Beachy Keen

Lauren's one request when she arrived here for the holidays?

So we did. Canberra's a land-locked city but we're a fairly easy, well-worth-the-2-hours drive to the coast.

These views helped us feel less homesick for our traditional White Christmases of the past.
(And if you're reading this from frigid winter land, remember the tables will turn in a few months!
In the meantime, just treat this as an armchair vacation and I'll do the same in July.) 

We read, walked, body surfed, napped, and picnicked away the day*.

Is it just me or has Sam had a summer growth spurt lately?

Such a happy day. Absolute contentment.

Now Sam's at EFY in Sydney (Maddy's age group goes next week), Lauren's in India, Greg's at work, Maddy is with friends, and I'm holding down the fort and recovering from the post-holiday blahs (do you get those, too?). 

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*You'll notice that we took sun protection very seriously that day. Earlier in the week we had all experienced the consequences of a somewhat more casual approach to sun protection:

LESSON. LEARNED.

Calm and merry and bright

Our first Aussie Christmas...'twas good!  All is calm, all is bright kept running through my head all day and that perfectly sums it up, with some merry thrown in. We reveled in the day, including:

family together (including second cousin Craig who's in Oz doing an internship and L home from uni, hooray!),

a great Christmas brunch (not pictured: G's aebleskivers and bacon),

thoughtful cards and gifts (this was a card Sam made for Maddy),

time to enjoy them,

good books and reading,

playing with our new toys,

an epic nerf battle (and pajamas all day),

and music,

lots of music (can you tell G loves his new acoustic bass?).

Sending all the best to you! I hope your day is joyful and hyggelig. I'm really grateful for the chance to connect with you through this simple blog, for the family and friends who check in on us here and for the new friends I've made over the years. And also for the therapeutic aspect of having an outlet to write plus the chance to document a few of the joys in our lives. Thanks for meeting me here now and then.

Well, today's Boxing Day here and we're off to see the Les Mis movie and then on a bit of a roadtrip adventure. More soon.

May your days be merry and bright!

Samday

On Saturday it was just Sam and me for the day. Maddy was attending Youth Conference (and having a ball, I might add) and Lauren took a Bastille Day roadtrip to New York with her best friend, Lucy (where they also had a ball). So after we got a few chores done at home, it was a Sam's choice afternoon. We went to the music store and checked out the drums and bass guitars:

I had to take this photo on the sly because who wants to pose for their mom in a drum and guitar store? Not this boy.

Next we went to Bolocco for burritos and headed to the river near our house for a little kayaking:

 I took a few seconds of video so I could remember those oh-so-peaceful moments in that lovely place with my favorite boy:

Wow, is that my voice? It's certainly not the one I hear from my inside-my-head perspective when I talk. Next time I'll have to remember: shh. don't say a word.

SSSSS (superstition solo surprise stud sam)

A few weeks ago Sam casually mentioned he would be staying after school to try out for a chorus solo (and then later even more casually mentioned he got it.) My favorite part is around :53 when you can hear Maddy whisper her epiphany to me: "my brother's a stud!"*

And then! Last Friday he performed in the 8th grade graduation assembly. He had noticed while playing around on the ukelele that lots of songs fit the same chord progression so he put together a medley of lines from 18 pop songs and enlisted a few others to join in.  (Ack! The memory on my phone filled up and stopped about 1/3 of the way through but you'll get the general idea; other songs included You Found Me, Let It Be, Pictures of You, She Will Be Loved, Man in the Mirror, and Someone Like You.)

Every once in a while your kids completely surprise you. I LOVE that. (Well, as long as it's a good surprise.)  You think you've got them figured out, these growing people you've known since before they even drew air into their lungs. You've watched them over the years in hundreds of situations and by the time they're in their teens you're pretty sure you can predict their responses. When Sam started middle school I never would have predicted that, by the end, he would be willing to sing in front of his school (let alone help come up with the idea, help arrange practices, and freely volunteer!). He even agreed to let me post these clips! It's inspiring to watch his comfort zone grow leaps and bounds...right along with his big old 13-year-old feet.

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*p.s. her consistently generous, sisterly support deserves a post of its own.

Down to the Cod

The kids had spring break last week so we took an extended weekend and headed to the Cape (or, as my 17-year-old self called it, The Cod. I'm so sophisticated.). We lucked out with glorious weather despite a forecast of rain and spent those days doing what we wanted when we wanted: whalewatching (squinting way in the distance off the beach, see those plumes of water?), bike riding, beach combing, napping, reading, talking, watching movies, and eating well. Reeeeal well. Practically perfect, save for a missing Lauren. And we won't mention how one of us broke a bed, and someone threw a rock at someone else, and a few other moments.

p.s. The light on the Cape is breathtaking. Something about all that light-reflecting water casts a magic glow over the whole thing. Someday I'd like to paint it. First I have to learn how.