle played with the water hose a lot, and even formed quite the mud puddle. I let them just have fun, but required that the puddle be filled back with dirt so we wouldn't have a pond in the yard. Honestly, I was happy he was able to play in the mud.

We spent the day with our friends Shane and Jacob-Joshua on Saturday. It was warm, though not quite

 as warm as it was on Thursday and Friday.  

We saw this deer as we entered their neighborhood. Shane says the new homes are on land that was wooded, so he deer is probably a bit confused. 

I kept wondering if he would go into the newly constructed home. He didn't, and instead he crossed the road and headed for the shrubs in the neighbor's yard.

The boys had fun playing in the pool while Shane and I looked through catalogs and chatted.

Change is in the air

Sunday was beautiful, so we spent a little time at the beach.

Sean found this cool log lodged on some rocks, and he loved balancing and walking across it. I tried not to think of the jagged rocks below and just let him be a boy.

There is a different glow when the sun rays hit the water, and the chill in the air as the wind picks up is telling me to enjoy every summer moment possible before autumn arrives. We have had a very warm and pleasant summer, so I should not be as disappointed when the rain comes. There have been summers here that we didn't put on a pair of shorts the whole season, and this year we've worn them every day.

Soon the grass will be green again, and I'll be racing to get it cut before the rains come. We'll be chopping carrots for our carrot stew, firing up the pot for our beans and cornbread, and baking breads.

But we still have a little bit of summer left, and we will spend as much of it as possible at the beach.

It's a Hot One

I did some last minute proofing of pages this morning and by afternoon I was ready to get away from the desk. It was time for the beach.

Today we had temperatures in the high 80s, and by 4 p.m. it was 88 degrees.

Sean and I took a little beach break today. We only stayed for a couple of hours, but it was SOOO nice.

This is a kid who would run and hide the minute he saw a camera, and today he was striking a pose for me on this old stump that washed up on the beach. Ah, another milestone.

Sean loves to explore, and we found this sand dollar that was sort of hairy. It had dried in the sun and was prickly to touch. We found a lot of crabs and some other tiny creatures, but I didn't get pictures. I tried to get a picture of some really cool kites, but the sun was too bright and they are washed out.

Boys of Summer

It was so hot yesterday, I turned on the sprinkler and my least 'un and his friend across the street had some fun cooling off.
There are few things in the world that get me more fired up than seeing a person, or group of people being oppressed or mistreated. I've had a hard time with the Olympic games since it was announced that the games were being held in China. I have nothing against anyone who is from China, but I have strong opinions about China's government. I also have strong opinions about our own, and the fact we import so many things from China that have been dangerous for the people of the United States.
I'm working on a story about a program that gets Bibles into China. If you are a Christian, or of any other religious belief, and you live in a country where you can freely practice your religion, please take a moment to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving.
As I get more confirmed information, I will be sharing it here.
Here's a quote from Sojourners.com
"In the Olympic Village, you can find religious freedom. Maybe some foreigners can worship. ... But I tell you, the real crisis in China now is that there are no reformers left. The power struggle among the leadership is for power, not reform. To have real political reform, they would lose their power.
- Fan Yafeng, a law professor at the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a leader of an unregistered house church. (Source: The Washington Post)

Hot, hot, hot

It was already warm at 8 a.m. I know to the rest of the country this is no big deal, but the temperature is supposed to be at least 88 degrees today, and possibly higher. They (weather people) expect the current records to be broken today.
My Dahlias are drooping.
I got out early and mowed the dandelions in the front yard. The grass is mostly dead.
When I was finished, I had a large glass of sweet iced tea. Ohhh, there's nothing like it.
We have an electric mower, and though the long electrical cord does get in the way sometimes, I prefer electric.
I don't have to do much to take care of it, and I don't have to buy gas to mow my yard.
Oh, and our gas has dipped just below $4 now. Some places as low as $3.95!! Oooh, somebody has to be loosing some money on that deal, eh?