Headlights in the Fog

Parents' Day at Camp

Yesterday was Parents' Day at Jack and Kitty's camp. I had to split my time between their two classes or 'bunks' as Thom wasn't able to go due to mountains and mountains of work. The day started out in Music with Kitty... the music teacher is the mother of one of Jack's classmates from kindergarten... so we know each other. She is awesome... I wish I had had music teachers like her. At one point she had us using scarves and dancing around to an Aaron Copeland piece and pretending we were riding horses.
A few times when we did sitting-in-a-circle songs Kitty told me to stop singing or waving my arms about or whatever was going on. I wonder if this is the beginning of Mom-you-are-embarrassing-itis? I'm sorry to say I think I am going to be a very embarrassing mom. I hope she gets over it, even appreciates my fly-your-freak-flag ways someday.
We then went to art, where we did an interpretive drawing based on the book 'Elmer,' which is about a patchwork-colored elephant. Our piece was definitively a collaborative effort.
After that, I hustled over to the pool to see Jack during his swim lesson. He was so happy to see me... his smile was so wide I could see it on the other side of the pool. He proudly showed off all of his new skills... like going under water and kicking...
  He love, love, loves his goggles... the first day after he got them he told me, "Mom! I can see underwater!" Here is a picture of him with them on:

After his lesson was over and his bunk had left to go back to their schedule, Kitty's bunk arrived on the scene. I was sitting on a bench right by where Kitty was swimming and she told me many times to 'take a picture!'

She also worked on some swimming skills. One of these was 'back floating.' Kitty was too concentrated on what she was doing  to tell me to take a picture, but I took one anyway:

She also demonstrated the lesser-known 'Blue Star Head' swimming move:

The last thing we did was go back to Kitty's bunk to get changed before lunchtime. I got a really good shot of Kitty and one of her camp buddies, Haley.

My Cat is on Valium

I promised more pictures from the beach and here they are! Above is a lucky shot from a trying-to-hold-the-camera-out-and-take-a-picture session. Ireally like a number of elements: Kitty's sly smile, the edge of my hat, the pattern of my bathing suit.
Here is Thom and the kids working at one of Thom's favorite pastimes: sand castle building! This is a good shot as it is a water action shot:

Thom turned 43 while we were at the beach. The kids and I have been watching seemingly 8 million cake making videos lately... if you'd like to see them search "Howdini Cake" on you tube. We hatched a grand scheme for Thom's cake... we all "worked" on it one way or another. Here it is... your favorite Byzantine coin and mine!

We were going for the look of this coin:

Jack and Kitty were SO excited to be a part of making Thom's cake.

A great deal of fun was had at the beach.

In other news, Thom and I saw Les Miz on Saturday while my parents took care of the kids. It was awesome... I think I burst in to tears 3 or 4 times... and really lost it at the end when they sing, "To be loved by one another is to see the face of God." Boy, I'm choking up right now just writing about it.
We couldn't spend the night at  my parents' though because Lulu is on some new medication and we needed to get home to give it to her. I took her in to the vet to discuss the situation of her urinating on my side of the bed 4-5 times a week (once even while I was asleep in the bed!) Essentially, after much talking it was decided she is over-stressed (losing her partner of 13 years this spring and being left with a young upstart of a cat for a compainion.) As a lucky by-product of the appointment, it was discovered she has high blood pressure (normal for cats is the top number being 140 or less and she is at 196.) We are now giving her the blood pressure medication once a day and valium twice a day. I think the valium is really helping her... she has become so relaxed and seems to enjoy being around people... including the kids. Now if only we could get Solomon to be nicer to her! I'm so happy to see Lulu looking relaxed and peaceful. She's been so stressed out-seeming for so long that I took that to be normal behavior. We love you Lulu... we do, we do.

My Secret Door

One of the blogs I read had this on it yesterday:

"Ever had a day so crazy you just wanted to stop the world and get off for awhile? When I have those days, I start imagining a door. It’s kind of like my front door, but there’s something much more interesting on the other side of it than my porch. It’s what you see to the left here — the dreamlike Matavulu Blue Hole in Vanuatu, on the island of Espiritu Santo. Fed by abundant rainwater, the hole (which begs for a more expressive name) is a deep and crystal clear oasis of perfectly refreshing 72 degree water, no matter how sweltering it is on the island. Ahhhhh. So what we’d love to know is this: if you had a secret door you could escape through once in a while, where would it lead?"

I would have to say my secret door would open up on to the top of Sacre Coeur's dome in Paris back on our honeymoon in 2001. It was a 30 minute climb up to the top of the dome through centuries old stairs that were worn down in the middle, across roofs with no railings and through doors that were only 5 feet tall. Thom and I were the only ones up there. The view is just simply spectacular... the Eiffel Tower in the distance to our right, the modern art museum Pompidou Centre to our left. The sun was low in the sky and there was a swift wind rolling over us making my hair fly all around. It's nice to remember who we were then... and really incredible to consider the journey we've been on since then. On a stressful day, I'd love to open my front door to that day, that scene, the intensely amazing start to our marriage.

Where does your Secret Door lead?

Segway Tour

We just got back from a week on the Outer Banks with my family. It was a wonderful week. I will be posting more pictures from the whole week... but I could not wait to get this picture up! Yes... we went on a Segway tour of Corolla, NC. It was such a blast! I can not even begin to explain how much fun it was. I would now love to own my own Segway but see no real reason to have one. The next time we are anywhere where we could do a Segway tour, I will immediately sign up!
Pictured above from L to R: My nephew Scott, my brother James, my nephew Daniel, my brother-in-law Jerry, me and my sweetie Thom.

Camp is a success!

The above picture was taken by Kitty's head counselor at camp... aka 'Miss Beth' ... aka 'the Head Mouse!' Kitty's group is called Mice. Jack is in the Fawns, which is thankfully just around the corner from Kitty's room.Yesterday at pick up, Kitty was the first in the car and said she had so much fun and that swimming was her favorite. We had to wait a bit to get Jack due to first day coordination of 8 million moving objects (cars, kids, staff, parents wandering around, etc.) The co-director of the camp apologized to me for the wait and said they would try to have it together tomorrow. While we were waiting, Kitty remembered an incident that happened during free swim where a boy pushed her. She then decided she did not want to go back to camp. We finally got Jack in the car and he said that he had had a great day. While Jack was getting strapped in by his head counselor, she told me Jack had been very concerned that he a) hadn't seen Kitty all day and B) he wasn't with her while they waited for me to pick them up. He is such an amazing caring and concerned brother, he really is. Hopefully everything will run much more smoothly today. Besides swimming which is the top favorite for both, Jack's second favorite is drama (he got to play a monkey in an improv they did) and Kitty's sounded like it was playground time... but she kept repeating she did not want to go back. Even this morning she chanted the same thing. I decided rather than dropping them off, I'd park and walk in and make sure Kitty was situated. I pulled in to a place in the parking lot and from the back seat Kitty's sweet voice said, "Aren't you dropping us off?" I said, "I thought you'd want me to walk in with you." She replied, "No, that's okay!" I pulled out of the spot and got in to the drop off circle line. One of Kitty's counselors, Noah, came and helped Jack out of the car, unbuckled Kitty and helped her out and got both back packs. I said good bye but I don't think I got a response. I watched the three of them walking away... Noah in the middle with Kitty's backpack slung over his shoulder and Jack and Kitty on either side of him holding his hands. So sweet... so, so, so very sweet. I would guess Noah to be about 12. Oh! That's the other thing Jack really likes about camp... that all of his counselors except for one are, in his words, 'Big Kids.' I'd guess they are between the ages of 14 and 16. Jack has always enjoyed hanging out with older kids. He's already taken a shine to the one of the female counselors: Olivia. He's told me at least three stories in which she plays a part already and we're only on day 2!

First Day of Camp

Jack and Kitty started summer camp this week which they will be in through August 7th with the exception of next week when we will be on the Outer Banks. We went to a camp open house on Saturday. The kids met their counselors and got to see what the place looks like. Of much interest was the pool, where they will spend 2 separate chunks of time in each day... they have to wear a bathing suit to camp and bring another one for the afternoon swim! Lots to do to get ready... this morning I wrote Jack and Kitty's names over and over again in swimsuits, underwear, shirts, shorts and shoes.
Being by myself all day has been odd... but a good sort of odd. I've gotten tons crossed off of my 'to do' list and will go work in my studio after I finish this post.
Last week we went to Buffalo and had a great visit with Grandma, Ogeechan and Obahchan. The kids adore all of their grandparents and any time spent with them is great time to them.
The day before we left for Buffalo, we had Kitty tested for Strep. It was negative and so we decided to go on our trip after all. Kitty was not a happy camper and really wasn't totally herself until late Wednesday. Above Thom reads to both Jack and Kitty the day before our trip.
One day, we had an amazing time running around by Lake Totonto. First we flew a kite my MIL had given us:

Then, the kids played in a huge pile of sand for what seemed like hours:

Lastly, there was a very tall tree that Thom took a picture of with Kitty way down at the bottom for scale:

Parallel Play

Actual exchange overheard during bathtime:

Jack: The Romans are going to attack the Barbarians!

Kitty: Maybe someone becomes friends with a duck?

Down on the Farm

Today the 4 Kindergarten classes at Jack's school put on a variety show called 'The Farm Show.' It was beyond cute with my favorite part being lots of 6 year old kids square dancing with great energy and enthusiasm. I took the video camera (that Thom got me two years ago and I have never used) and took lots of video I need to edit into a digestible short film. We are missing some sort of 7.5 volt DC cord (or something like that) so for now the above picture of us will have to suffice. I made Jack's suspenders at 7am this morning. He likes them so much he doesn't want to take them off. At one point during the show I scanned the crowd and there were approximately 40 people shooting video. After the show, I asked Jack how it felt to be performing in front of all those people and he said it was okay but that he had stage fright at first and closed his eyes. I caught that on tape... he spent the entire first song with his eyes seemingly glued shut.

In other news, Jack got his first pair of laced up sneakers. He was required to wear non-Croc shoes to the school's field day, so we went to the sneaker shop. He tried on 12-15 pairs of sneakers and decided on the ones seen above. The nice young man (MAN! Now I know I am old...) showed Jack how to tie his shoes which fired Jack up to learn. Learning to tie shoes is really challenging! He's taken to wearing his crocs again so it may take a while before he has this new skill down pat.

This week I was the visiting artist for the school's Art Club. It was as if I was a Rock Star... every last one of the kids who were there was amazed by my work and my sewing machine prowess. I love the picture above. I was having each kid pick out a stitch pattern and then sewing a line with it. I gave a lecture and showed all of the different techniques I use in my art quilts. I then did a demonstration of freemotion machine quilting. I was seated at the desk in the photo above. All of the kids (about 20) swarmed me... were literally pushed up against the desk. The women who run Art Club were desperately trying to get the kids to back up but I told them it was okay. As long as noone touched anything, I would be able to sew. In freemotion sewing you release the feed dogs (that is really what they are called) that grab the fabric from underneath to move it through the machine thus leaving the direction the fabric moves up to you. I wear gloves with rubber dots on them that grip the fabric. Using this method, you can essentially use the needle and thread like a pencil and 'draw' anything you want. It is very cool and when you do it people think you are performing some real, honest to goodness magic. I guess it is, in a way, but to me it seems so natural and easy that seeing people amazed makes me feel like I am some sort of grifter... but in a good way.
Jack and Kitty both came with me and enjoyed themselves immensly. I gave each of the kids a big fabric square, some fabric shapes and a glue stick. I had them make a design on their square. I brought them home with me and am going to quilt and wash them before next week's art club on Tuesday. It makes me happy to see kids get such joy out of working with fabric.
The above was the scene when I arrived home from a Dr.s appointment yesterday. The cushions thrown off of the sofa and two kids enwraptured with 'Monster Busters' Club' on the Disney channel.
Kitty took another 50 or so photos this week. I really think she has a good eye for a three year old. Makes me wish I had a digital camera when I was a kid. Below is a photo she took of Jack midway down our stairs. I think it is pure genius, this shot. People pay big money for artsy photos like this one... photograpers work hard to get this ironic detatchment. Yes, my amazing daughter has a great creative sensibility. I'm so proud.

Let's party like it is Memorial Day

My college roommate Sam, her husband Aaron and their twins, Miles and Arthur stopped by on Sunday for a playdate. Sam's best friend, Emily and her daughter Claire also joined us for a joy-filled, water-soaked and laughing kind of day. Above Aaron is blowing bubbles. Kitty and Jack can be seen in the background running... where? I don't know exactly, but they seem very focused.
On Memorial Day, we hosted a party for 4 of my mom friends and their families. It was a beautiful day so we set a table up in the driveway and enjoyed the weather, friendship and the view of kids splashing in our own personal water park. Below is a picture of the kids eating Popsicles.



Kitty continues to love taking pictures. I'll pick up the camera and find 80 pictures on it. Some of them are what you'd expect (out of focus pictures of the floor) but others have a certain gritty realism that I enjoy very much. Below is a picture she took of Jack in our disheveled playroom.
Yesterday we bought Jack his first 'big boy,' lace-up pair of sneakers. He's used to his crocs and their loose fit, so it took some time (and trying on 10 pairs of shoes) to find a fit he didn't find immediately too tight. He's gone up in size since the last time I bought him shoes... he's now a men's 1 1/2. My baby! In a men's shoe!
Thom and I are going to see 'Star Trek' tonight and Jack was upset he couldn't go. Thom explained the PG-13 rating and how some things might be inappropriate for kids. Jack asked, "Like what?" to which Thom replied, "People kissing." Jack thought for a moment and then said, "I like hugging, so I guess that would be alright for me to see." Ah! Youth!

Yes, you knew it was coming... didn't you?