mamasewingcircus.com

I stepped out of the bathroom momentarily and returned to find Sylvie shaving Will’s back using a toy razor. Where do they learn these things? Neither their dad nor I have hairy backs. Swear.

It looks like a giant floor polisher…

Post bath, Will gelled his hair slicking it back Fonzi style, then appeared in the kitchen, pajamas in hand, concerned, “But my pjs are going to mess up the hair!”

Following our streak of hot weather, we’re suffering biblical rains. Some of this has been like Houston humidity; some true rain. Yesterday’s rain brought fetid mud puddles to bathe in. Of course, puddles are straight where the kids headed when we arrived home from school. Initially, the kids were fully clothed in jeans and rain boots. Within five minutes, my children had stripped to their underwear/diaper, complaining their pants were wet. In no time, everyone but Theo was down to skin. After a good hour amusing the neighbors, rejuvenating in the swamp of youth, both households were dumped straight into hot baths. Ah, to be young.

Will started swimming lessons, today. He was so excited, he had his goggles on 15 minutes before his group was allowed in the water. Because we were running late, I accidentally got him in the pool with the Level 2 kids (second season swimmers), but he is pretty fearless and was able to quickly catch on. After the lesson- “Mommy, I blew water out of my nose!” “Mommy, can we keep the pool forever?” “Mommy, I have to pee, I drank a lot of water.”

When told he needed to wash his hair because the chlorine from the pool will make his hair turn green, “Oooh, I’m not washing it.” Duh. It should have occurred to me that green hair wouldn’t be discouraging.

We’re going back Thursday. Woo-hoo!

Our recent camping trip has me dreaming of a pre-packed trailer awaiting my arrival home from the office – ready to drive off for the weekend, up the coast. Oh, to not have to remember the stove. Oh, to sleep on a warm bed instead of on hard, rocky ground. Oh, to be wind proof. I must be getting old. But, seriously, doesn’t this thing look romantic? With real porcelain sinks and maple cabinets… They sure made them solid back then.

I’ve been surfing craigslist and vintagecampers.com dreaming.

It may be iced coffee weather where you are, but it is not, here. I’ve never been one to get caught up in trends, so I’ll be starting my iced coffee tonight as it takes at least 12 hours to make.

If you’ve never tried real iced coffee – I don’t mean hot coffee poured over ice – you’ll be surprised by how the qualities of the drink change using this brewing method. True iced coffee isn’t acidic. It is mellow and nutty with hints of chocolate. It is a little bit like melted chocolate ice cream.

What is iced coffee if not hot brewed coffee poured over ice? In my house, I cold brew by letting 1/4c freshly ground coffee sit in 1c water on the counter overnight. In the morning, I strain the concoction through a coffee filter into my cup. Voila! Yum.

Is it iced coffee weather, yet?

A comprehensive list of Farmer’s Markets in Houston, Texas. In case you are in the area and hungry…

Then wash it down with these wine winners from the Texas Livestock and Rodeo.

We had a windy fun-filled weekend camping at Sonoma State Beach with the kids’ favorite friends – Matthew and Toby.

We got off to a rough start arriving at 8:40PM to pitch the tent in the dark, fighting 40mph winds, and ultimately burning a small hole in the tent when the wind pushed it against our only source of light – the propane lantern. Sylvie was up with an earache most of the night, so by the first sign of light at 5AM we were up to find that we’d forgotten our camp stove, packing only the grill, and Doug had forgotten his coffee. Doug is a coffee junkie. The wind was still blowing with great intent, and we needed cell reception to call for a stove, coffee to fuel the man, and tylenol to calm the little, so we headed out to the nearest town. A few hours later, we were back at camp with 2 pounds of saltwater taffy, tylenol, coffee and ready to start the day.

Toby and Matthew arrived around lunchtime and the fun began. The kids hung out in the tents and hung from the trees. Trees became pirate ships and sticks were wielded as fishing poles. Dinner was fresh caught sole and crab from local fish mongers. We boiled the crab in our tiny camp pots filled with sea water and grilled the sole on the barbecue. It was incredible. Doug says he likes Alice and Arne because they, like Josh and Jeanie, eat everything as a burrito.

Dessert was the requisite S’mores, and somehow despite the chaos of fire and small, excited children, there were no marshmallows burnt into hair or onto chairs or flaming pokings. All was somehow good with the marshmallow roast.

Sunday was perfect. The kids got in some quality beach time flying Arne’s learning kite (for kite surfing), rolling in the shells and pebbles and making mud pies with the water from camp. Good times.

Can’t wait for this weekend.

I love how this guy puts his pants on while brushing his teeth. The second half is instructions for achieving his feats.