Camp Adventure!

Brett and LJ Pump It Up from Jenn S on Vimeo.

Brett has been LJ's best buddy at summer camp.  We met Brett through Caroline- they're engaged and he frequently hangs with Caroline and the boys when she watches the kids.  (Nate usually challenges him to some hoops:) Congratulations Caroline and Brett! As our luck would have it, Brett was looking for a gig this summer before he commences grad school in the Fall.  And the rest is history.

Today, the campers took a field trip to Pump It Up....a giant indoor inflatable park.  LJ had a blast as you can see from the video. When LJ tired of the bounce house, Brett took him to his fave restaurant for a late lunch.  Fun times.

Thank you Brett!  You are so compassionate, enthusiastic, full-o-energy, funny and so tremendously appreciated by all of us. Best wishes for the next few nourishing, transformative coupla years ahead and the journey you are about to embark on.

The Good Life

Vacation felt almost surreal.  So much beauty in the waves.  Here's to peaceful times. To next year- a year older, wiser, taller and stronger.  Beach memories live forever.

This Is Summer

Favorite thing about this week in the Outer Banks is all the time we've spent together. We've had lots of time together-all 21 of us spanning from Lake Tahoe to Dallas to Boston and Durham. Sipping wine, cooking meals, laughing, playing on the beach, go-karting (go LJ go!) and even charter fishing.  The weather has mostly been perfect.  The first day was rainy, so we invented kayak and stand up paddle board (SUP) games for the pool. The house has a media room so there's been plenty of gaming from playing pool to foos ball to Xbox to boot.  One of the days the ocean was closed, but the beach was open.  There were red flags out saying no swimming.  Turns out the tropical storm created some dangerous waves and it wouldn't have been a good idea to swim in the surf.  So much gratitude for Nana coming and lending her helpful hands with the Lewbug.  And of course, thank you thank you thank you to Uncle Vic and Aunt Lenore for being such gracious hosts of our family beach week.  It has really, truly felt like a vacation for us.  Here are some pictures of our adventures:

We're Taking This Show on the Road

Reunited, and It Feels So Good

My boy is a big boy now. Here's proof. This woman has a heart of gold and was Lewbug's PT from the week we got him home from the NICU. Megan has since moved with her sweet family to Antigua, Guatemala.  We are grateful for her understanding, sensitivity and playful nature and miss her terribly.

Guess who came to visit yesterday?

Megan, there are many things you do in life but you have had an extraordinary impact on the lives of so many children. You opened your heart to us and have given us so much support. So much gratitude for your magical visit on what could have only been a very busy, busy trip for you.  It meant the world to us. You are a true gift!

Summer Shenanigans

Life is full right now. Bursting at the seams, sweaty and leaving a trail of chaos as only summer can do.  Funday with Nana and Michael!

Anna aka Nana and LJ doing their thing--  she has brought so much beauty, laughter and love into our lives and will be missed tremendously next year.  We fully support her and send her our bestest wishes in her business adventures.  Bittersweet to let her go, but happy we will still have her nearby for weeknight datenights and occasional babysitting.

So Much Joy In This Face!

Grateful Just to be Grateful-- Nate had some amazing adventures on the Chester River in Maryland. Our dear friends who are moving to Ethiopa at the end of the summer were wonderful hosts. We went fishing off the dock, kayaking, stayed up way too late and all the kids spent much of the weekend swimming, catching frogs and taking turns "driving" the boat.  They took occasional breaks to watch the World Cup.  Obviously, we are going to miss you E & A!!!  So excited to travel vicariously through you and recognize what an amazing adventure you and your sweet family are about to embark on.

Nate's Happy Place- Camp Green...I know this picture may not show him smiling.  But honestly he loves it.  His day today consists of camp-wide assembly, archery, ropes, nature, lunch, swimming, karate and then mad science.  It sufficiently wears him out!  Plus he's there with his best buddy, Bennett.  The day this photo was taken was Green Day.

Camp JCC- trading roles for the day. LJ the Special Needs Director and Jessica the Happy Camper.  LJ has a thing for her!!  He also likes to be all official, complete with ID badges. So far he's enjoyed cooking, baking, swimming, a concert, crafts, playground time, dress up days and there will be an upcoming field trip to see a play (Camp asked me whether they should get a bus with a wheelchair lift for the field trip. I'm impressed with everything.)

Happy campers. Truism. Lew's friends get so excited when they get picked to ride the elevator up to the main level with him.  Lewis says his best friend is Jacob. Heart melts.

FAO "Shorts" Schwarz // New York City with Nanny and Babu.  The coolest, custom wheels from RideMakerz.  Took an hour to build.  LJ and I played the piano from the movie Big and "test drove" many cool rides.  Nanny and Babu also wined and dined us at Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar & Wa Jeal Sichuan Chili House. Nate was so stoked to order the chocolate pizza with melted milk and white chocolate meteors for dinner!

An Epic Weekend...Nearly Did Me In (We took the train up from DC.  Hopped on many busses. Walked. Ate. Saw the Gazillion Bubble Show (well LJ protested).  We came. We conquered.

Good Morning NYC's Central Park. Missing Nanny and Babu already!!

 
80s Day at Camp.  Universe, meet Madonna. Uh I mean Molly:)  She is a wonderfully entertaining, imaginative, caring person and my new work wife!  She's sassy, and kind and has a heart of gold. She's not timid either- her dad is a bee-keeper and she is not afraid to don her beekeeping suit and veil to tend to the bees and harvest their honey.  Welcome to the hive Molly!

To the tune of Single Ladies by Beyonce;)  The camp counselors are performing this song for a camp-wide assembly at the end of the week.

  

I know it must sound like such a charmed life.  I'm ready to re-live childhood and channel those carefree vibes.  Happy week to come soon in the Outer Banks with my cousins, aunt and uncle!  More pics to come soon.

If LJ Had a Pinterest Account, It Would All Be Food Shots

And these are a few of his current faves:

PS America's Test Kitchen and Barefoot Contessa get lots of airtime at home!

Courage & Work

"I tell you, my friend, all happiness depends on courage and work. I have had many periods of wretchedness, but with energy, and above all, with illusions, I pulled through them all. That is why I still hope, and hope much."--Honore de Balzac, letter to friend Laurent-Jan, December 10, 1849, in The Works of Honore de Balzac, Volume 20, translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley (1899)

"The Moon"

I went to a weekend meditation retreat this weekend with Karen Maezen Miller!  I feel as though my cup has been refilled.  I've refueled.  I feel wonderful.  This passage has stuck with me so I felt I should share it here.

Transcribed talk by Dogen Zengi : : The Moon

"Whether we see a crescent moon or a half moon, in any of the phases of the moon before it is full, is anything truly lacking?" Maezumi said in the talk.  "Perhaps you are more logical than me," he laughed, "and you don't wait for the day your life will be full!"

Then Karen Maezen Miller shared a story of the girl and the moon in her new book "Paradise in Plain Sight".

reflecting light.  Only our perspective changes.  We rob ourselves when we mistake the unreal for the real.  

Your heart is always whole, just as the moon is always full.  Your life is always complete.  You just don't see it that way.

There is a pattern to it all.  A precise and invisible orbit that brings the full moon around again without fail.

No More Homework, No More Books...

Mom, Christy Everett, has two beautiful children in Alaska and keeps a blog titled Following Elias. Her words always touch my heart. I think Elias is such a courageous boy and I wonder and wish someday if that will be my LJ.  She granted me permission to share a recent entry she posted on the eve of Elias' last day of school. I really connect with everything she feels and says. She put it into words I could not articulate.  This mindfulness of appreciating the way things are, yet always a hint of longing.  

The Eve of the Last Day

Elias, tomorrow you will complete the 4th grade, surrounded by typical kids, ten like you, but oh so different.

And not.

Every one of us bears inexplicable challenges. Some visible to the eye, others hidden behind masks of normalcy.

As your school counselor, I know some of the students' secrets and in many ways you have it pretty good.

Your own room, a full fridge, a closet full of clothes.

Structure, boundaries, space.

And parents who love you just right.

I remember walking down the hall once with a sullen angry boy, damaged by abuse and neglect, you happened to be walking past with your unique gait, your canes, your eyes that rarely connect with mine. The boy didn't know you were my son and he said, "I feel sorry for him."

And I wanted to say: Don't. He has so much more than you. More than you can imagine. More than your heart knows.

Instead I just asked him, "Why?"

"Look at him."

Sometimes people only see your disabilities.

But one of the many things I love about you, is you never focus on them. You never complain about your eyesight or your muscle control. You laugh when you fall. And you get up again.

And you get up again.

And you get up again.

"I need a change," you announce when your pull-up is soiled, and if kids snicker, and I'm sure they do, you don't flinch. You don't seem to care what others think of you and that my boy is the space between lines, or outside and above them, the freedom to be exactly who you are.

What if all of us were born with this gift? 

Without the ability to compare and despair. To just be ourselves. To screw the in-crowd. To forget about the word should. To just walk freely in our own bones.

What if...

Instead our lives are often filled with longing, to be more like some image of ourselves impossible to fulfill; we live within the stories others wrote for us or on the tails of false expectations.

We inhale the hidden rules of what it means to be a boy or girl and forget to breath out our own songs.

But Elias, not you.

And sure there are times when I wish you joined the parade of so called normalcy, but today, I just feel so honored to know you and call you my son.

Happy last day of school Bud.

On Father's Day

“…I’ve made it my business to observe fathers and daughters. And I’ve seen some incredible, beautiful things. Like the little girl who’s not very cute – her teeth are funny, and her hair doesn’t grow right, and she’s got on thick glasses – but her father holds her hand and walks with her like she’s a tiny angel that no one can touch. He gives her the best gift a woman can get in this world: protection. And the little girl learns to trust the man in her life. And all the things that the world expects from women – to be beautiful, to soothe the troubled spirit, heal the sick, care for the dying, send the greeting card, bake the cake – all of those things become the way we pay the father back for protecting us…” 
― Adriana Trigiani, Big Stone Gap

No Stage Fright Here...A Graduate

LJ In the Spotlight_PreK Graduation June 2014 from Jenn S on Vimeo.

Last Friday night, LJ had a cute preschool graduation ceremony.  Here are some memories from the night.

After party batting practice with friends