Empty Nest

Re-enrty has been so hard after this vacation.  We had THE BEST vacation in a long time.  I laughed a lot and relaxed so much. The kids all had a blast.  It truly changed me.  It made me really think about what is important in our life....time together, playing games, laughing with old friends.  Our family can be a bit serous and goal oriented much of the time.  On vacation, I really lived in the moment and just had fun.  I realized that we need to do a lot more of that.  In fact, this whole summer has been really fantastic and fun (for me anyway).

It is a little quiet at our house right now. Will is in CA for the US Water Polo Junior Olympics.  I am really proud of him.  Not many kids get to participate in the Junior Olympics and Harry has been there for Judo (and won silver) and now Will is there (their team is losing but they are there!).  Funny thing is... I have never really thought of us as a very athletic family.  I am not athletic AT ALL.  But these peanuts are really surprising us with their athleticism!

Anyway, Will is having a blast with his team...bonfires on Laguna Beach, hanging out on Balboa Island, Van's Surf championship, team mass at Mission San Juan Capistrano...it does not get much better than that!

Early this morning, Harry left for his fifth year at Camp Utopia (not its real name;)  He is going for 2 weeks this year and I am a little sad.  I really enjoy my kids' company and I miss them when they are gone that long.  In fact, yesterday morning before he left, Harry and I had a date.  He is a coin collector (silver, really) and he wanted to go to some garage sales to look for silver coins.  I don't really enjoy garage sales but I sure did enjoy the two hours hanging out with my smart, sweet 12 and 1/2 year old son.  He is such a fabulous kid. I love his personality and it is fun to have one on one time with him.

We took Harry this morning to the bus for camp.  Kate was a little sad for two reasons.  One is she REALLY wants to go to Camp Utopia and she figured out she is old enough but I am making her wait until next summer (I am not ready).  And two...she LOVES her brothers.  She will miss her Habu profoundly for 2 weeks.  She cut 14 pieces of post it notes to count down the days until he comes home.


You can see how sad she looks in the photos...

Waiting to check in and take his temp to make sure he is not sick:)

6 am waiting to board the camp buses with his buddy.

Hugs goodbye...







After the buses pulled out, we went home and grabbed breakfast
and then headed to the beach with Kate...









She was a little scared/intrigued by the jellyfish.  We also found some cool sea slugs.


Dave and Kate built a sandcastle...





And some drippy castles too...














It was a very nice day.  And tonight Kate is spending the night with a friend, so the nest is really empty. It is weird.  I have no kids to cook breakfast for in the morning and no one to chauffeur to work or camp!!  So strange.

I have a few more posts to do from our vacation and then another post where I will auction off some clothes for a blog friend's adoption.
So, if you are interested in some Matilda Jane and other clothes, check back this week.

P.S.  {Kate's suit is from Target}