hurricane prep

Well, we have water, flashlights, and a supply of boxed and canned food. (Can I just tell you though how hard it was for me to buy all those preservatives?)
Shawn made sure that the stack of plywood that came with the house was going to be useful, and boarded up most of the windows. (Katie took a great nap today!)

With all that finished and a Monday morning of school under our belts, we were able to move on to the most important task of soaking up fresh air and stretching little legs before the rain sets in. My wise friend, Kelly, suggested a nature hike and it was the perfect thing.

With the storm already blowing in, the air was almost pleasant as we strolled along trails on a nearby university campus.

The kids walked and turtle watched and peed in the woods and a great time was had by all. Well, all except for Kenna who lost her necklace. She thinks it fell into the water...

Poor, sweet girl was devastated. I reminded her that daddy lost his shoe in the fishing pond in Colorado but it was ok because we'd rather have daddy than the shoe and how much worse would it have been if she had fallen into that murky water herself or if we had lost her sister on the path...oh I went on and on but she was inconsolable.
And then I let her take pictures with my camera and she perked up a bit...

She has a good eye, that girl, and my goodness, Florida is green, isn't it?

I'm going to go take some duct tape to my clanging wind chimes now so I can curl up with a few good books in peace.

And that, I believe, does it for our day of hurricane preparations. 

ending summer

School is in full swing here in the Campbell house (well, we successfully finished one full week anyway.) Though we seem to live in a land of eternal summer, we are looking forward to fall and the hope of cooler temperatures, quieter beaches, field trips with friends, and a schedule packed with soccer, gymnastics, and music lessons. I'm glad to be nearing the end of a mile long to-do list in this vacation-to-school transition, and hoping for a smooth few months. But I know, I know- in reality, life is never smooth. School week two is promising to begin with hurricane force winds after all!

So before I begin gathering toys in from the back yard and shopping for water and batteries, I thought I'd take some time on my Saturday morning to finally catch up on our summer vacation photos. More to come this week as we say goodbye to summer, and welcome a new season.

12 (really) good years

"Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.
Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart..."

Philippians 1:3 (The Message)

when the sun shines through

some things with some pictures

I haven't had much to say here on the ol' blog lately so I thought I'd catch you up on some things (some things which I realize now might actually explain my absence...)
So here goes-

::I read the entire Harry Potter series (again) in July. I've lost count of how many times I've read those books, but I still love them every time and still cry most of the way through book 7. I actually read some other books too -they're in that scrolly amazon thing in the right sidebar along with some of the kid's latest favorites.

::We like to go to the beach in the evenings. For some reason the crowds pack up and leave just when it starts to get really pretty. There is always a cool breeze and the lights and colors at sunset are incredible.

::I have a lot of photos to edit from our vacation. OK I have pretty much all of the photos from our vacation still to edit except for the handful already on flickr.
Computers, bleh.
But I know Lisa wants some pictures. So tell you what, Lisa, I promise to send them to you before that baby is born...

::Shawn and I are on week three of Insanity. It's bananas yo. But I feel great! OK I feel really really sore. But I feel great!

::School prep is in full swing over here. I've cleaned out closets and baskets and boxes and binders, I've ordered books, I've printed maps, I've aged fifty years and installed a wood stove...

::Ha. Kidding. That's Tristan and his cousin Joey in the one room schoolhouse at Deanna Rose Children's Farm. Our school room definitely looks more dining room, but it's the same idea.

::Classical Conversations starts in two weeks. I'll be tutoring a class of 4-5 year olds. Do you know how fun it is to hear 4-5 year olds chanting Latin declensions and singing about the Heian Empire and easily identifying places like Timbuktu on a map with their tiny little hands? It's really fun. I just hope I can keep up with them.

::We love our church. They grew a garden this summer, bearing literal fruit to benefit the community...

::I've had Josh Garrel's albums on a never-ending cycle of repeat in my car for the past year. Now he is giving away his Love & War B Sides Remix album. It is of course fantastic. Also, watch the trailer for his upcoming film, The Sea In Between, which looks amazing.

::I took the kids out shopping for a slip 'n slide today (because we're all tired of the heat and the indoors and I figured the good ones should be on clearance by now -they aren't.) We brought it home, opened the box, and the thunderstorm began. Of course.

::Kate is officially, finally, completely, potty trained. Then End.

a paper city for a rainy day

This time of year in Florida, you can count on two things pretty much every day -unbearable heat and regular afternoon thunderstorms. Thursday I was certain our wild mid-day shower was going to be taking the fence with it when it left, but it's mostly still intact. This morning the kids only lasted about half an hour playing in the yard before the oppressive humidity drove them back inside (leaving me sweating with the lawn mower alone), and now I can hear thunder beginning to rumble...

So what to do on these dark, and rainy, or too hot to go outside days? Enter, Paper City from Made by Joel. You must check out his fun site- the simple coloring pages alone are worth your time and ink! We printed our city parts on heavy card stock, colored, cut, and set them all up.  Just creating it was a lot of fun, and now the kids like to combine it with trains, blocks, legos, you name it -lots of creative possibilities.

I especially like the group of paper people that Kate colored. They're all pink so we named them the "strawberry pie face people" which makes the kids giggle. The people are drawn without mouths so you can add individual expressions, but I noticed Kenna was the only one who added mouths -her people are all smiling. Laughing at the strawberry pie people, she says.

So, what do you like to do on rainy days?

hello, august. wait, what?

August...really? Must pull head out of clouds...