little darlin'

it's been a long cold lonely winter..........it's all right, here comes the sun.

Just wanted to check in and let you know that we are all doing well. We are incredibly busy and enjoying the nice weather, and have not had a free moment.
This last week we did something exciting-we had a friend come stay with us that we had never met in person before-I only knew her from etsy (we are both in a natural children's toys team). Come to find out, we are like long lost friends and we had a fantastic time, showing her all around the area and all of our favorite places. Living like a tourist is hard work!
We went to the coast this weekend and Maggie loved it! Really, she LOVED it, she chased sea gulls, dug sand pits, waded in the surf (even did a face plant where she had to spit out a mouthful of sand) but refused to act cold or wet so we wouldn't make her get out. I was thinking back on it and realized that she had never been to the beach. Well, we went once for Layla's 3rd birthday, but there was a snow storm, so we just sat inside by the fire place and watched the waves crash out our balcony window. (It was super cool, but not really beachy) I can't believe that this is even possible since Alan and I love the ocean so much, but then thought back and came to realize that we have been crazy busy for years. How did that happen? We are making a definite effort to go more often, hopefully starting later this month with a camping trip.

Home school update-Layla got all 3 classes that she wanted for the fall, so we are really excited about that. This school year officially ends on the 18th, but I think the girls have already checked out. I'm not actually sure how much learning they squeeze in during these last few weeks anyway, it's probably hard to concentrate on anything during "crazy hair, pajama, bring your dad and teddy bear to school day" anyway.

Tomorrow I am hosting a dozen of my friends for poker night and then off to visit some friends for the weekend about 3 hours down the road, so another busy one--seems like summers work out that way. Layla has big plans for fathers day, and then a Klamath trip, then camping, and then.....in between it all we have to find time to sit in the yard, splash in the pool, fire up the grill, sing around the fire pit, consume mass quantities of barley pop, watch movies on the barn, and spend time with our favorite friends, speaking of that--if you ever get a free minute-swing on by, we'd love to have you!