I would put more pictures up, but I haven't taken any. Wait for next week, after I go on a trip to Oxnard.

Today I filled up our little orangish pool for, I believe, the last time. It has a huge crack in it, but still retained water fairly well, but I don't think it will make it another hot day. The bottom is actually transparent! We got good use out of it, and it was left here by a camp last summer, so it was free, but I will miss it. Bowden and Lucy cooled off, but ended up covered in twigs, this afternoon.

Our church held their first annual Awana summer day at Camp Marantha yesterday, which meant that there was a party right in our front yard. Bowden was very excited- next year he'll be in Cubbies, and he loves all of the boys in the group.
After the kid stuff, the parents came for hot dogs and swimming which meant that I didn't have to make dinner. Josh avoided the crowds at our house while Lucy napped, and I took Bowden swimming. It was a rare treat to be alone with my Bowden for a few hours.

And I was there, too. One day I even wore my old lady polka dot shirt.

We went on vacation!!! We have a week with no camps in, so we used our year-passes to the San Diego Zoo, and stayed with our friends the Crimis, and went to Oceanside, and the beach at encinitas, too! All in two days, and I'm not even very tired!
It was a really wonderful trip- I haven't seen much of my husband since the summer began, and I realized again how much I LIKE Josh Tate. He drives me crazy, but if I couldn't be married to him for some reason, I would still want him around forever. (I know that sounds weird, but Josh once posted this question on his blog...)

Lucy was wonderful in the stroller, and Bowden was pretty good- he did get very excited and run everywhere when we were at the zoo. Last night he said he hurt his leg, and I think it was a cramp from so much use.
They both liked the Bonobos, but mostly Lucy didn't care, and I don't know that Bowden ever calmed down enough to really see anything. He definitely did not like the tiger, not at all, or the thin-nosed crocodile. Mostly he liked to yell at the monkeys.
At the beach, this morning, we let Lucy down, and she crawled straight for the waves. She would chuckle every time a big one washed around her...Bowden-bows would hardly put his feet in.
Our hosts were excellent, the weather was beautiful, and we had a nice crab and coconut shrimp dinner...I may still be a little bit giddy.

We refilled the sandbox with sand, and I have been changing sheets like crazy. Every naptime, I put little Lucy down, supposedly sand-free, but when I go to get her it's all over the sheets.
When she went to sleep yesterday, Bowden and I filled up his little orange pool and he went for a dip, but had way more fun with the water sprayer.

Josh has this plan to drive about 50 golf balls he bought in bulk at a garage sale off of Inspiration Point, so we took a family jaunt to figure all the details out.
I'm a little afraid of heights, and I kept imagining rattlesnakes, but really, it was an amazing view- we can see the ocean on clear days, although it was not really clear this day. Bowden was all about the "hiking."

I am nowhere near a computer for most of the week, and I haven't been working at the Inn, so I haven't had much of a chance to blog- which is fine, since not much has gone on. Bowden scratched his face, and Lucy is hanging out in the (dangerous) rocking chair.

We went out to eat at 6:30 in a restaurant with ten full tables and one crazy-eyed server.
Bowden was Not Good.

The really astounding thing about having children is how much work they make everything. I just realized how easy my job at the Inn is- on Saturday Josh watched the chilluns and I answered the phone, and did the laundry and checked people out, and still had time to sit down!
The time before, I had brought Bowden and Lucy, and had barely any time to put the laundry in the dryer. Here's how it went-
Bowden watches cartoons for a bit, but then he wants to play on the porch, and leaves the sliding screen open, so Lucy crawls out, then the phone rings, and I'm holding Lucy, and Bowden disappears around the back of the office, out of sight, so I finish the call, and then run around trying to find him.
I make him stay inside and put Lucy down in the living room area, because the phone is ringing, so I take the call, hang up and then hear a huge crash, and Lucy is on the ground, with little scrapes on her nose, and her tongue bleeding, and the phone rings!!!
She loves this little rocking chair, but I have to make sure it is against the couch, otherwise she pushes it back and falls on her face. The pictures are before that had happened, so I took them thinking, "How sweet! My little chubster likes to climb," not, "Danger! Danger!"

On our nightly walks, Bowden has to stop off and do his "trick." If we don't stop, he becomes very unhappy. The "trick" consists of holding on to the railing and climbing around to the other side, under the bush. (It takes forever.)

It was hot, even in Idyllwild, and we went swimming for about a half of an hour at the camp pool. Lucy showed off her new hand-me-down bikini- and old lady cover-up that went with it.
I miss laying out in the sun...with children running about, I don't get the chance often, and I appreciate my mom watching Lucy and Bowden while I did it.
Lucy liked the pool, but loved the nasty, rusty shower that is by the pool so people can rinse off before they get in. She wanted to eat the rocks by the side, too, but my mother was having none of that.

I cut Bowden's hair the other day. But not all of it. Just the sides, and I cut them very short. I cut his cowlicks in the back down, too, because they give him an Alfalfa look, but the result was- the Bo-Hawk!
I took picture to shock and awe, and I also took pictures to commemorate the growth of enough hair to hold a hair clip.
Just enough hair.
So, enjoy the hair that my Grandma and Umpa Do Not Like.
(Hair grows back, it's okay.)