labor day weekend

It was a good, good weekend. One of the best we've had in a while. Perhaps because we were just home. Just together. Just complete.


The first major highlight was Eliana's ascent of the "L" on the mountain behind our house. Eliana calls Mt. Jumbo, My Mountain. Finally she was able to really make it her own. Eliana was determined and awesome and way tough about the journey. I certainly had my doubts from the start. It was hot and I was tuckered. So I guess I projected my exhaustion onto my kid, cuz lord knows, she was fine. Jeff just kept her mind busy with stories of coyotes and hurricanes and she inquired her way up. Talked and questioned and talked and questioned. So much to figure out about this wild world. I love that girl.


Then today we found ourselves on another hike up Big Creek. Now that she's a hiker and all, we decided we'd go for it. And once again, Homie impressed. She is just so big these days. So old. So articulate and smart and full of connections. As a literacy teacher, I'm always encouraging kids to make connections with their lives and the lives of the books they read. Her whole life is one big text-to-world. She seems to have a scene or anecdote from a book to connect with everything. It's fascinating to see the way her mind works. Super impressive.

And then there's her bro. And the way his body works. He loved the trail today. Blazed down it with all the confidence in the world (even when walking pantless).


He's finally understanding how to stay the course and actually walked without getting distracted by every little thing he saw. That was more of his sister's job. We gathered at least a dozen magical sticks and a few amazing pieces of orange bark for her collection. Some sticks make perfect violins...


And watching these two children of mine navigate the world together is perhaps my new greatest joy. Sol will say something, say, URRR, urrr, URRR and Eliana will say, Mom! Solomon says he wants to brush his teeth. That's what URRR, urrr, URRR means, Mom. I swear she kinda knows. Because he was lurking around the sink blabbering his wacky commands and I was too hustle-y around the house in that moment to really pay attention to what he wanted. Here's to sis helping with Sol's dental hygiene.

When they first see each other in the morning they hug and kiss. They don't like to go to bed without the other person in the room too. Every single thing she has, he wants. And then she wants it back. And on and on and on again.


This weekend we had no social dates, no friends to dinner, just the four of us, hanging in our space. As much as I love all our friends and family and constant goings-on, there was something really simple in thinking about meals for just the four of us, walks in the park for just the four of us, trips to the river with just the four of us. As we stare down tomorrow and the first day of school, as our lives open into an unstoppable social chasm of business, that hunkering down feels absolutely essential. The simple celebration of this beautiful place we call home, the simplicity in our foursome.