Recharge

Me time is so necessary for me to be a better parent and partner. A better person in general, actually. I am a solitary person overall. Don't get me wrong, I love visiting with friends and family, socializing in small groups I love, too. I really do, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy, even. Ah, but time alone, I cherish it so. Especially since, over the past nearly ten years I've had precious little. That's a long time. Little bits of me-time over this decade have been refreshing - and it's taken me that long to realize I need them more regularly and scheduled. The schedule is not just for my sake, but so that everyone in the family knows I have a night off and I won't be available, I won't even be home, most likely. When the weather was rainy I was going to the zen center to meditate on Wednesday nights. It was lovely. That didn't last because my neck injury fired up again and made sitting still that long on a meditation cushion more than a little difficult. And the pain lasted the whole week. Poof! There went that. Luckily for me the weather has turned and the daylight, at least for now lasts well past dinnertime. This past month my Wednesdays have been spent at Medicine Buddha in the woods hiking with Kitty. We both really enjoy it. Last night I was able to sneak away early enough to take a two hour hike! It took me an hour to unwind, and the second hour I spent just being. You can see some of the moments I took pause to observe with a few photo ops. 

I highly recommend a walk in the woods, alone to anyone who is feeling too full of other peoples energy. Going grocery shopping, clothing shopping, I argue any shopping does not qualify for me-time. Skip the stores and go to the woods, or the beach, or the mountains. Breath deeply. Let go. Smile. I feel better already, don't you?

Kitty Nap

This is usually where you will find Kitty in the morning, after she and I wake up and put the coffee on, I open the door to the boy's room and she hops up and plops down practically on top of Coleman and falls asleep again.

Bonfires and S'mores

This past Saturday night we met one of Max's friends at the beach for a bonfire and s'mores - we love doing this with our friends!. You can see from the pictures, (taken with my trusty iPhone), we had fun. How can you go wrong with the beach and chocolate? Summer is too much fun. Coleman was with us for the first part, and then Chris came and collected him along with Kitty who was not getting along with our friend's dog. (She's usually so sweet, I forget sometimes she has a mean streak.) It was a pleasant night, just Max and I with some friends, the beach, a fire and s'mores. While we were there we saw people we knew drive by and also saw other folks on the beach. It made me feel like we really are residents here, it's a small community but we're just starting to know enough people that we bump into them in random places. Fun.

Weekday Mornings

Karate kids, Gery and Coleman with Max inside the Ugly Mug.

Three mornings per week Coleman goes to a Karate class. Before summer arrived, he had no problem motivating himself to get there. He was usually rested and eager to go to karate. We had a routine, one that got established over the course of three full months. Things changed a bit when summer arrived; Max isn't already at school when it's time to go, bedtime got way later, there are more kids in the dojo than during the school year, the class Coleman attends takes place in a different, smaller studio. Together all of these things interrupted our routine significantly enough that it became more difficult to motivate himself to get there. We may be over the challenge, we may not be. Coleman does notice a difference in the way he feels when he goes to class, even if I have to remind him of it in the morning. For me, I now get a chance to spend an entire hour with Max reading or chatting together. He has not gotten enough one on one attention since Coleman left school, and I am grateful I have this built in time with him.

Pausing to observe these changes, taking notice of the adjustments that are forced on each of us, makes me realize what creatures of habit we each are. This reinforces my drive to get more, dare I say, "structured" in my approach to our daily schedule. Ew, I said it. Structure, that missing component from our days, weeks, lives. You may notice I've tried to offset that with our weekday events. It has helped, and by posting a schedule and sharing it with the boys I'm obliged to follow through. Hopefully our routines will become more routine. One day.

Field Trip Friday! Monterey Bay Aquarium

Wow, what a week! I'm simply whipped out. We did so many things, hiking, biking, swimming, travel, karate, planning, a bit of work for me, bread baking, catapult building. Phew. We finished it off with a trip to our favorite aquarium in Monterey. There is something magical about the kelp forest there, it is simply mesmerizing. Our pal Aaron knew just where he wanted to go and lead us from exhibit to exhibit. Everyone stuck together and looked out for one another, which is so lovely to watch.

We also walked around the town a bit, taking in the scenes. We even walked into a fine art gallery - I held my breath, except when I reminded everyone not to touch anything. They did a great job in there. We observed a street artist using spray paint on poster board, with some very interesting results. Coleman and Max purchased jointly their first piece of art for $10.

This week I have tried to dedicated myself to being as present as possible with my boys. I'm trying not to think about all the things I left undone at home. Like the enormous pile of laundry on my bed. The mess from breakfast - yesterday's breakfast. Whatever pulls me away from NOW I am trying to shove to the side of my brain that doesn't get used much :). By being present I've noticed how the world seems to them all shinny and new and fascinating and wonderful. They can find such joy in a feather. A spray paint artist. A dilapidated cement structure. One another. And I find so much joy in them when I am fully and completely with them. It is oddly calming to let go all that other s*it and be fully ensconced in the chaos of watching my boys being six and nine and discovering the world. What a great job I have, to spend time with them and discover the world anew, through their eyes.

Nestled into a rocky beach the boys discovered a ruin, likely a sardine factory building or some structure related to the fishing industry, which flourished in the early half of the 20th century in Monterey. Much better than a jungle gym at any playground, they spent some quality time on it practicing their daring and balance. Looking at the photographs, I suspect some of you will wonder why on earth I'd let them climb those things, it looks dangerous. It was fun for them and fun to watch. I somehow watched all four of them at the same time - they mostly stuck together, but trust me, I was planning at any given moment how I would get to them if they fell. They always amaze me with their acrobatic feats and fearlessness. I'm also pleased when I see one of them decide they don't want to do it and back down, go back or do some other thing. It means to me they know their own limits at that time, and that is a good sign to me. Learning your limits while testing them, it's what growing up is all about.

 

Sadly, I have to report while we were in Monterey, I fell and broke my camera - my very favorite camera ever. My Panasonic Lumix. I fell and smashed the thing on the rocks whilst getting great shots of the boys and their friends. It was a glorified point and shoot, but I love the pictures I was able to take with it. The second week of summer and I'm without a camera! I will put it on my list of things to save up for. In the mean-time, thank goodness for my iPhone.

Catapults, Ducks and Kitty Walks

This Thursday we decided to experiment with making catapults. My vision was to make one sort and then take the things we learned from that and make more and tweak them to be more powerful, etc, etc. Well, that was a lovely vision. But the reality was that everyone wanted to go back to the Garden of Eden and swim. So, I abandoned the idea of making more and better catapults and we just packed the little ones we made with us for the trip to the river. Before we left we put together a little stick raft to play with while we were there. This was also a great idea that didn't fully get realized, because we ended up forgetting it in the car! Oh well, there is only the rest of the summer to play with boat building. Which is not as long as it sounds, at some point someone totally shorted us on summer vacation - we get just ten weeks. But wait! As a homeschooling family, I guess we get to start when it's right for us. Max, though is in a "real" school and will be starting back at the end of August. Oh my gosh, I actually have to start making lesson plans and . . . I'm going off on a tangent, aren't I?

Our duck pals were at The Garden of Eden when we got there, paddling around the river. Max got to know them a little better and they got very close to him, which he absolutely loved. Max loves animals as much as Coleman does guns. His eyes light up when he talks about them, he loves to "study" them at school. He just loves animals. He plans to be a paleontologist, I can also see him as a herpetologist or someone who studies living animals, like our favorite television personality, Jeff Corwin. Then again, he's six, things change...there's time for him to love many things.

Max made a boat with a fallen leaf and the feather of a fallen bird.

We took Kitty for a walk in the woods at Tara Redwood this Friday. It's a walk I regularly go on with Kitty that I just can't interest the boys in. But this day they gladly came with me because it was part of our list of things to do in order to do our Friday Field Trip. (Hm, note to self: "put it on a list".) Of course they had a really great time, as they always do once they get there (well, there was that one time...). These are Max's woods, he hikes in them every week with his teachers and classmates. He knows them. I can see how comfortable he is when he is here and it makes me wish his school went up to sixth grade, or even fifth. I love these woods too and feel more and more comfortable in them each time I come here. I have been hiking on Wednesdays in these woods instead of going to meditation since summer started. It's still meditation of a sort and I get to bring my dog with me.

Something to Think About

We spend a lot of time in the sun. More than once I have forgotten to put sun screen on all of us...I have to stop forgetting:

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing  a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

inspired by soulemama.com

Walk in the Woods Wednesday - Garden of Eden

Walking down to the river, Aaron hams it up.

For our first Walk in the Woods Wednesday we went to Henry Cowell State Park in search of The Garden of Eden. There are sort of vague instructions on the web and I got some similarly vague directions from friends. When one gets there, there are no signs in the woods that say "Garden of Eden this way!" But I think we may have found it. By the time we finally left the house it was an hour and fifteen minutes after I intended. Then I went too far on Route 9 (add 25 minutes) - which turned out okay because we ended up at Rainbows End Cafe in Boulder Creek and got ice cream for all! While there, the boys played the piano while they waited for their treats. What a cool town Boulder Creek is. Sort of an old western look to it. We then hopped in the car and drove directly to what I think is the place and hiked down to the San Lorenzo River.

Sean's wasp sting. It was miraculously healed in the river.

The boys started their hike by going off trail right at the head of the trail (I guess I should have waited for the speech about not going off trail when we get there for when we got there.) and Sean got stung by a wasp. Very Painful looking. Then, we gathered together and began walking - when we heard Coleman shouted out. Wasp in his armpit. Everyone took their shirts off to shake them out and then we walked on. It was a short but steep hike down to the water: Jackpot! We have finally found a fresh water swimming hole. Here, practically in our backyard all along.

Coleman showing off his 6-pack.

Peaceful brotherly moment. Lovely.

Honestly, I would have felt better with one more adult with me, that water was moving pretty fast, and there were very deep places, too.

This was a super fun hike and swim. I hope we get to do it repeatedly over the summer and fall. We all had fun. Next time I want some more mamas with me and more kids and definitely more food. Ah, the memories we're making. Who is going to come with us next time?!

Getting Out

The boys at the Santa Cruz Zen Center practicing meditation.

On Saturday we went to The Santa Cruz Japanese Cultural Festival. It was entertaining and there were many Japanese things there. We saw some HUGE Koi fish, glass bead makers (not so Japanese), we went to the Zen Center so the boys could see where I meditate. While we were in the neighborhood, it so happened the Santa Cruz Mission was open and we went in there. I've been meaning to do this for a while and I'm so glad we did. It was a beautiful building and it's got an interesting history behind it. Well, all in all it turned out pretty well. Not every day can be as exciting as, say laser tag at the board walk, you know?

Max found this fish at the fair - someone was basically having a yard sale. :) It is now on his bedside table where only "cool things can be - NO plastic stuff because it's bad for the environment."

Coleman and Chris try out a new toy called the - well I don't remember, but it was fun.

Koi with a little watermelon snack.

Courtyard side of the Santa Cruz Mission Building.

Santa Cruz Mission

Santa Cruz Mission, door to the street from a small courtyard at the back of the building.

Father's Day

Chris and his boys on the Buddha Bridge, Father's Day

We had a lovely walk in the redwoods in Nisene Marks State Park. The boys rode their bikes while Chris and I walked the dog, Kitty. The walk really was peaceful and full of love. I think Chris would have loved to be on his bike with the guys, but the good man that he is, he walked with me and Kitty so that everyone would be included. We took a dinner break after the 3 hour hike then the guys all went back to the bike park! Ah, summer!

This is who's under the Buddha Bridge. Surprise!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single few photos - no words - capturing  a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

inspired by soulemama.com

I would love to see your {moment} if you've got one, leave a comment with a link to yours...

Field Trip Friday! Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet. Last Friday was our first FTF of the summer. The boys and I, along with our pals Aaron and Sean drove to San Jose to visit the Egyptian Museum. Such beautiful grounds, such wonderful artifacts to look at. I had planned to read up on the exhibits before hand and talk to the boys about them. The experience didn't go exactly as I had envisioned. It was a bit like a pinball machine with 4 balls in play, né, 5, (including me). I had fun anyhow, I loved listening to their questions and the answers they had for one another. I think the boys had fun too. 

We had a docent led tour of the tomb, which is a compilation of several tombs in Egypt. We learned The Egyptians of the time didn't believe people actually died, but that their spirit went on to an afterlife. However, if your heart was heavy with guilt you were not permitted into the afterlife, and you ceased to exist. We (humans) have such a need to understand what happens to us once we are no longer breathing. I remember Coleman asking about what happens to a person when s/he dies when he was not quite 4. I don't remember what Chris and I told him, but I remember he decided he wanted to become snake food in order to become one with the snake (when he was done using his body, of course). I wish I had written down exactly what he said, it was more complicated than that...another tangent...It's a nice thought that we get to live in another dimension when we no longer live in this one.

Take a look at their feet - not one foot is actually on the ground.