May 18: Rainstorms

Adam had one more trip this month, this time doing research for a case in southern Colorado. He was gone for 4 days, and it rained for 3 days straight. And I mean, it poured rain.

I could hardly stand to wear my winter coat in late May - temperatures hovered in the 40's during the 3 wet days - but in our family, we all get a thrill from a good storm. Even Jonah got to experience the wild beauty of an incoming storm for the first time, and he could hardly take his eyes away from the window.


Smokey was having a fit at this point; we found out later that there had been a funnel cloud just a few miles north of us. But at our house, there was just gentle rumbling thunder, flashes of lightning and a long downpour, followed by a steady, hard rain.

The photo below is just to show that Isaac was there too. Every time I pointed the camera at him, he gave me this face.


Meanwhile, I opened the window wide, and Jonah couldn't tear himself away from the screen, the sound of the rain, the misty drops pouring into his room.






Isaac knows a good nap day when we get one. He snuggled under a blanket and slept on the sofa. But Jonah was soon awake again and ready to play in the storm, which by this point was just a good soaking rain.

May 15: Happy boys

I heard quiet, happy chatter while cleaning the kitchen and found a worker and a railroad engineer in my living room.

Mother's Day

One of Adam's best college friends had planned his bachelor party for Mother's Day weekend, so I had just assumed we would skip the celebration this year. But Adam managed to spend the weekend with his friends in Key West AND get home by lunchtime on Mother's Day, by booking a 6am flight out of Fort Lauderdale. He even drove through the night to get to the airport on time.

That effort alone made this a great Mother's Day, but we also had a beautiful family outing. After naps, we drove up to Boulder and ambled along my favorite plains trail, which runs along a rushing creek through the prairie.






Isaac did his best to protect his water-loving brother from the creek.


The day was warm and beautiful, and the leaves were filling out but were still colored in the bright green of new growth.


This made the perfect climbing tree, and all four of us jumped on.








Then we headed to Pearl Street Mall to get some dinner and let the boys play. The restaurant wasn't amazing - we'd happily spent our time on the trail and so the boys were too hungry for a leisurely dinner - but we were so glad to have Adam home again.


And Pearl is always a party - full of entertainers, climbing structures, flowers, shops and some of the best people-watching anywhere.
My favorite this time was the guy standing in the middle of the sidewalk smiling eagerly at every passerby, holding a sign that said "Free Hugs."

May 7: Lunch on the Porch

Day 3 alone - We went to an artisan flea market in our neighborhood that was supposed to have one of our favorite food trucks, Basic Kneads Pizza. I found some great presents (like your earrings, Mom!), but the pizza truck was so popular that we were going to have to wait 20 minutes for our lunch. It was hot - finally, a hot day - and it was already lunchtime. Wish I'd thought to order while we were still ambling around the booths.

But instead, I promised the boys cheese toast outside. So I set them up on the front porch, and even Jonah stayed seated on the bench while they chugged milk and water and finished the canteloupe and strawberries and slowly ate their cheese toast. They were so happy that I had time to prepare the dirt in my 2 big pots and plant four seedlings.

May 6: Hike at South Valley

When Adam left for three and a half days not too long after his Utah trip, it didn't seem like such a long time. But thinking of palm trees and deep blue ocean against white sand gave me the travel bug, while I was here alone with the boys.
Luckily, we happen to live in a pretty beautiful place too, and hiking in South Valley on the second day of his absence, I looked around the spread of green hills, red rocks and huge sky and thought that this had to be just as spectacular as a tropical beach.



Isaac, Oliver and Jack have been a trio since they were babies, though Isaac hasn't had the chance to hang out with the other two for months. They were excited and a little shy (okay, not Jack!) when they saw each other again. But soon they looked like old friends once more.

We started out with a little map-reading so we wouldn't get lost.








Okay, there was a lot of map-reading to do.






Then we set off, with only Josie willing to ride in the pack for any amount of time. Jonah traveled either on slow, steady feet or in my arms when we needed to catch up.




Walker soon demanded to be on her own feet too.


These sweeping views and all that wide open space are good for the soul.






More navigating...


Leanne took this picture, which may be one of my all-time favorites of Isaac. There is almost nothing he loves more than a wide-open field and the chance to run like the wind.


Isaac was like Adam on the trail - charging along with an air of easy capability and no thoughts of turning around. He "read" the map and navigated for us, pointing out the dangers and all the beauty too, running up and down with boundless energy and hiking so solidly and matter-of-factly. The others were all ready to turn around eventually, but Isaac asked if we could just keep going. I was proud of my little hiker.
If only Jonah would ride in the pack...


We were happy to turn around though so we could spend more time with our friends. We had a picnic lunch near the parking lot -


on a beautiful, almost hot day in early May.