This summer has seemed especially crazy to me. Maybe it is life with two young children. Or maybe it is all of the different things we try to pack into the summer months. I think that partially, it is the fact that everyone in the Spokane area is fully aware that winter is coming again, and it is hard to predict how long our activities might be limited by the winter weather. Regardless of the reasons why, this summer has been busy.
Early in July we had the chance to pack up our little car and go on a road trip. We drove about 1800 miles in 9 days, saw most of Jamie's family, spent time with friends in Redding, went on a safari, and spent some mostly sleepless nights in a hotel. It was great to be at the cabin with family and really fun to spend some relaxing days at Trinity Lake. We got to swim, wakeboard, fish, and just enjoy being together. Natalie especially loved the time with family and still talks about her aunts and uncles and cousin Micah all the time. I think her favorite part was having two dogs around though. A lot of times she would just follow Cooper and Bailey around and talk to them and give them hugs and kisses. The girl truly loves animals. We then spent a couple of short days in Redding and really had a good time catching up with some good friends.
Since then, we have been busy enjoying the summer back at our house. We had some friends visit us from Redding a couple weekends ago and it was a special treat to spend time with Derrick and Danielle twice in the same month. Plus Natalie loved playing with Judah and Zoe and now she wants us to get her some transformers, since Judah had some that he played with a lot. After they left, both girls came down with a ridiculous throat virus that causes a severely painful sore throat so that they did not want to swallow anything - including their own saliva. We had to force them to drink to stay hydrated and mostly they just cried because of the pain and the high fever as well. Thankfully they are mostly healed from that now.
In the last few days, Kaia has pretty much decided that she is going to walk. A few days ago she would take a step or two before falling, but now she is often going most of the way across a room before falling. She is a determined little girl and progressing rapidly. It is crazy to see two little girls walking around our house now!
So that is a brief synopsis of the things happening in our world this summer. More to follow, including deep and profound thoughts. I just need to find someone willing to share those thoughts with me first...
