Leave it to Ojai

California may tank, but Ojai plans to float. 🙂

Ojai Bucks

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Shift

Ummm. . .

I have two weeks of meal plans.

PLANS.

Ya hear that?

And also an accompanying shopping list, categorized. And a budget.

If the universe implodes I will assume full culpability.

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Swimming Holes

Sunday I rode my bike from one swimming hole to another, at opposite ends of the trail. It was an an adventure, considering I have five children now and don’t take the same huge risks I took as an unattached college kid. The farther of the two swimming holes was almost dry, but the closer one was GORGEOUS. So I took the kids to swim away the morning yesterday.

The pics are on Facebook, and they’re public, if you want to peruse:

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Scepter

Naiah walked out of my room wearing a bra over her clothes.

Naiah: Hey, you guys, now I’M the mama!

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Show & Tell

Since I can’t seem to get up to writing anything terribly clever or interesting lately. . .

The haps in pictures!

Ella got stuck under a barstool. Like really stuck. I had to pull it off over her head to get her out. This is a family first, believe it or not.

This is the present that Naiah picked out from Mimi, almost a month after her actual birthday (totally my fault!). She was pretty stoked to still be getting presents in July. She picked out a purple backpack, because her baby Dora backpack just broke apart last week. The Tinkerbell waterpaint set was a more surprising choice, but what else are birthday presents for? She’s been painting through the book every day since.

This is the person I’ve been best friends with since the ninth grade:

Her name is Lisa. We met when our moms dragged us to a Christmas performance at the Crystal Cathedral. We started singing Christmas carols on the sidewalk while we waited in line, soprano and alto. We didn’t stop for five years. (Much to the chagrin of our beleaguered youth workers.) We were total opposites in many ways. Now we’ve both settled down considerably and have quite a bit in common. It works both ways.

These are her people:

This is my hair:

While we were in Ojai my friend Debbie highlighted it a little. (That was my twenty pound celebration! I’m almost halfway to my weight loss goal now.) Debbie was one of those youth leaders who had to put up with Lisa and me and our noise and drama. She’s extremely gracious. She’s one of the people I think of when I imagine the kind of woman I want to be.

This is the 5K I plan to run next month:

You’re supposed to dress for the 70’s theme, but I’m having a little trouble finding anything to wear. Suggestions?

I’ve been working through the Couch to 5K program to get ready for it. It’s been so much fun! And I’m realizing that a lot of my problems with that season of cross country running in tenth grade was that it was too much, too soon, too often. I’m doing so much better with this easy-does-it approach. Plus, my self-talk has totally changed, and I’m finding more and more ways to work through the obstacles and push forward. I’m still on Sparkpeople if anybody else wants to join up. Email me and I’ll send you my username so we can keep up with each other!

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Home and Home Again

Well, we’re back to the land of conifers and wood smoke. I’m always stunned by how gorgeous it is when we hit that last two hour stretch up the hill. Yesterday we started climbing just as the sun was setting on the west and a storm was moving away to the east. WOW.

And the tap water is so crisp and clean; I missed it.

I’m going through lots of piled up photos from June and July. This is Ella (10 months) on the fourth, at the Ojai parade:

We had lots of fun. Saw lots of friends. Made both drives in record time. Blessings abound. And now I must sleep. A lot.

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P.S.

After hanging out with cousin Jack (21 months) all week, Ella has decided walking is the way to go. She’s been practicing constantly. I think she’s over the crawling now.

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I’m Alive!

And clearly too busy to post a word. For shame!

We had a fabulous 4th of July, with parades and barbeques and fireworks and lots and lots of family and friends!

Since then it’s been plenty of catching up and hanging out and hikes and swims and fun times.

And a totally out-of-the-blue blessing: Some anonymous hero took it upon himself (or herself) to fix the air conditioning in the van, so now we can travel by day or night in any season we please without sweltering or worrying about the baby overheating. (Boy are we ever going to appreciate that when we hit Bakersfield!) Thank you, anonymous hero! The little people in the backseat thank you even more. 🙂

Tomorrow is beach day with cousins and friends. We might try to fit in another hike as well. Friday is unplanned, except for a date night with Jason that evening! We plan to revisit our old date night favorite, Barnes and Noble, where we used to spend hours sitting across the table from one another with a stack of books each and two cups of coffee. We’re weird like that.

Then on Saturday we’re going to cheer Cristin on at her first 10K, and head home sometime that afternoon. Hopefully the baby will nap, then stay awake for a few hours and sleep the rest of the trip. Hopefully.

Happy summer!

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Name That Movie!

Can we watch that movie with the two bums who give their girlfriends plastic rings?

–Naiah, age 4

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