Mi Mama

It has not been a secret that Grandma Candy, mi mama, has been sick.

Lately, it seems it has been one thing after another.  She is so very strong.  Her strength continues to inspire me.  Her spirits have remained impenetrable.

Dyleva has handled the situation with respect and grace.  

But yet their curiosity has not relented.  They are very open and honest with their questions and things they do not understand.  

Sometimes their questions stump me.

This past year I love how they have each cultured their own captivation with Grandma Candy.

With Dylan, it is mostly the rocks.  He was stunned and fascinated by her rocks and stones.  Even as he watered her garden, he pointed out every unique one he encountered.  

Eva is mesmerized by the giant Victorian dollhouse that Grandma restored.  Room by room she has decorated and adorned it according to era. 

Both of my ninos are fascinated by the history.  I am ashamed to say, I haven't taken much more than a passing interest.  But legitimately Dyleva wants to know.  
Who was the witch?
Which one was royalty? 
What did our grandma do?

My mother is a wealth of historical knowledge and an architect of beauty.

Dyleva still has a ton to learn from their grandma; as do I.

TORONTO!

For Jeff's birthday this year, we all met at the Angry Buffalo and celebrated on the outdoor patio.

When it came time to give him his gift, it was a book of pictures.....or clues.  There was palm trees, margaritas, CN tower, cheeseburgers.  Nothing.  He didn't get it.

So finally we pulled out our hats with parrots on them.  
Finally he got it!  Jimmy Buffet in Toronto!

We drove in early, and spent the day swimming in the outdoor hotel pool.  Even when a downpour came through, Dyleva swam through it!  It was so fun!  Then we relaxed in the hotel bar a bit.  We dressed for dinner, and then headed out.  

We found dinner at a cool restaurant.  Then headed to the show.  It was mobbed!  We ended up all the way to the back by the fence.  But it was fun!

The next day was sweltering.
But we toughed it out; we went to the Toronto Zoo.  What a massive place!
Eva was fascinated by the sculptures made from garbage pulled from nature and spray painted.  Dylan was obsessed with the giant cats.  What a great mini getaway weekend!

A week to bounce

With all of our running around and activities, last year I had the brilliant idea of renting a bounce house during the week.  

It's not that expensive; because really, who rents bounce houses during the week.

I do!

Dyleva could have playdates, I could garden and day drink.

Last year we had an amazing time.

This year, eh.

We had a bunch of playdates, but the children spent very little time in the actual bounce house.  

And holy cow did we have high maintenance children this year! (Including my own....)

Like some of them were bored.

I almost choked on my cocktail. Bored?????

We have a bounce house, a swimming pool, treehouse, swing set, sand box, hot tub, and all the toys in the world.

Bored?

Spoiled little shits.  Go fold my laundry!

Killing time during the rain..

Ninety-seven and still kicking!

Grandma Grandma is 97!

She is better than ever!  She had quite the entourage this year for her party.

It was a beautiful day.  Mom did a lovely job of preparing such a wonderful gathering.

It was a lesson in patience, watching her open her gifts.  She refuses to rip the paper open on the cards; she trys to unseal the glue!  And then the wrapping and tissue paper- she will not rip it.  She then folds each piece into a perfect square.  

Three hours later we had cake.

Grandma would not blow out the candles!  "I'm not blowing them out!"  The grandkids eventually had to do so.

So funny!

Since so many family members were there, we took a lot of family photos.

Happy Birthday Gram!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bNyGtgADeDYKYZfY9

Proyectos

I do not always stop to appreciate the wonderful things my children have created.  They are truly remarkable.  It is self-motivated.

I do guide Mommy school, but believe me when I say whatever idea I have, (at any time) is the exact opposite of what they really want to do.

Dylan

He is constantly building.  Creating.  He is my little architect.  Well, violent architect.  Because then usually a battle ensues and someone gets destroyed.  But then he builds it back up again. 

 This is a praying mantis habitat Dylan created one day out of a beer box just because.


Eva Magnolia

My social butterfly.  She is taking surveys, and making questionnaires to gauge public opinion.  This morning she spearheaded a research project about dogs.  What kind of dog are you most like?  She researched and read about many different dog breeds.

During summer vacation!

This is a pottery project that Eva worked on for a very long time this year at school.

So long in fact that the last week of school, Eva said her teacher was like, "Just finish painting it!  We are out of time!"


I love finding what motivates and guides Dyleva!  And again...Mommy stays out of it.  Because the moment I have an idea they don't want to hear it!

Camping:for better or worse

I love to camp.

I love being outdoors, I love roughing it, I love listening to the birds in the morning, and watching the stars at night.

But sometimes, oh yes, sometimes those stars are not aligned.

Jeff booked us a site in Watkins Glen after we procrastinated a site for Memorial Day.  Later we found out it was redneck weekend, I mean 'Race at the Glen.'

Jeff also had began having back problems about two weeks prior.  He insisted he was not cancelling.  Okay.

So I finish up all my school stuff, which was a lot this year, due to my move.  I have an important family meeting.  All goes well.  Game on!

Wake up and go camping!

Well, kind of.  We made it there about 6PM.  

Beautiful.  We set up camp.  Dyleva is whining something about not having a park.  I don't know, I tuned them out while I was sweating.

We get all ready, about to have dinner, when Dyleva experiences their first redneck experience.  A neighbor child apparently bit neighbor baby daddy and all hell broke loose.  Earmuffs.  

That child used words that would have made Tio Chris blush.

Moving on.  We have a great night.

Saturday morning.  Jeff struggled a bit with his back.  And I had an awful night.  The air mattress Eva and I slept on deflated  sometime in the middle of the night.  I cannot reiterate how awful that was.  I would have rather slept on the ground.

Jeff investigated, he found I didn't push the valve in.

"You gotta push the valve in."  Whatever.

We decided to gamble on the weather and hike the glen.

I was nervous because it said it was 'very difficult' for part of the trail.  

It was not.  It was gorgeous.  By far one of my favorite all time hikes.  Dyleva were wonderful.  They were careful and listened, and kept exclaiming how cool everything was!

A picture is worth a thousand words so here are about ten thousand of them!

We came out and found a park.  I got out the lunch and the heavens opened.  

Now I'm not talking a sprinkle.  I mean monsoon! 

We make it back to the site, and unfortunately must nap because it is down pouring so hard there is nothing else to do.

I woke to sunny skies and drenched earth but I'll take it.  Jeff woke up not well.  Sick from all the back meds he had been taking.  

So I took Dyleva to play on some parks.  We came back to cook dinner, which was really delicious by the way.  Getting the hang of this camping thing.

Then it started to rain again.  So we moved inside the tent, but honestly with the water pooling on the ground, there was nothing else to do but sleep.

Except Jeff couldn't, because of his back,

And I couldn't because of my air mattress deflating again!!!!
I'll give you valve!  Two nights in a row with minimal sleep!

And then.
The cherry on top.
My final straw.

Dylan woke up in the middle of the night and started throwing up.  I'm done!!! I'm so done!!! I'm going home!!!

And we did.  A full 24 hours early.  Stupid unaligned stars.