california

We arrived in California ten days ago. We spent the first part of the trip attending a retreat, which was a lot of fun, inspiring, and relaxing. The weather has been great, sunny in the daytime and cooler at night. Here are some visual highlights thus far:

View of grounds where the retreat was held.

The pond on the retreat grounds.

California summer meadow. Photo by Skylar Marks

Another photo by Skylar Marks. Someone dropped rose petals in the pond...

Our kids with Annie, our champion sitter.

Greenfriends organization booth selling plants, saplings, seeds, and baskets and handbags woven from recycled plastic. They also gave out info on how to save bees. More on that soon.

Our family with friends, including Patrick and Shahla from Mother Miracle school in India, with two of their girls. Also pictured are our friends Paul and Kasandra who are starting a new school in California.

Shawn with Mamta and Kusum from India. Both girls help teach the younger children English at their school. They also both want to be doctors. This was their first time in America. They were so sweet. They received their first toys this trip (large stuffed bears) and also saw their reflections in a mirror for the first time ever.

time for a trip

photo by Skylar Marks

It's half past midnight and I am finished packing! It was a big job with the new airline rule of no bag over 50 lbs., yet only one checked bag per person. It was a funny sight, me weighing each bag by lifting them, getting my combined weight on the scale, and then subtracting this from my actual weight. Fifty lbs. is heavy! My heaviest bag is 45 lbs. I am proud to say. We might rent our house while we are gone so I had to clear out all closets, etc. It was quite a job!

The kids had a half day at school today. It was a whirlwind day. First of all it was pajama day at Annabel's school, which for her meant one less thing she had to do on her morning routine -- yeehaw. She was so cute and excited in her little white pajamas with hearts and flowers, and I wonder how long this innocence will last. Sky is far too grown up for this. She's eleven after all.

After I dropped the kids off I went into town to get another large suitcase, shopped for some clothing for me (found some cute stuff!), had a quick smoothie, picked up laundry soap, then picked up the kids and wished all of our friends and the teachers a happy summer. Sky and Annabel went to friends' houses after school and Annabel got a bag of treats from her teachers in front of Shawn. He was pretty bummed. They shared with him, but he still wanted his own. We went to Jamba Juice, our favorite place and got smoothies, and then he was happy. He watched a movie at home and I packed all day long. I took a break to swim in the pool with him (we each pushed each other in with our clothes on) and then we played the octopus game (his invention) where I was the octopus and he was the kid and I was trying to get him, except he never left base, so I never could get him. Then I became the kid and he was the octopus and he got me right away and began taking bites out of me. But he pretended that I tasted yucky so I was saved. This was the highlight of the day.

Thankfully friends transported the girls home and I made a nice dinner, we ate together as a family. Everyone was bathed and the girls played music after dinner, and Shawn drummed. Sky is teaching him to drum to her songs. He is getting quite good, and actually taking direction. We will miss the musical freedom we have with this house and all of our instruments, although the girls will brings guitars and all three kids will bring harmonicas. Can't bring the drum set.

I am tired, but very excited for this adventure. I love California.

shawn's school birthday

The tradition on our children's Montessori school is to do what they call "the walk around the sun" for their birthday. The teacher sets up the diagram of the months of the year. The child holds the globe and walks around the sun (the lit candle) for each year of life. The teacher had Shawn stop at each year and asked me to talk about what he was like at age 1, 2 ,3, and 4. We also showed photos of him at various ages that I had picked out ahead of time. Shawn loved telling his friends about his photos. He asked me, "Was I good at walking?" and "Was I good at talking?"

After he was finished the kids sang happy birthday and then he blew out the candle.

He got to pick a friend to eat lunch with and he picked a little girl I have never heard him talk about. I sat with them too, Shawn kept resting his head on my shoulder during lunch. He was really happy I was there. I could tell it was a big deal to him. Lately he has been saying "No kisses Mom" whenever I kiss him goodnight. But he kept kissing me that day. It was pretty cute.

it's time for me to fly

photo by Skylar Marks

Quotes of Annabel, at age 5:

"How come we can't feel the speed of light?"

"I tried to fly and I stayed up for awhile, but I can't get where I want to go."

"What if the whole world were a carnival? Wouldn't that be great?"

a happy moment

Monday June 2, 1:08 am

I just finished my book and will take it to the printer tomorrow to print it for final editing - spelling, typos etc...before I turn it in. I wanted to get it done by June 6, the day before we leave, and I think I might just do it.

I was asked to keep it to 200 pages. That was hard, as I had over 220 worth of text. I am down to 203 pages, as of now. I think that is okay, close enough. This includes an intro, the text with several photos, an appendix, a glossary, and author's notes. I am the second author in fact.

I feel so very good about this book. It is beautiful. The words, the images, what it evokes in me, and hopefully in others.

What an honor. And I get to turn it in about five days. I am not sure what will happen from here. I don't even know if it is good enough to publish. But I think it's great. And I have loved every step of the process. I began work on this in August of 2006. Wow.

Anyway it is a very happy feeling. Thank you for your support.