the ocean

Beach blankets, lots of snacks, buckets, shovels, boots, 1 trusty kite, and 3 boys. It seems like a short list but it sure fills up the car. In lieu of my nasty condition, we missed our camping trip to Lopez Island, but made up for it a bit by heading out to Westport for the day. I love the ocean. The sound, the smell, and the sand. Oh the sand. And the surfers, of course. The people watching in general. I love our kite, it is the easiest kite to fly but most impressive with a dragon tale that is at least 30 feet long. I love sandy sandwiches and rigged up beach shelters, and babies falling asleep on beach blankets.

RAAAAAAAAHHHHRRRRRR!

warning to readers: i feel a little grouchy today. if you are related to me, proceed with caution.

well, I am sorry to report that the combination of turning 34, and spending an entire week celebrating the fact has resulted in a nasty case of pneumonia in my left lung. what the fuck!?! seems unjust.

i'm kind of over mojitos anyway after the 5 day bender that coincided with the hot weather and important summer holidays. plus, by the end of the night on my birthday i was totally annoyed by the melon bacardi, wished i hadnt wasted the limon bacardi on the previous evening, and really just really wished that i had some plain old original bacardi matched with amazing mojito bartending skills. it was only halfway through the evening when i ran out of aforementioned annoying melon bacardi, which may have more than a little bit to do with why i find it so annoying. i had just been getting really into the spirit of things and was about to do some drunken dancing to hall and oates, when to make matters worse, my freakishly fancy cousin arrived late "just in from fancyland" (dear fancy, sorry you have to take this one for the team, it was just a case of bad timing. but you really should loosen the fuck up because guess what? no one fucking cares!) so note to self for next year: 1.buy lots more rum so that there is zero possibility of running out, vodka too! 2.designate SOMEONE ELSE to be in charge of making the drinks, or better yet, serve beer 3. do not allow freakishly fancy people anywhere near the party.

the party was actually wonderfully fun despite the end results. Ben made a deeeelicious lemon cake. special guest stars like charlie were in town who i love so so dearly, what a treat! i got a few very sweet gifts. and best of all, i had more than a few very sweet laughs with all of my favorite girls. and thank goodness for sangria which seemed to be abundant.

so other than the elephant that is sitting on my left lung, missing babies & big boys play date at cory's cabin, and it being monday,,,things are pretty good. I finally saw Where the Wild Things Are. It was sad but beautiful to watch. Also, I listened to the episode of This American Life called "first contact" that aired a couple of weeks ago. I love to lay in bed at night sometimes and stream TAL like a bedtime story. So this was a few nights ago before I found out that my lung really was trying to kill me, and I was feeling pretty miserable, so I thought Ira Glass could shed some comfort...well, the third story had rather the opposite effect, but was so emotionally heart wrenching, it is about 3 brothers in Iraq and their friend in Virginia. I would highly recommend every asshole in America listen to it and try to put themselves in the shoes of the people within the story for even a moment. They are heavy, blistering shoes, and so far away, but I think we need these blisters to remind us. That's all.

My Favorite Holiday!!!

Just home from our weekend at the beach. Snapped this shot of the boys with their first ever sparklers. Finn was not too sure about holding a flaming stick that was shooting sparks so just to be safe he never moved a muscle. Leo got the hang of it toward the end.

I love it when the 4th falls on a Sunday because it guarantees TWO nights of mayhem on the lagoon. So fun. Our weekend was a fantastic whirlwind of junk food, pop-its, beach fun, fruit stands, fresh cherries, boat rides, bonfires, apple pie, and potato salad, s'mores, did I mention junk food? It couldn't have been more fun. I love the little field trips that go along with a weekend at the beach, this time our big adventure was a trip to Lake Kathryn for a bit of classic Key Pen people watching and a visit to the safe n' sane fireworks stand. Lake Kathryn...it sounds like a pretty place doesn't it? For non-natives that might read this, it might help to know that it is actually a little strip mall that consists of a market, a drug store, maybe a hardware store, and more recently a burger king. The burger king kind of casts a weird shadow over the nostalgia of Lake Kathryn, but if you stand with your back to it you can totally pretend it is not there. Which I did. I suppose my favorite part of the weekend was Saturday night, the house directly across the lagoon had their annual huge party. They have a band that goes nuts covering a lot of Rolling Stones. It is hard to tell how many people are actually at this party but with the amps and the echos, it sounds like you are at a concert at the gorge. So with that as the background, another house down the shore has a Cheney Stadium size fireworks display. I love it that human beings had the curiosity and imagination to invent fireworks. Colorful, flaming, explosions that inspire us to giggle and whoop and embrace pyromaniacy.

And now that we are home, there is much to do in the garden, more neighborhood summer camp this week, one last episode of Mad Men (how I have loved bingeing on 3 straight seasons, and how I waited this long to discover it is beyond me!). My birthday week has started, and naturally this is a wonderful excuse to be partying all week long. I succeeded in saying no to consumerism the entire month of june, and I am pledging to go for another month, with the exception two early birthday gifts to myself with Ben's money. I thought about sandals all month long in June, and decided that flip flops just might be one of the aggravators of my sciatic pain, so new sandals were a necessity. But that is seriously it, the Just Say No pledge has truly been liberating, the t-shirts at target are never that great after you wash them anyway, and it is a great excuse to buy less CRAP, and then I can guiltlessly spend money on other more awesome items every so often, like early b-day gift number 2...Vampire Weekend tickets for the show at Marymoor Park in August, can't wait!!! I am borderline obsessed. I think I'll go turn it on right now.