To everything, turn, turn.

Every summer has a different flavor. Like choosing ice cream I struggle to pick a flavor, but if I could give this summer a flavor, it might be ummm, Strawberry Cheesecake...or maybe...Huckleberry Swirl? See, I just can't choose! One thing I know for sure is that it has been a whole lot of beautiful mixed in with a whole lot of real life crazy. And, it has been a gift. A total gift. All of it, the good, the bad, and everything in between.
  We sort of started this summer off with a bang, our long camping trip followed by our family camp out in Wenatchee, so that the rest of the summer has been filled with little things that are really the big things. For the kids, it has been wake up, get swim trunks on, play with the neighbors until 9:30 at night and running in to the house for occasional refueling with snacks that has made up most of their days. We have been blessed with a summer of perfect weather. Mostly not too hot, we have had a couple of truly hot days(which is a fun novelty), but also not as windy and foggy as it can frequently be here in the summer. So, the kids have made the absolute most of every minute. My boys are brown and their hair is bleached, that is saying something about the weather in Western Washington!
  This summer there is also some sadness. Our neighbors are moving to Florida and in just a few short days will be packing up their home and their 3 daughters to start a new adventure. Those three girls have been a part of our every day lives for almost 5 years. The have been the best of playmates and we will miss them terribly. I don't like to think about it too much, it makes me so sad. But, we wish them all the best and will keep them in our prayers and hopefully be able to keep in touch and watch the girls grow on facebook. Social media has its benefits!

  We are also staring down the approaching deployment of the hubby. This has been a wee, little gray cloud that has been in the distance of our summer but is now getting closer and isn't so wee anymore. It is more like a big, gray cloud. I know I shouldn't complain. So I won't. We are military. This is part of the package. But, if you read well between these lines, you will know there is much not being said. And, even more being felt by everyone in this house.
  Fortunately, things have changed since Heath deployed on his last ship. We now have super, duper iPhones with facetime, text, and photo sharing. All things that were still sort of new way back then. I pretty much put my foot down and said to the hubs, "Before you leave, we ARE taking advantage of everything that modern technology has to offer!" I want to text him during the day and share the little bits of our lives while they happen, I want to send him pictures of the boys, and I want them to be able to "see" him and talk to him, thank you face time! Things will be different for this deployment. I am grateful for technology!
  I have been reading a lot this summer. I pretty much burned myself out on Georgette Heyer novels. But, all I have wanted to read is light hearted, happy stuff and those books fit the bill for me quite nicely. 
  We also bought another Volkswagon van. The price was ridiculously right, so right in fact, that to pass it up might have been morally wrong ;) Lol! So, now Heath has himself another winter project. And, quite a project it will be. This van is in much rougher shape than Franklin was, although not terrible for being almost 30 years old. It will be fun watching it transform. And, we will be that much closer to starting our Westy rental business! Yep, we even have our business license and everything!
  So, much has been happening in this neck o' the woods. It feels nice to sit and write some of it down. I have been relying a lot more on instagram now that I have my new snazzy phone, to record our daily doin's but I have missed writing them down in this space of the internets :)
  For the last word I will share some of my favorite summer time quotes.

"I spent the summer traveling. I got halfway across the backyard."

Agassiz

Nature walk to gather materials for fairy furniture.

Summer afternoon~summer afternoon; to me those have been the two most beautiful words in the English Language.

Henry James

Fairy hammock!

My boys and the girls making a home for the fairies. I will miss these times!