Week of Nothing

Summer has been really full.  I planned it that way and thought I had just the right amount of free weekends and not straying too far from home to balance it all out, but the calendar was jam-packed.  I'm not typically one of those super moms that sign their kid up for every kind of lesson, but I have to say that I channeled that mom a little bit this summer.  Oh, heck.  I wanted to pack in as many fun and different experiences as I could for Grady and our family and really soak up the summer days.

Sunday came and we all made breakfast together and slowly started the day.  This week would be different and less scheduled.  We would see what the days would hold for us.

I've tried to encourage Grady to draw something every day this summer and not have this mom-imposed assignment viewed as a punishment.  He's been into it.  Mostly drawing birds and a few Pokemon characters.  I absolutely love his creative journal and will treasure it for many years to come.

I won a private tasting, tour & lunch for four at Korbel Champagne Cellars.  I gathered up the ladies from the PTA Dream Team Board of 2009-2011 and off we went.   It felt so decadent to be spending an entire morning & afternoon touring gardens, sipping bubbly and catching up without any children to interrupt us!

Look at how happy our son is.  He tie-dyed this shirt at camp and is still sporting the redwood cross gifted to him by his counselors.  He told me he's going to wear it for the rest of his life.  Oh, my.

The Bodega Big Event is one of the sweetest events and boasts the shortest parade in California.  We spotted three Tipi Hedren impersonators at this year's event, with the youngest being my favorite.

Grady asked to watch Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and we let him.  His love of avian creatures is fierce, but the movie freaked him out just a little bit.  He was inspired to draw Peach Faced Love Birds and asked that I not pester him about the movie because he just wanted to forget about it.

Pastures Preschool (Grady's alma mater) asked him to be in the parade with them.  He modified it up by asking the School Director if he could ride his bike alongside the wee little ones.  He was so proud and thought he was oh so cool.

We hit up the Pastures Preschool Art Sale and scored three beautiful notebooks with artwork on the cover by the little under five year old artists.

Not having a lot of plans this week has been great for catching up on our reading and movie watching.  Our summer read has been Wildwood by Colin Meloy and we are enchanted by it's storyline and premise of a murder of crows abducting a one year old little boy and the sister who treks into the Impassable Wilderness just outside of Portland proper to help find him.  It's adventurous, imaginative and has a lot of really big words.  We have to read it with a small pocket dictionary, so that we can quickly look up the words and move on.

We also watched Westside Story and are set to watch The Chronicles of Narnia:: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe later today.  I've wanted G to read The Chronicles of Narnia series and even scored a set of the books at a rummage sale.  He won't even open the books.  He's totally judging them by the cover.  I've never read them, but thought it was a boyhood rite of passage.  I thought the movie might pull him in.  Usually, it's the other way around.  I ask him to please read the books first and then we can rent the movie.  I'm open to change and hope he enjoys the magical movie journey.

The hillsides are dry and crunchy this time of year and the naked ladies have just burst onto the scene.  They are always a surprise and the stalks reach skyward so quietly and then burst open with this punch of pink blooms.  This signals the end of summer.

The guys went golfing up at Sea Ranch this week and Steve let G drive the golf cart for 18 holes, as well as hit on the green.  This was their first father-son outing on a large course and I glimpsed the future of golf for these two.  I love thinking that they will continue to share this sport as time goes by.

G also slipped in a 90 minute soccer practice after golfing 18 holes.  Ah, youth.  So much energy.

So, birds have been a very big part of summer learning.  The well-worn Sibley's Guide is always at the ready and the boy brings me feathers almost daily that he collects as little presents.  I love this sweet, small, thoughtful gesture.

We spotted a barn owl a few nights ago and G has been on a nest hunt in earnest.  He spent hours yesterday inspecting the trees and decided a night walk with dad would be in order.  They had five sightings and the majestic owls swooped down over their heads and had them in awe of this silent, elusive and mysterious creature(s).  They came home energized and mildly freaked out by the night sounds of some other four-footed animals screeching in the dark of night.  I'm sure this is a childhood memory that will be burned on Grady's brain and that brings a big smile to my face.

The experience surely punctuated this lovely, quiet, restful week.