beach yoga

We've got a quieter house now, with two kids out of the nest. It's just Shawn home now. The youngest boy who is the tallest family member.  He's driving now. Doing well in school. Enjoys watching movies with me and Gary. Pulling off complicated tumbling tricks in his gymnastics class. He loves to push himself. I was the same way. Ahh, youth.

our summer, part one

In June we took the kids to northern California, followed by Los Angeles and New Mexico to spend time with Amma. Sky joined us on the first stop and brought her boyfriend to meet Amma for the first time. The kids participated in seva (service), mostly serving food. We all got to send time with Amma, hear some inspiring talks, meditate, and see lots of friends along the way. In New Mexico Gary and I got to tour the ashram there, outside of Sante Fe, founded by our friends Steve and Cathy. It was beautiful. I love spending time with my family, especially now that the little birds are leaving the nest.

swami time

Back in January Annabel and I went on a tour of four Hawaiian islands with Dayamrita Swami, Amma's senior representative. We had such a great time connecting with old friends and we made some new ones too. Gary and Shawn met us on one of the islands, where we stayed in a huge house near the sea. We stayed with a group of over twenty people in different places and spent a lot of time in reflective prayer and meditation. We toured a botanical garden and ate loads of tropical fruits from trees, we heard stories from an attorney who represented Martin Luther King, we hiked and biked along the ocean, we got stuck in an airport for several hours but still managed to have fun passing the time while playing games together, we prayed for world peace during a fake ballistic missile threat, and we were relieved to hear it was just a mistake! Annabel played her bass with the band during sets of devotional songs, and all in all, we had lots of laughter, love and peaceful moments.

life in san ramon

We spent the fall in northern California. We had secured housing but were unable to move in right away, so for a few weeks we stayed at Amma's ashram. The conditions of our house at the ashram were somewhat rustic, but I loved it. It was so beautiful there walking on the expansive grounds, sharing meals with residents, eating fresh plums and apples from the orchard, attending talks and programs by the swami, and yoga classes with some ladies. Shawn started school at a huge high school in a nearby town with over two thousand kids. It was a big change for him. He loved caring for the resident kitty, and learned to shoo away the raccoons that would visit our back porch.