Utah!

Park City & Arches National Park. Driving from one to the other, we had four hours full of the earth's dramatic landscape and a wide array of elements. The views were stunning throughout. The scale of this land... the mountains, the valleys, the rocks, the trees, the clouds - all unexpected. The earth connects with the sky as clouds wrap around the mountains, blurring the tops so the land disappears in the air. The eroded land of the deserts throws perspective off balance.Whatever I expected from Utah, I got more. Thrilled we had the chance to go, and extra happy I had the opportunity to visit an an old friend.

August in New England

Walks, hikes, drives. We camped in the White Mountains, first time as a family. It poured, soaking us through the walls of the tent. The brook next to the campsite became a raging river, the noise making it hard to sleep the night after the rain. The top of Mount Washington is other worldly, cold and windy not accurately depicting what it's like to stand on top of the world in a cloud dressed for summer. Amira and Adrian braved the weather, Max and I jumped back in the car. The kids caught fish, and fed birds from their palms. We spotted turtles, but missed seeing moose. Around home, we grew better vegetables and flowers than last year. The sun scorched the plants for a few weeks, but they survived, some barely, some incredibly. No more training wheels. Max lives in goggles, jumping from the pool, to the beach, to the bathtub. Batman persists. Amira runs back and forth between our house and her friend's. Family visits. Birthday parties. And now we are in September. A couple of the best weeks of the year happen this month, a sweet way to part with summer.

Green & Gold

Light is glittering this season. There is the golden light on the fading green leaves, and also some incredibly bright moons - Our whole house was lit up the other night!  This is incredibly helpful to the little one in my house who likes to wake in the middle of the night and find his way to my bed. We've been good about keeping up our adventures, and the little one is starting to draw on paper and not just his skin (and tongue!). And we are having fun! Routine can remove pressure, so we are diligently keeping to our commitment. But really, it's been much easier doing activities with the kids these days. They can walk, and communicate, and amuse themselves to some extent. They can follow direction. This fall has really been a time to see they are not little babies anymore. They are little kids - and that baby phase is fading away. By no means is it totally gone - we've still got diapers in the house- but its clear how soon it's going.

A November Walk

We had a wonderful long holiday weekend.

Family visited for Thanksgiving-we pot lucked this year. We participated in the Festival Fete craft fair. Amira got to go to the Roger Williams Park and Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Ikea to try to organize Amira's room. And still we had time to go to the Arnold Arboretum and pick up pine cones. The beautiful weather we have been experiencing this late November has helped facilitate our productivity. Once the weather is back to freezing, I will be hibernating inside again.

Memorial Weekend

My family came to visit this past weekend.

We went to the Blue Hills Reservation.

Some of us went hiking and some of us went swimming.

And we also had fun at home.

Spring is turning to summer in Boston.

And we are thrilled!