Spoiled ...(but not rotten)

Well, Summer is over. This school year I'm teaching new and more challenging courses, Aidan is in kindergarten, and Addison is feisty as ever in preschool. We spent the summer hopping from place to place and covering a lot of memory lanes for the kiddos. I think it's definitely a modern motherhood thing, but the expectations are awfully high these days and I have to realize now and then that I'm doing ok and the only expectations that matter are my own. I'm proud to say the kids have hiked, kayaked, camped, have pets, spend time with family, go on adventures galore, and spend much time doing what kids should be doing. So if I have moments of blog or scrapbook apathy, at least we're living life, ehh? :) I can document the drama as we live it, but sometimes I just coast along for a while, reading all the other blogs out there for pure entertainment.

I'm happy that my kids like sleeping in the woods and find magic in a moody beach. I love how they proudly hike up steep mountains and eat crab and artichokes dipped in salty butter. They impress me with their goofy awesomeness as they hunt for ghosts or monsters with their flashlights and go on spur of the moment drives to the nearby dock with me to see a "moon path" on the water. My heart smiles when they sneak homemade cookies in the mornings and then can't eat their breakfasts and I laugh out loud when they routinely put on capes and gowns to play as royalty in our little castle in the woods. They are growing and changing every day, and I have to say that they are really, really cool.

(the only picture I've taken lately. Look at those mosquito bites from playing in the sprinkler for less than an hour! Addison had NO bites..... How freaky is that??)

And speaking of cool.

My sisters and I are training for another marathon. This next one will be in Spokane in 3 weeks. We are oddball gluttons for punishment, I guess. Last weekend I went to Spokane to do one of our 20-milers with the sisters. I have yet to find the motivation to do something like that all by my lonesome. Besides, it's just plain FUN when we have each other. All kinds of cool conversations come up. You know - poop, men, kids, pets, bodily funtions and general mockery of one another and ourselves. Our conversations are often unfit for the young and innocent. I think most men would be horrified to hear how our "locker room" conversations probably resemble their own.... Anyhow, as we were about 3 miles or so into our workout, a man on a bike went zipping by us at a very fast speed. We glanced at his backside and noticed that his backside very much resembled grandpa! We yelled, "Hey, Grandpa!" but he didn't hear us and kept right on peddling Armstrong Style down the road. So, totally convinced that we had see him, we called Grandma to verify. She told us that yes, indeed, Grandpa was out on his daily kick-butt bike ride and he was in fact wearing a green shirt and a polar fleece vest. Odd.

So, a few miles later the phone rings and grandma asked us what we would like her to bring us. Of course, most of our runs/walks are spent thinking and talking about food, so I knew instantly what I wanted. Slurpees. Good old fashioned slurpees. And 10 miles into our workout, grandma and grandpa drove up in the middle of nowhere to deliver us slurpees fresh from 7-eleven. And licorice too. Heaven. Absolute heaven. Grandpa was wearing his green shirt and was absolutely dumbfounded, having no memory at all of cruising by us in speed demon mode. Just goes to show that he has his mind in the game, ehh? (and our minds? Well, we were thinking of slurpees.)

Grandma and Grandpa are awesome.

So as we hustled down a beautiful country road, the sun shining and the sky a dreamy blue, slurping away at cherry slush, we laughed about how cool our family is and how spoiled we are.

Pictures of the grandfolks: Here and here and here