Adding to the Not A Sandpail List

 6.  Go tent camping at a Wyoming State Park.

 

7.  Wear matching head gear with some of my favorite people.

8.  Make cherry peach jam.

9.  Go fishing

 More than once.

11.  Just Dance.

12.  Picnic on the mountain.

13.  Kayak every chance I get.

14.  Ride the RZR.

15.  Feel the Christmas Baby move.

Think this needs to be my EBS list--

Especially Blessed Summer

Its Good to Have a Papi

We took the BGITW to the county fair parade in the little town that is the county seat.  The kind of little town where it is still acceptable to throw candy from floats and equally acceptable for small children to run into the street and gather it up by the handfuls.  The kind of parade that has tractors and firetrucks and political candidates in equal numbers.  And this one tractor pulled barrel train. Truthfully, I have wanted to ride in this since the first time I saw it.  But the main street of the county seat lined with crowds in the middle of the day is not where I was going to ride it.
Want to ride?  No, I say.
Do the kids want to ride?  I defer to their mother--the Queen of Queens.  No way, she says.

Come on BGITW, says Papi.
I'll drop them off at the park, says the tractor driver.
Where's the park? says the Queen of Queens with just a touch of panic in her voice.
And that is how the 5 year old from New York City ended up in the Big Horn County Fair Parade.  Proudly riding down Main Street, Small Town, Wyoming.  Throwing candy to less fortunate children who could only watch from the sidewalk.

There Are No Words

Last Weekend

I positively love this child.

She spent last weekend with me.  

We spent some quality mother/daughter time on the scaffolding.  We talked and we laughed.

 and we got just a little silly.  Because we both know the introduction to the backyard circus book. 

She encouraged me that we should make a porch swing.  And that we could make a porch swing.  And that we could make the good porch swing, as opposed to the simple porch swing.

And we spent some quality mother/daughter time with power tools.  We talked and we laughed and we maybe cried just a little.

Because no one sinks a screw head  like us.  But at the end of the long weekend we had a porch swing.

And a reminder of how much we like each other.  And a realization of how much we miss being together.

And then we took an ussie.  Cause we are great.

Perfectly Clear

No sand pail list this summer.  But I liked the idea of keeping a list of things I did.  Let's add these to the list:
1.  Kayak in a crystal clear mountain lake.
2.  Jump into a crystal clear mountain lake from a diving platform.
3.  Watch 4th of July fireworks reflected on at a crystal clear mountain lake.
4.  Photograph the sunset over a crystal clear mountain lake.
5.  Bring home a rock from a crystal clear mountain lake.

Spectacular

 I've seen some pretty spectacular sunrises and sunsets this past month.  I don't stop and take pictures of them all.  But sometimes they are particularly more spectacular than usual.  And then I have to roll down my window and snap a few pics.  This one was the sunrise on my way to work. At 65 mph.

 These were a sunset on my way to the late movie in the little city.

 The STP was driving, so I took about 35 pictures of this one.

 Okay, maybe I took closer to 50, but I deleted two of them.

 This was the sunset on the 5th of July at the lake.  I have some of from the 4th of July, but they aren't as good.

 The STP took pictures of the sunset on the 3rd of July and posted them to FaceBook.  Trust me, it was spectacular.  So at sunset on July 6th we were driving east through Montana and the STP asks about the sunset.  I glance behind me at the few golden edged clouds to the west and say, "I've seen better."  And then God Himself says, "Oh, really?  Game on."

And then every cloud in the sky turned some shade of pink.  Except the very tops of them which turned golden and glowing.  I mean 360 degrees of Montana sky.  And then the clouds touched the earth.  And the rain was pink and purple.  And then the sky turned every shade of yellow, orange, and red.

And then the sun dropped low behind the mountain and shot glory rays heavenward.  And finally the STP just pulled over so I could snap a few pictures.  And we were both laughing at my 'I've seen better' comment.

And then as the colors faded, the dark clouds in the east touched the ground again.  And God Himself sent a few bolts of lightning through the sky.  Bright bolts that split the sky top to bottom.
And by then I was giggling like a little girl.  Like a little girl who had just lost a tickle fight with her Dad.  Pinned to the floor, wiggling and giggling, forced to cry 'uncle'.  "Uncle Bob", I gasp in between giggles.
God Himself says to me, like He said to Job:
“And have you ever ordered Morning, ‘Get up!’
    told Dawn, ‘Get to work!’Do you know where Light comes from
    and where Darkness lives
So you can take them by the hand
    and lead them home when they get lost?
Do you have an arm like my arm?
    Can you shout in thunder the way I can?
Can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod
    and stuff him in your creel?
I give.  God Himself wins this one.  And He shares the victory with me.  Spectacular.

Flat Alex Goes to DLBC

Kodachrome

Kayaking at Dickey Lake, Montana.

Give us those nice bright colors

Give us the greens of summers

Make you think all the world's a sunny day.

Oh, yeah.

TGIF Humming Along

9:30am-6:00pm is my least favorite shift to work.
Off tomorrow.  Have the kayak racks on the vehicle that hauls things.
Tomorrow, tomorrow.  There's always tomorrow.  It's only a day away.
If I could whistle I would whistle while I work.  As it is, I will settle for humming.

With Help Like This

I have the Lumosity app on my beloved iphone.  Just the free part.  It gives me three games a day to exercise my brain.  That, and a little tumeric, and I expect to stave off Alzheimer's for several more years.  I completed my training before I got out of bed this morning and I had a high score on the color game.  Woot.  Woot.  Then around 10:00am the app sent me a message reminding me to exercise my brain today.  Like I hadn't already done it.  Like maybe I forgot I did it.  My memory app mocking my ability to remember.  Seriously?

Wishing for Watermelon

This man has often referred to me as "Daughter Number One".

In my fantasy world, it was because I was his favorite.  But in reality, it had more to do with my birth order than my favor status.  (It may also have been that after he had three more daughters he couldn't remember my name.)

I learned from him that a joke really doesn't need a punch line.  People are more important than things.  Nobody dies from wearing clothes that are out of style.  What it's like to be loved unconditionally.  Grandkids are better than kids.

He never taught me to hunt, fish, throw a ball or the difference between a motor and an engine.  

He did teach me its okay to think outside the box, to start strong and finish strong, how to pitch a tent, and that the teacher is always right.  

He tried to teach me to think fast.  Usually by throwing something in the general direction of my head.

He taught me that there is a time to be serious, but this probably isn't it.  And that watermelon is a good thing even if you don't have any right now.

And you should savor the moments when you do.

So glad to have a number one dad.

Further Proof/Family Pics

Oh, wait.  All these pictures are all of the Goob.

Maybe the trip was all about him.

 About spending quantity/quality time with him.

Love the person he is becoming.  Love seeing him grow.

Whatever this trip was about--glad we took it.

Glad the Goob was with us.

Let's Make One Thing Clear

 Yes, we went to Hawaii.

 Yes, it was the week after he graduated.

 Yes, we let him pick the destination.

No, none of our other children ever got to choose where we went on vacation.

 Yes, he is my favorite son. 

 

No, no, this was not a graduation gift.  It was a family vacation.  

Trip of a Lifetime

Just a reminder to myself why I can not retire and move to Hawaii.

It is Well With My Soul

Started reading "The Good and Beautiful GOD" on vacation.  First three soul training exercises are rest, silence, and awareness of creation.  Feel like I am attending soul training university.

So easy to relax and rest away from everyday life.

So easy to be silent walking alone on the beach.

So easy to be aware of details when I am moving slowly.

I think the purpose of 'soul training' must be to learn to live like this in my everyday life.  Yeah, I could live like this.