1,2,3,GOOOOOOOO

Where has the summer gone??!!!
I can't believe it is basically over. Once Labor Day comes and goes, you know exactly where the year is headed!
With this in mind we decided we needed to go to the cabin at least one more time. Katie, Clark & Aspen came up with us to spend the night Friday and then Cam, Collin & Cache joined in the fun on Saturday. The weather was just perfect -- 95 degrees in the valley but about 82 degrees in the mountains.

My parents built our family cabin back in 1960. One of the first forms of entertainment that was installed was a rope swing. This one in the picture is the second installment. This is the "safer" version. Back about 33 years ago, we were at the cabin on New Years day and Paul sailed off the ice-covered swing and fell about 40 feet and landed on the natural gas tank and suffered a spinal compression fracture. After that my mother was so tramatized that she insisted that swing be taken down and a less dangerous one put up in a less steep section of the forest.

We are now on the 4th generation of family members who are brave enough to attempt the take off. This is always the highlight of any one's cabin experience. The grandkids can hardly wait to be big enough to get in on the fun. My dad started a tradition of screaming
"Ya ba da ba doooooooooo" on the take off just to increase the thrill.

So this is the take off point. You stand on this very rickity platform (we have said we should repair the platform for about the past 3 years and the platform is almost scarier than the actual swinging), hang on to the rope and look down at the small wooden seat that you jump towards and hope you land on. I have been performing this stunt for 48 years and it still gives me a huge adrenaline rush on the take off. This time was just a bit different though. As I stood there building up my confidence to take off, I heard my two little grandkids encouraging me. Collin was telling me "you can do it Grandma!" and Aspen was counting "one, two, three... ". I think she got to about 7 or 8 before I actually took the leap!

Lunch date

So my little household fixup projects seem to just keep on going... tile this, paint that, install new light fixtures, have electrical problems, need new carpet in the next room, on and on and on. Because of all these do-it-myself endeavors, I have been making a lot of trips to Home Depot. I'm getting to know the employees there on a first name basis -- Robert in tiling is THE BEST! So, the other day I was in the middle of one of my undertakings and I needed some more of whatever, so I ran down to Home Depot. While I was there I realized it was lunch time and I was hungry. Do you have a hot dog/brat vendor outside your Home Depot? We do here and I have to admit I really like getting a brat there. Paul likes them too. Since Paul's office is between Home Depot and our home, I decided I'd call Paul and see if he would like me to bring him a brat for his lunch. So while I was waiting for my brat to be grilled, I gave Paul a call on his cell phone:

Paul: Hello
Me: Hi, where are you?
Paul: I'm just sitting in the parking lot at Home Depot eating a brat!
Me: NO WAY!! I'm here at Home Depot getting a brat myself and I was calling to see if you wanted me to get one for you.
Paul: Come over to where I'm parked and we can have lunch together!

Who says we aren't spontaneous!

Beaded bliss

I just love a unique, shiny, dangly necklace. Here are two that I got in China. Heidi has a favorite beading shop called Katherine Jewelry that is located on the 5th floor of the Silk Market (in case any of you are going to Beijing any time soon). I couldn't decide which color I liked the best so "when in doubt, just get both". She actually had this style in probably a dozen different colors. She had rows and rows of sparkling, beautiful beaded necklaces, bracelets, key chains, cell phone danglys, earrings. Just in case you didn't see what you wanted...

she also made custom requests. I had her make the two black necklaces so they hung just perfectly on my neck. I can wear them separately or together. The tan/beige necklace is some kind of natural stone. I seem to have a lot of browns in my wardrobe and I have gotten a lot of use from this one. The one feature I really LOVE the most about these black and tan necklaces are the magnet clasps! If and when I get back to China, I'm going to take all of my jewelry that I can never put on myself and have her put these fabulous magnet clasps on everything. It makes life so much more simple and doable!

The cute silver and gray beaded necklace and bracelet are my gift from Katie for tending Aspen while she was in China last week. It is just the perfect fit and length and it is very versatile. It works for dressy or casual outfits. Love them!

She's got skills

You might mistakedly assume that Aspen is helping out with watering my flower pots but not so. In fact, she is preping for her newest artistic project that she has taken on with both feet (and hands).

Tadah!

Sidewalk water calligraphy!

Somehow she seems to know this is an ancient Chinese way of practicing calligraphy. We saw several people painting their characters on the sidewalk with water at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing last May. She is so clever (and easily entertained). So much fun for a good 45 minutes. No paint, no chalk, no mess... I think this is the perfect summer evening activity especially since the flower pots were completely soaked but her water fascination had not ended.

Not captured on camera was the cute, old, Chinese couple, who live in our neighborhood, out on their evening walk who stopped and watched her and began laughing and joking with us (in Chinese; they speak very little English). I guess they haven't seen this much around here before.