Turning into "one of those bloggers"

Yep, I have done it.  I have become so many things I thought (or swore) I wouldn't.  The latest on the list is that I am "that blogger" that no longer blogs.  No, I didn't get bored with it, I just got too busy.  So no one knows much of what we've been up to lately, I am hoping to remedy that soon.  And although I started a blog draft about 2 of my dearest friends and their moves, I didn't finish it to my liking and never posted it.  Basically, 2 of my best friends from High School in Boise moved further away from me.  One lived in Ft Collins and I hadn't seen her for years (until our recent trip there in May), but now she is living even further away in Minnesota and the chances of meeting are even more slim.  She had a huge impact on me in my teenage years, encouraging the more cultural side of me to flourish- she is my travel buddy and I wish we could visit more countries together.  She is my genius friend, I am her Mormon mommy friend.  We always find things in common despite being so different.  I am grateful to her for always working at staying in touch.  The other friend lived here in Seattle- her family was a huge plus to us considering taking a job in Seattle.  Family away from family.  Home away from home.  She showed me the ropes in Seattle and hidden spots that have become my favorites too.  She is my kindred spirit and bosom buddy and yes, we watched a lot of Anne of Greene Gables growing up.  When we get together, people assume we are tipsy because we laugh so much at the slightest things.  Her husband isn't quite convinced we don't imbibe on our girl's nights out.  We just get each other's sense of humor and can make anything into a joke. Now she is far away in North Carolina and I feel a little hollow inside when I think of it.

So HERE is a web album of the things we have been doing lately- it's easier than posting a ton of pictures.  It includes my first quilting experiences, Father's Day, horseback riding lessons, Odessa's Book Club and a few pictures from the Hunt family reunion we just got back from.  What the pictures don't show is how fast Franklin is growing and learning new things.  He walks- almost runs, everywhere.  He can say or mimic words, animal sounds and do signs for others. Hi, bye, Daddy, doggy, Mommy, truck, please, thank you, yes (yaaaaahhh), chicken, "neigh!!", moo, baaaaahhhhh, "hisssss" (the girls both have stuffed snakes), ruff-ruff, more, thirsty, eat, drink, wait, again, berry, "I Stink", book, shoe, ball, fish, "ribbit", "roar", "burp", "brrrrrr!" (the trumpet of an elephant), bell, bite and bike (those 2 sound very similar!).  He has surprised us with how fast he has learned to communicate- we assumed he would be slower than the girls.  He is wickedly smart and mischievous.  He insists on eating like a big kid- he ate his first bowl of cheerios today with milk and a spoon- all by himself.  He won't drink milk from a sippy cup, last night I realized he wants it out of a glass like the rest of us, so he finally drank his first cup of milk.  He "folds" his hands and waits during prayer.  He has stopped eating crayons and trying to draw with them instead.  He is super active and wants to be outside, playing in the dirt, picking and eating all the raspberries (no matter how unripe) and chasing the balls around the yard.  That doesn't work so well with my schedule . . .  He is going to break a hole in our screen door trying to get outside.  We finally drained the broken hot tub and drilled holes in the bottom so it won't fill again with rain water.  Hopefully we can turn it into a sand box before school starts.  Imagine the time he would spend digging in it!  One day Stephen picked a good sized bowl of raspberries and put them on the table.  Franklin threw a fit because he couldn't follow Dad back outside, but then got quiet.  I went to look for him and found him stuffing the last raspberry in his mouth.  He had managed to get the bowl off the table and stuff every berry in his mouth in about 60 seconds.

He loves going without clothes and loves being read to - he will bring me books all day

I have no pictures of the girl's swim lessons.  Odessa tackled the skills in her class in Odessa-like fashion, becoming one of the best in her class and relishing the praise of her instructors.  Ada approached swim lessons in Ada-like fashion, finding it much more fulfilling to splash around, play games with her classmates and generally not learn much.  She is pretty good at keeping herself safe in the water which is the important part.  She had a crush on one of Odessa's instructors- she "liked his hair, the way he talked, everything about him!".  This comment was always followed by a giggle and sigh that she wasn't in his class.  Yes, I am alarmed my 5 yr old has a crush on a college boy.

We are looking forward to another month of chillin' and maybe a couple day trips, but mostly we just spend weekends trying to keep up with the yard.  I miss Idaho and was sad to drive in to the city after being in the mountains the last 5 days, but the carpet of green on the drive into Western Washington was a stark contrast to the dry yellow and brown of nearly everything in Idaho.

I like summers here.