Quick Summer Recap

Summer was amazing.   We saw friends and most of our family.  River trips, hiking, surfing, water parks, camping.  This may have been the best summer ever.  I love the order and predictability of the school year, but I'm already looking forward to June 6, 2014.

Cousins at the beach house

Miriam on Timp

All the Tano cousins

Rafting the Provo river with Tenney

Mount Hood

Windy Oregon Coast with Ben's kids

Rafting the Deschutes in Oregon

Summer

I didn't think it was possible, but last week it got HOT! 90+ degrees HOT! I didn't know Maine had it in her, but there you go. We went to Range Pond (said rang. don't ask. i don't know why.) two times to cool off. We also busted out the somen set and ate the best summer food ever. So easy. So cool.

The First Week of Summer

School's out for summer.
The Grandmas have come and gone. Sienna and Tony, too.
Do I have pictures? Not many.
But here we are on the Balboa Island Ferry. Tutu on Balboa Island. And the samba dancers at the Summer Solstice Parade in Santa Barbara. I bought the girls jelly bracelets when we were there. Jesse wondered if claw bangs were going to come back as well. One could only hope.


p.s. We did a lot of fun stuff with Pammy, too. Just didn't document it. Super fun beach hike from Little Corona almost to Crystal Cove. Saw dolphins jumping and diving. Got some great seashells.

Blackies

We drove out to Newport Peninsula this evening. J brought the longboard, but it was too small for even that. The kids boogie boarded and had a lot of fun. The water is warming up. Just one more week until summer break, then every day is beach day!

atsui desu yo

97 degrees today. Counting down the minutes until J gets here so we can go to the pool.

Yesterday, it was almost as hot. I ate the last lime fruit floe while everyone else was upstairs.

Today, I've just been trying not to move too much. Tomorrow, it's supposed to drop 10 degrees.

But my question is, what is June going to be like, if this is April?

せみ, semi

Or cicada. 'tis the season. Here's a little video of Monkey with some background music.

Sticky Summer

Summer is here. It's hot, sticky, and even J ran the AC during M's reading lessons. He's asking for popsicles.

And school is out on Friday. I know in the states everyone has been out for ages. But what do I do? I have to find a new pool for starters. And I have to pack, lest we forget move day is 3 weeks away.

So here's the plan:
*We have a 3-4 day trip planned for next week. Mountains. Hiking. Not camping. Should be good.
*Free AC at the Jidokan (children's center)-I can send M when she's bored. And G and I can play there, too.
*Trip to Costco for tortillas and Hokkaido softcreme. Seriously. That's all we're going to buy. AC on the train, bus and in the store. Softcreme is only 250 yen. Bargain. Jesse has bean burritos every day in August.
*G wants to go to the zoo again, to see if Ling Ling has been resurrected. She's "heard" that he's not dead anymore. Downside is that zoo does not have a/c, will be totally crowded, and seems miserable to me. Upside is that it's close to Nippori where I can get kirakira crocs for M and see if there's any new summer material.
*Invite ourselves over to other ex-pats homes where their company pays the electricity. Playdate anyone?

Poo in the Pool

It's about poo, so if you're feeling a bit sensitive, I'd move on to another blog.

Is it just my kid? She's 3, loves to swim. Been potty trained forever. Has pooped in the pool COUNTLESS times. Seriously, it's at least 4 times. I think she drinks the water a lot when she's swimming and the chlorine must be a laxative. That's all I can figure.

Today we were almost ready to leave when, oops! I dash her out, race to the locker room. She's so grossed out she kicks her swimsuit off, spraying poo everywhere. AAAAAAAGH!!! I'm so embarrassed, I don't know if I can ever go back there. I'm so glad we're moving. Can we ever go to the pool again?

Summer plans

This is my brother in law Adam's phot of Waimea. He is super cool and has taken all the good pictures of us. Jesse is so proud of him, he has shown EVERYONE Adam's book North Shore.

We're spending the summer in Hawaii while Jesse teaches at BYUH. I'm going to jump off Waimea rock this year. I don't think I've done it since before I had Miriam, but I remember it being quite a rush. I'm also going to check out the blue room with Jesse, a secret cave off the point, and kayak around the bay. Hopefully, J's knee will be good enough for us to go on some of our favorite hikes.