June 20th-21st

Friday was Iain’s 9th birthday and with all the familial turmoil that has gone on in the last few months, my sister and I wanted to do something really cool for him that day. So we got up REALLY early and drove for three hours to the beach. In no way was this an environmentally friendly thing to do but it sure was fun!

Iain was drawing strength from the waves. He said they were very strong and could give him great power. 🙂

Ryan just ran through the water with wild abandon.

It was amazing! The weather was beautiful when we got there and we were able to enjoy the fantastic temperature and gorgeous beach breezes for two hours and then a storm rolled in. Ryan is deathly afraid of thunderstorms and begged to go home immediately so we did. We had so much fun though and it let me know that we really have got to take a vacation at the beach sometime soon.

That night we went out to eat at Iain’s favorite restaurant with three of his favorite people: my sister, her husband, and their daughter, Makena. We sat outside at the restaurant and had a blast there, too!

This is Iain with my sister’s hubby. He calls him Uncle Dude.

Here’s my sister with her daughter.

After dinner, we went back to my sister’s place and had a dance party. It was so much fun! The kids were into it, we were into it, our husbands were into it. I don’t remember the last time I had that much fun in one day. What a blessing it is to live so close to my sister and BIL. They truly are our best friends and we have way too much fun when we’re together.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this previously or not but I started a container garden on our patio this year consisting of squash, cilantro, peppers, and tomatoes.

Here are my baby maters. Let me tell you, I am stoked that these haven’t shriveled up and died yet because I seem to have a radioactive thumb when it comes to growing and maintaining plants. The tomatoes are the only plants actually bearing fruit right now. The squash has had tons of blooms but no veggies yet and my pepper plant just had a couple of blooms pop up. See?

Can’t wait to see those turn into peppers!
Ryan spotted this flower growing in the yard and I have no idea where it came from.

It looks like some kind of lily but I’m not sure. All I know is, it wasn’t in the yard last year! I got out my macro lens and took some up close and personal shots of it:


I would swear in that last shot the flower is giving me the finger. LOL

On Saturday, Iain had his family birthday party and all was well. Iain got some great gifts and the only controversy for me arose when my father made a comment I found offensive. Iain was reading his birthday card from my grandparents and he couldn’t read their signature because it was in cursive. My dad says loudly, “YOU can’t read cursive??” Oy vey. I sent him an email this morning telling him that his comment had no place at the party and to please stop saying things like that to Iain. There’s no other purpose in saying something like that besides making him feel small for not possessing that knowledge yet. My dad just doesn’t have a filter so I’m going to be that for him whenever he’s around the kids. I thought after all this time he “got” what we’re doing but I guess he still doesn’t quite grasp unschooling. Oh well. Maybe one day.

Today, one of Iain’s best friends is coming over to play and he’s pretty excited. I have no doubt that they will be playing video games the whole time! They both are fanatical about them.

I hope all has been well in your world!