The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Here's Moses mountain climbing just like Eli would.

Exploring a cave. Entering it little water droplets constantly streamed down making a musical wonder.

Living life!

Carolina dure didn't want to go home when the day was over.
Kelsey lovingly guided Adrianna over the rocks and tide pools which she appreciated very much since I didn't feel so steady on my feet with my recent balance shift from a watermelon belly protrusion. Adrianna really wanted to go everywhere "my kids" went. It seemed the grass was greener over there.
"Look guys! A sea anemone!" Moses and Carolina took turns pestering the poor fellas by jabbing them and giggling in glee to see them close up when touched. Last week we took a walk by our home in town, mind you, not our seaside chalet- and stopped by a puddle. The kids saw little water bug creatures and insisted they were seeing seahorses. So this was a more accurate science lesson. They might appreciate Don Quixote.

Sha Zam!

This week Zachary and Kelsey came to visit. We went to Oswald beach where the surfers go...so Moses at least, fit right in. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, Eli almost died from his daring explorations in a cave and a wave encounter, Moses fell in the water and laughed about it, Carolina leaped right in and laughed about it and Adrianna parrots anything the other guys do...
I loved watching them make improvements to an abandoned sand castle. They ran back and forth to their river water source to refill their buckets over and over to fill up the mote with water. It took them a while to realize they were making no progrss as the water absorbed right back into the ground.
Dear brothers. They took more than a handful of swims into the frigid water...everytime the sun peeked from the clouds they cosidered that the call of the wild beckoning.
At one point Carolina and Moses took off exploring on the rocks and logs and Adrianna stayed behind with the adults. I just loved watching her dig and handle the sand with such tenacity, completely oblivious to my observations. I sure wondered what she was thinking about.
Aunt Kelsey and the wild child in her element.

New duds from Grandma and Grandpa Milliman. And everyone is clean and neat and ready for church on time. They all had an extra chipper to their step knowing they looked so good.

Moses courageosly volunteered to be an actor in the "cutest little show ever" at the fair. He played the farmer boy in 4H that called all his animals. He spoke loud and clear and did his very best. When asked what he liked about it he said, "just talkin'. I didn't like the chicken dance. Bored."

Feeding the sheep, we saw goats milked too

Adrianna riding a hobby horse
Moses would like Davy Crockett.
Corn, corn everywhere!

Merry go round delight

Moses, Adrianna and Grace at the Canby county fair. One horse made an awful lot of racket when his friend was able to get out and he didn't. I quizzed Moses about his experience, here's some of his commectary in his own words: Referring to llamas, Moses asked me "What's that big thing that spits at 'cha? I didn't like them because they didn't have teeth on the bottom. They looked weird. And they bite 'cha. And they chew weird (refurring to their cud) They chew one time and theen the chew goes out and they have to chew again. That's weird."
The baby pigs were "so cutie. I thought the big ones when I feeled them... Ohhhh, they were so slippery. The baby ones were furry so I like him. The big one was kind of wet and smooth and slippery. I don't like them like that. I like them nice and dry. Mom, did you like the baby ones?" "Yeah, they were darling" ""That means cutie. Ana looked so cute when she was lookin at the pigs."

At Mount Tabor park we have made late summer a ritual to leisurely pick blackberries and enjoy the scenery together. The kids like hearing their echo across the water reservoir, running free and rolling down the grassy hill. We have made blackberry cobbler, crisp, smoothies and hope to get to jam before the summers up.

Moses pointing out the first ripened cherry tomato. We can hardly believe how abundant they have been coming from plain old buckets. Goes to show it's not the container that has true beauty but what's inside.
Adrianna trying to learn to use the toilet. Here she doesn't let on what a frustrating, failed experiment it has been.
Quirky Carolina in her hand-picked outfit headed to handpick some blackberries. My guess is Pippi Longstockings and she would get along royally.
Moses in his shades by the bump that will someday be a new sister. Moses seems to remember each day to check in with her talking in soft tones and saying, "It's me, Moses."

We visited Tyler and Alexandra Caffall's family Oktoberfest in Sandy and savored some gourmet German food. They met a brand new puppy, fed some chickens and taunted the chickens with multiple chicken toys Alex's mother had supplied them with, fed and waited for the evening birds to approach, had a tour of the garden with Tyler in command ( he found a zuchinni ripe for the tasting-they liked it). It was the last time we saw Tyler and Alex as they are heading to New York City for bigger and better adventures. How touched I always am to see the love they have for our family. They are wonderful people and blessings to have as friends.
Our friend Dave Mikkelsen celebrated his birthday with only the stalwart of heart. We dressed as mimes and went downtown and mimed. Initially we planned to begin at Pioneer Square but felt somewhat invasive when we found we were interrupting a worship rally for a religious faith so via max we headed to Waterfront Park. We mimed a basketball game, tennis, that we were the bowling pins being bowled, cooking, fishing and various other things. A college student stopped us to take a 15 shot series of photos for a class project. Some guys smoking something highly questionable thought we were amazing. The kids came along with us, before we went out Carolina prayed at dinnertime that she might be brave enough "to do the mime" and that she "wouldn't be scared in front of an audience." She did wonderful.


I found Adrianna in my lounge chair picking up where I left off reading the Book of Mormon all on her own.
A glimspe of our flourishing garden, Sunny the valiant garden caretaker by the zuchini and some sweet pumpkins. She and moses are very good at keeping their eyes open each day for the peak ripened produce. Moses loves the yellow string beans. Carolina loves pico de gallo with the tomatoes. They both like the cucumbers and Adrianna....well she likes to pick the green tomatoes.