bits of summer.

This has been the summer of hot and humid. It seems to be never ending - but we try to enjoy it in short spurts.


The boys had found water balloons when out shopping and so wanted to try them. I know - they have done them before, but it has been a few years.


So we filled and filled and filled (all parents know water balloons take ridiculously long to fill, and only moments to burst). The goal was to get wet and stay cool but neither one got a hit - both from aim and dodging. :)




But I think the point of water balloons is the idea of them, more than the actual thing, don't you think? Squishy cool balloons. Blinding sunshine. Slivers of shade. Throwing. Dodging. Cold water. Prickly dry grass. Hot concrete under bare feet. Coming into cool inside air after getting so hot running around.


Bits of summer.

moments.

I love parks with the boys. They are getting bigger, so we often do other things. But sometimes they remember a park with a certain something (zip line!) or want to get out in the SHADE during the hot summer days, and so we go.


I think when they are playing together this way is the only time I can really take relaxed photos of them anymore. They are of the age of making faces and holding silly poses (trying to get booties in every photo).


But when they are just happily playing together they don't care or notice if I have a camera.


And when they do notice me it is in a moment, a spin, a giggle. Just what I like.



So while I do enjoy taking pictures of nature,


I really like this better:


Happy boys playing on a beautiful summer day in a park in the woods.

summer evening.

While I am known to not be a big fan of summer heat, I do have an ongoing love affair with (bug less) summer evenings. The light changes, the breezes shift, the air smells of earth and plants and water, and things just feel different.

I love taking the boys out for summer evenings...ice cream or popsicles, walks, parks, beaches.



It is quiet. Not many people are out. And it seems we all just sink in and just talk and enjoy each others company.



It may be simple, but I love it. We all love it. Even in this unschooling life full of time to be together, there are moments that are a little *more* because we consciously create them, knowing we are in the moment together.


Just us. On a beautiful summer night. And life is good.

play!

Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.
~Henri Matisse

Play is training for the unexpected.
~Marc Bekoff


A child loves his play, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.
~Benjamin Spock


Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.
~Fred Rogers


Children learn as they play. Most importantly,
in play children learn how to learn.
~O. Fred Donaldson


Life must be lived as play.
~Plato


Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.
~Diane Ackerman

Whether we are by a creek, in the woods, at a playground, in our yard, in the car, at home, or at the library -- wherever we go, whatever we are doing, we have tales and adventures that come along. Ocean rescues, super ninjas, scientists saving the planet, knights on a quest, treacherous mountain treks, friendly dragons, amazing characters and plots and story lines. We take the play with us. Doesn't get much better than that.