Halina swam solo for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was during the last few minutes of her last lesson of the season. And, as luck would have it, I was there with the camera (not lounging in the "parents' area" with Luke as usual). It's been a long journey of finding the right teacher and format (private lessons), and then taking it slow, slow, slow. When the teacher finally pushed her, she was ready! It was exciting to see.

I'm mysteriously unable to embed video in Blogger lately; follow the link to see this video.

A new poem by Chris in the St. Mary's magazine.

I did pretty well with my June goal of five posts per week -- though I averaged more like three. Three is not five, but three is also not zero!

Then I hit the Summer Trouble.

This happened last summer, too.

There are what feels like 500 photos (there really might be that many) to choose from taken in July so far. We've stayed with Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue, hosted and visited Truckee & Tahoe friends, gone swimming in the Yuba and the South Yuba with Papa, gone to hear music at the park, hiked to a waterfall, taken the Squaw Valley tram up the mountain to skate and swim, kicked it at the cabin, played at Uncle Mark's, and had a handful of interesting play dates with friends. Not to mention 4th of July. It's a lot of activity and it's truly been a lot of fun, and at the same time I find it more difficult to find blog-worthiness in the busy-ness.

It helps me understand how last summer I got temporarily lost down the "roundup" rat hole, putting off posts, not finishing posts, bogged down by endless photos. While I was procrastinating, many quiet little day-to-day moments that I would have found meaningful to capture and contemplate in here slipped quietly by. 

So with that in mind, here's a whimsical round-up. Nothing overly effortful or linear here. Just some memories and images to capture, contemplate, and share.

Swimming with Papa at the Yuba near Bridgeport.

Behind Luke is the historic covered bridge, whose windows we'd peeked out of a couple years ago. It's now condemned as unsafe to enter.

That guy jumping off the rock? That's Papa from our swim the year before. This year the water was shallower and the place was emptier. It was peaceful and relaxing.

Lily and her little brother Daniel visited, with Consuelo.

Halina and Lily were babies together and shared Consuelo as a nanny.

Here's a picture of Luke at three holding a photograph of me at three.  I think we look a lot a like.

One night Luke wanted to put a baby in the thing in the basement with "ladders on the side." Halina and I finally figured out what he meant. 

It made him so happy. "I want to hold a real baby," he said.

Watching Cat in the Hat. Liking it? Hard to say....

Visiting Grandma Mary.

Auntie Sue.

Truckee, music in the park.

We had friends over with their big kids. Nothing more fun for little kids than big kids who will play with them.

Brooke and I attended an afternoon of writerly talks here, including Amy Tan.

Riding up the cable tram, high over the ground, up the mountain.

Skaters

Hanging from a cable all the way down.

The rather terrifying way down. Yikes.

Hiking with friends, then dinner at their place.

More trampoline inspiration.

Kickin' it at the cabin.

Yes, that's a colander.

The kids wrote a lot of "books" at the cabin. Halina reading one of Luke's.

Kickin' it at the outdoor pizza place near the cabin with a creek and attached playground/park. Yeah, we could do this more often. Sigh. This could be our life.

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Back at home, we set up our own trampoline.

Halina made this bracelet in art camp yesterday.

And President Obama finally wrote her back. Very exciting!

Sweet bedtime listeners.