About this time every year . . .

I have scratches on my hands from the thorny bushes.

My nails turn pink from the berrries and all the jam I make.

And I feel so grateful to live in a place where the raspberries are plentiful!

Because I found a team picker (and David chaser) in Capri, we were able to get enough raspberries for six quarts of jam!

I love this picture of our boy--laying in the field where we picked our berries.

We just got back . . .

. . . from a perfect cabin camping trip. We were with good friends, at a beautiful spot, and now left with lots of wonderful memories. We were on Kelly lake, and David saw the moon for the first time. He kept asking for "more" and "please that" so we would take him back to the water's edge to watch the moon and its reflection in the perfectly glassy water.

Some of the hightlights:

• perfectly sunny and blue skies . . . probably the longest stretch of blue skies we've had since May.
• a little boy, water's edge, and lots of throwing rocks . . . perfect heaven!
• a row boat for the adults to take onto the lake.
• beautiful loons and their song, lots of fish jumping out of the water to catch the gnats.
• good company with good friends.
• a mid-day father-son hike.
• four adults, three kids two and under . . . but no one woke up in the night! Well, at least the kids didn't . . . I think the pack 'n play accommodations were much more comfortable than the solid boards the adults had for a bed.
• the toddlers figured out that they could move their pack 'n plays around while they were inside. I think the goal was to meet in the middle of the room for a pow-wow.
• campfire, s'mores, and a starry night . . . it's the kind of night you don't want to leave behind.

The menfolk went on a hike.

And the gals went in the canoe. (Look at that view!)

The cabin

The "accommodations" or latrine or loo or outhouse--whatever suits you.

We have now made this an annual tradition with the Larsens. Our first cabin camping trip was in the winter at Nancy Lake in 2008--and now we have shifted to summer time cabin camping with them. This cabin was in the Kenai Wildlife Refuge, and the perfect distance to hike in enough equipment to accommodate three small children, while still feeling like we were in remote wilderness. We love the Alaska wilderness!

Buh-bye Pah-pri

Aunt Capri left this past week, and we are missing her like crazy! David really misses his roommate, and still looks for her to give him a tudd-oh tudd-oh (cuddle cuddle).

Rain or shine, this girl rode her bike to and from her job at Natural Pantry.

David absolutely loved the attention from his Pah-pri.

Beautiful place, beautiful girl.

After she left, I realized it has been 9 years since I lived with a sister, and 15 years since I have lived with this sister. It was very fun to reconnect.

We miss you, Pah-pri!

Buh-bye

David is in the innocense of one or two word communication--I love to hear him express what must be a complete thought inside of his head in the conciseness of his simple vocabulary. He uses the word "Buh-bye" a lot to accomplish this.

When he senses we are getting our shoes, gathering snacks and getting my purse to leave he starts saying "buh-bye" to everything in sight: the light, the shoes, the blocks, the puzzles, the house . . . then he cycles through them again and again until we are down the street. In this scenario, it is a very excited expression. His tone interprets to "sorry I gotta leave, guys, but I really have somewhere more important I need to be."

When he comes in from outside (buh-bye outside), leaves the park (buh-bye weee) or gets out of the bath (buh-bye bathbath) and he's not quite ready to be done, he uses a tone of sadly resigning to leaving the fun behind. I can hear the lump in his throat that wants to cry out and demand to keep playing . . . it is a very sweet thing to realize it's hard for him to leave it behind, but he is still doing it willingly.

My favorite was last week in the car at the end of a long morning of errands. I knew that naptime was closing in on us, and I only had one more place to run. On the way, he sunk lower and lower in his carseat and tried to drift off to sleep. I got to the parking lot, and went to get him out. After I unbuckled him, he stayed exactly where he was, too relaxed and tired to really move. All he did was sit there and quietly say, "buh-bye night night. buh-bye night night." What a sweet boy! Made my heart just melt . . .

All things Soft

In David's vocabulary, any stuffed animal is called a "bear." So of course he was happy to make himself at home between these two overstuffed bears at the Alaska Wildberry Farm.

His only complaint was that they were not close enough together--so he attempted to change that.

But that big bear wasn't budging, even with all of  David's strength. In the end, he had to choose a favorite and cuddle up.

Climber

I was drying my hair. David thought he had a better way.

Our little buddy is getting very good at climbing. He's a regular on top of the kitchen table because he can now scoot chairs around or pick them up if they are tipped over. (The tipping is done by the 3 feet and under crowd at our house . . . but one seasoned mother told me that tipping chairs over was how she kept her kids off the table.) I have a feeling that our challenge to keep his feet at ground level has just begun.

Handful

For many undisclosed reasons, Sam recently commented, "When David is awake, he is such a handful. Then when I see him sleeping, I just want to go in and wake him up so I can spend quality time with him."

You couldn't possibly be talking about this little guy--or could you?!?