Six.

My Blakeley turned six yesterday - my sweet, stubborn, adventurous, creative girl. We celebrated with starbucks in the morning, watermelon for a school snack, Chinese for dinner, and cake and ice cream to finish...all Blakeley's favorite things. Blake is a truly kind hearted person. She loves people and loves meeting needs. Each year I love seeing how far she has come. She is determined and once she gets something in her mind she will work as hard as she can to see that she accomplishes it.

I have been richly blessed by her and I am honored to be able to watch her grow and discover life and all that is holds for her. Happy Birthday to my Sunshine Girl. I love you so and I am so glad you are my daughter.

We went camping a few weeks ago at one of my most favorite places in the world. It is a magical place green with moss and wildflowers, hidden toadstools, and berries growing wild. We go fishing, play in the creek, go hiking, relax and just take in nature. I love this place.

Slack lining with good friends.

She was serious about keeping mountain lions away - "Parent Trap" style.

Slipping away...

So wow...welcome to the second half of August. I have been working like a mad woman for the last few weeks and have not had anytime to do much of anything. I feel like I woke up from my work fog this weekend and realized that summer is slipping away. Before we know it the leaves will start changing and autumn will be here. In the mean time, I am determined to enjoy the rest of our garden.

Our first artichoke, the size of a golfball right now...

Also, our first sunflower around 10-11 feet tall.

We have to harvest our vegetables in a laundry basket...zucchini, summer squash, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelon.

Garden Update

Insane is the most common word we use when we talk about our garden. It is absolutely insane and we are loving it. Our garden is starting to really take off. This week we snacked on snap peas, enjoyed basil, chopped a very small onion and harvested our first two zucchinis. I can't help but peaking out at the garden each time I walk by a window. I want to be out there seeing things grow and change and feeling the energy of all those living things. I am blown away each time I look at one of the plants I grew from a tiny seed. It is amazing what can come from something so little and in such a short amount of time. July in Colorado is when gardens really start to take off because the days are longer and the weather is hot. We know that things are really going to start exploding very soon...I will let you know when we are up to our elbows in zucchini!

In my bike basket this week - 2 cook books - Enchanted Broccoli Forrest by Mollie Katzen and Sundays at Mooswood Restaurant. CDs from the library - the soundtrack from Whip It, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, and the soundtrack from Pirate Radio.

Letter Boxing

We went on our first Letter Boxing excursion this weekend. To find out more about Letterboxing you can check out this link. We found there are over 300 letter boxes within 25 miles of us...and we had a lot of fun finding a few different boxes...unfortunately, we went on the hottest day of the year and we all started melting before we could find the last box...we'll have to go back a get it later on.

This last weekend I took off to central California to see my sweet friend Lauren marry the love of her life, Isaac. Lauren was a gorgeous bride and their wedding was absolutely beautiful and very creative. The reception was in an old barn and was just sooo cool. Lauren was one of my high school students when I volunteered with our youth group. We use to meet at Starbucks early in the morning each week before Lauren would have to go to school. She is an amazing woman who is now volunteering with high school students at her church. Love you Laur!

I was even able to go to the beach for a bit while I was there...its has been a really long time since I have been to a California beach.

Lil' Miss Hawthorne carrying oh-so-important things such a wine and a salad to a backyard dinner.

Two Wheels...

This is one proud little girl. She decided that today she was going to ride a bike with no training wheels and she did...on the very first try...and in flip flops. She is determined and does not like giving up. Now all she wants to do is practice riding her bike. We have been doing a lot of biking riding around town this summer and she is so excited to show off her two wheels.

Camping - Backyard Style

This weekend we took part in the National Wildlife Federation: Great American Backyard Camp Out. This was the first time we slept under the stars in a tent as a family and hopefully not the last. As much as we love our sweet little trailer, it was awful fun sleeping in a tent. We even had some really cool tent neighbors who let us share their backyard with them. Our camp out came complete with s'mores and starry sky, and coyotes and crickets. It was a perfect summer night to spend time outdoors with family and friends and I really could not ask for a more perfect night than that.

Lettuce and Spinach from our garden.

Colorado Classic Campout

This weekend we skipped out of town for the Colorado Classic Campout. Last summer we were given an amazing 1970 Rolite Retract-A-Wall camper and it sparked our love for all things with vintage campers. For Andy's birthday my parents gave him (us) the gift of going to the Colorado Classic Campout at the Starlite Campground. Starlite has a bunch of vintage campers you can rent on the campgrounds or you can bring your own. My parents brought their pink Shasta trailer and we brought our camper - complete with brand-spankin-new curtains and throw pillows. We were able to tour all the other campers there. I loved being able to see what other people are doing with their campers and get some ideas about what we want to do with ours.

We also drove into Salida one day. If I couldn't live in my little town, I would live in Salida. Salida is the perfect combination of outdoorsy and artsy. It has amazing art boutiques and creative, environmentally friendly businesses. It has tons of cruiser bikes and an amazing bouldering wall for kids. The Arkansas River runs through town and you can go rafting and fly fishing. We also heart Amica's Pizza and Mircobrewery there...it's the best! I am looking forward to going there again very (hopefully) soon!