just a glimpse

So...most of you know we spent a couple of glorious weeks in Maui; our first (real? true? expensive?) family vacation.  A vacation without any real purpose other than to just be.  I've been s l o w l y sifting through photos.  Tonight I came across this candid moment, in a botanical garden, in a little thatched shelter, in a rattan chair.  (I do believe we were pretending to be Jungle King, Queen and Princesses.)

A little Hawaiian love on the blog tonight:

May in Missoula

For the family.  Okay: I'm backtracking all the way to May here.  (When it comes to vacation posts, this is how I roll.)  A few days before Mother's Day we drove up to Missoula where my husband's brother and his family now live, plus my mother and father-in-law now live there too, plus, my sister-in-law's parents were there visiting (they're like another set of grandparents to my kids), so it was all one big awesome shebang.

Seeing family is always filled with so much goodness, like slipping into a warm, easy pool where we can all touch the bottom (versus that cold, deep ocean where I struggle to keep my head above water).  I get all warm and fuzzy surrounded by people who love my kids as much as I do, when it is not just me and my husband alone wrapping them in our blankets of unconditional love.  If my kid slips, she won't drown.  If she takes off in a wayward direction, I'm not the only one calling her back.    

I don't often get good photos from these family trips, though I do at least get snapshots with crappy lighting for the family album.  There is a degree of presentness that keeps me away from the camera, although I usually regret it later.  That presentness is a good thing.  We still have the snapshots, even if they don't make it to the sphere.

But here, some photos I did get from our time in Zoo-town.

:: Caras Park, just our nucleus of four.

 

:: In line for the Carousel with cousins Owen and Sam.  My kids are obsessed with this carousel even though Hazel's only been to Missoula twice and Juniper was just a baby when we left Montana.  Their grandma gave them a booklet of all the horses and they quickly memorized each one, naming their favorites.  (Click here to see Juniper riding as a babe, and here for last Thanksgiving.)   

:: Spring unfolding.  

:: As my mom puts it, Juniper has no social filter.  So she doesn't think twice about adopting a dog from a perfect stranger.  (She has been obsessed with pets for two solid years...we need to get a dog.)    

:: At Nana's new apartment just down the road from Aunt D and Uncle M.

:: Downtown (no where near Nana's apartment) walking to the Farmer's Market where I bought the tomato plants that are now producing nicely in my garden.  (You go Sweet Million!)  

:: Lunch downtown with the kids and Aunt D.  

:: Winding through a narrow valley to Aunt D and Uncle M's place.  You'd never know this is just 20 minutes from downtown Missoula, the second largest city in Montana.

:: At their homestead.  Barbed wire and blossoms, kids playing in the creek, the cows.    

And my nephew, Sheriff Owen, going after the bad guys.  

:: Huge family playdate at the pool.  

:: Mother's Day.  It went like this: my husband and his brother awoke early and went on a wild turkey hunt, literally.  

The rest of us awoke to snow.  The husbands came back in time (shocking!) to get ready for our Mother's Day Plan.  The plan was to surprise my husband's mother at church (even more shocking!), presenting her with a corsage--a tradition she'd had with her own mother and aunt--and join her for the service.  

My sis and I had gone out the night before, so Mother's Day was really about this lady^.  

I think she liked it.  As for my kids, it was their first time in church.  Juniper adored Sunday school (they watched a video, so of course) and Hazel made it about half way through before she and I ended up sitting in the truck.  

:: As for me, I got the best gift: a night out, a rose, and a card full of love:  

"I like the way you talk."  --Juniper

"I love your fingers."  --Hazel

"I love how the birds sing songs to you."  --Juniper

"I love your little boobs."  --Hazel

"I love the way that love fills your heart."  --Juniper

"I love your soft things."  --Hazel  

:: And it's always glorious to come home.  

spare time

^Two grandmas.  And my new desktop wallpaper.^ 

I feel like I should apologize for writing about something that happened well over a month ago.  But as my friend said, "I'm trying hard not to apologize for late-in-the game blogging....like in ten years will our kids care that we were two months late or just happy to have our perspective and images from a day/event.  Jeesh."  

So yeah.  Jeesh.  In the meantime, you can be sure that we have been digging up, digging in, cleaning out, cleaning up.  We've had a week of Nana, a week of gardening, a week in Missoula, a May Day tea party and a day for the Mothers.  Yesterday I tucked-in potatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts and a first round of tomatoes and peppers.  Juniper has one day of preschool left and Hazel can playground-climb like a big kid.  And the world keeps on spinning round and round.  

:: So.  Last stop from Razor Clamming 2014.  What we do in our spare time:

Clean clams of course!  Every year we fall into a stereotypical division of labor along gender lines.  The men folk sit around outside drinking beer, shelling and gutting clams.  The womenfolk are inside drinking wine, hunched over the kitchen sink rinsing out every last tiny grain of sand, patting dry, vacuum-sealing, labeling and freezing.  In the autumn when you open a bag of clams for, say, chowder you will know at what point in the evening you're clams were cleaned.  Mostly, they're clean as a whistle.  But sometimes, if it was a bit later on, say after a few glasses of wine, your clams will be a bit gritty.  

:: Anyway.  Besides cleaning clams:  

Grandmas get tackled by four bony kids.     

My eldest "tames" nearly everything "as a pet."  She had a little fish (dead) "swimming" in a plastic champagne glass, and later tucked-in to bed under a sheet of toilet paper.  She had a super tiny baby clam which we later found decomposed between two books.  Also, she found this slug.  Here she is feeding the slug a weed.  Eventually the slug made the journey home with us in a small water bottle filled with grass and weeds, a little water and topped with a red ribbon.  (See the last photo in this post.)    

:: We paint the great metropolis of Longbeach red, hitting up the ancient carnival rides that seem to open just for us.    

 

Juniper and cousin Sam lash-out on each other like wildcats, but Hazel and Sam are two peaceful peas.  Kid dynamics are so funny.    

"But Mommy, I wanna ride the carousel again."  And again.  Hazel and her horses.  

The rusty old tilt-a-whirl.  I know how to sit on the side to really get the thing flying.  Afterwards Juniper called it "The Squash Ride."  When I asked why she said, "because we were seeds rolling around inside a pumpkin."  Obviously.  It's her favorite ride, marking a third generation of thrill-seeking women.     

^Grandma L with Owen and Sam.^

I think she rode it three times in a row before conceding to a bellyache.  

Cheap thrills followed by ice-cream and the kite shop.  

^Auntie M getting some one-on-one with Hazel.^

:: Wandering walks to the beach.  

^Hazel getting some one-on-one with Aunt D.^

My handsome guy.  Face scratch by Hazel.  

"Ocean Waves" by Juniper.  

Me: "Hazel and Juniper!  Kiss me for the camera?"  

:: Sadly, we always remember to take a group photo when we're about to hop in our respective cars and over half the family has already left.  So bad about that.  Next time?  

I was about to comment on my Cyndi Lauper hair, but then I google-image searched Cyndi and man, that comment just wouldn't be doing her justice.  Anyway.  Note my finished sweater and the slug bottles.