Day 271

Home sweet home. I'm kind of bored by this space a little bit. I watch all these crazy HGTV shows and get inspired pretty easily, but for whatever reason, it's hard to implement that into my own home. It's not bad, just pretty neutral I guess.. And definitely needs some Sarah Anderson Photography up on the walls. That is really where I hit the biggest hurdle. I can NOT make any decisions on what prints or what frames or size. I have all these options on my desktop. Ugh! Some day I will make it happen.

Day 270

On rare occasion, we hit the Burger King for convenience's sake. Liam, of course, learned the term "Happy Meal" pretty quickly. I took him over for lunch this day and I started feeling like totally guilty mom because I swear EVERY toy he has ever received there in the Happy Meal is completely offensive to me and completely inappropriate, in my slightly arrogant opinion, for a three year old. I have asked the employees there at least 3 times if there is another toy available and the only thing I have really ever gotten in return is slightly amused, sarcastic, blank stares. The first time this happened, I explained to Liam that I wasn't very happy about the toy, that I had asked for an alternative to which they had none, that it was a toy for big kids really and that I didn't really think he should play with it. I expected total meltdown or stubborn resistance. On the contrary, to my complete surprise Liam says to me, "Oh, alright. I guess we could just give it to Isaac (our 10 year old neighbor) . . . HE'S a big boy..." Well, since then I have basically had to confiscate every toy we have ever received at Burger King (why are they so horrendous for crying out loud . . . whatever happened to matchbox cars and pound puppies?!) So at any rate, my guilt got the best of me today because this child is so completely reasonable about it . . . I ended up taking him to our neighborhood toy store for him to pick out something that I felt WAS appropriate. $30 later . . . this is what we ended up with!! MUCH sweeter than extraterrestrial Autobots and evil Depticons (or whatever....)

Day 269

Want so badly to teach Liam the love of this game.

Day 268

One of our new summertime (I say summer because Fall is actually our summer) traditions is sitting out on the porch with Liam at sunset while he has a popsicle for dessert. I think it is my new favorite time of day.

Day 266-Day 267

There were many great shots for the 2 days we were up in Hendy Woods in the Anderson Valley so I compiled the best of. Friday night, we got Liam all tucked in his new sleeping bag and Keegan and I sat out by the campfire for another hour or so. My lungs breathed in the fresh, perfectly cool air, we looked up at a gazillion stars that I don't think I've seen in years actually, and I could just feel the noise in my soul silencing. Beautiful place. With my best 2 boys. Perfect. Serenity. Renewal. I could not wipe the smile from my face. We cooked some campfire meals, toasted some marshmallows, hiked in the redwoods, played by the river, chased Liam around the campground loop on his bike, hung out at a Brewery, visited an apple farm and tasted some fantastic Pinots. California, you are amazing.

Day 265

I spent almost the entire day packing up the car for a weekend camping trip with Liam and Keegan. When I grabbed my camera to put in the car, I snapped this shot quickly, thinking I would get a great shot of our little campsite once we had it all set up that evening. Well, it turns out it was a good thing I shot this because by the time we got going, stopped going due to traffic, and ended up at the campsite, it was pitch dark!! I LOVE to camp, but Keegan takes some mild convincing so we've gone twice I think since we've been together (11ish years). However, we rolled in there in the darkness, pitched a tent, built a fire, and had dinner cooking in about 10 minutes flat. By the time we got all that settled, Liam settled, the camera still sat in the bag where I had packed it so this was it folks!

Day 264

Peanut butter and jelly and playtime at the park. Doesn't get much better than that on a sunny afternoon.