A Good Childhood ...

Early this summer an acquaintance posted on Facebook a gentle parenting reminder ...

"You only have 18 summers with your child."

For some reason the reality of those words hit hard. Probably, because we're five years away from the expiration of childhood for our oldest daughter.

{And, it's probably really less than 18 summers, I reasoned with myself. In those earliest years, which revolve around nursing and nap schedules of an infant and then toddler (and if you have multiple children, the pattern repeats itself a few times), summer really differs little from any other season. And then, at the other end of the spectrum, the closer you are to adulthood, the more likely that friends and summer jobs will get in the way.}

There was an urgency this summer. An urgency that remains now, even as our girls have been back in school for a full month. Our time with our kiddos is really pretty fleeting.

I want to maximize it.

Taking our girlies on a road trip or even a jaunt to the zoo or museum now (versus when they were preschoolers) is in many ways more rewarding. Everybody can walk on their own and wipe themselves. They make interesting observations and when we get home we can have stimulating conversations. However, I also think that part of their appreciation for outings now comes because of the outings they did when they were younger.

We sometimes wrestled with what was too much to do with little kids. It was hard when we lived abroad because there were so many choices around us, or just a short airplane ride away. I remember then ... when it was frustrating that the hotel pool seemed a greater attraction than say, The Great Wall. {So we usually ended up doing both, and I think they are the better and wiser for it.}

We did so much together this summer. More than I have space to put here (and more than readers are interested in knowing about!)

But ... There sometimes are epic fails. Like when we went to the Adler Planetarium this past June,  just hours after the moon passed directly through the center of the Earth's shadow. My middle was so interested in this phenomenon. My youngest was, as usual, happily along for the ride. My oldest asked repeatedly when we could go home.

I get that Planetariums don't rank very high on the coolness radar of teenagers. Someday in the future she might appreciate the gesture. But 2012 wasn't exactly the summer of teen appreciation.

To be fair, I'm not sure how appreciative I was at thirteen. (My record of groundings would suggest not very.)

Never-the-less, I will continue this active hands-on, activity filled time of their lives. Even if I have to sometimes remind my oldest that she's having a good childhood :-)

{the Northwest II}

After a great week with the S's ...

We headed south in our wretched rental car across the boarder along the scenic coastal highway to Seattle. (When we got to Enterprise we had our "choice" of 11 generic grey Impalas!) But regardless of the gutless vehicle, we had a great little road trip ... stopping for local cherries, and at scenic spots along the way.




When we got to Seatown, we stayed right downtown in the heart of the caffeinated hipster city. We took advantage of our great location and walked to the Klondike Gold Rush Museum, Wing Luke Museum (a fabulous tribute to Asian American culture and its troubled history in that corner of North America), took the monorail out to Seattle Center where we chilled out with skinny-jean clad locals, drank Starbucks (what else?) and caught the outdoor performance of several live bands preforming @ the EMP while gazing up at the famous Space Needle which to me seems both and retro and futuristic at the same time. Whilst in Seattle, Mr Johnson & I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary!

{fresh produce}

{fish that fly}

We enjoyed jaunts to the Pike's Place Market where we watched the fish fly, haggled with the vendors, posed in front of the first ever Starbucks, and dined alfresco on shellfish ... looking out across on Puget Sound.
On our last morning, Mr Johnson and the girlies toured Boeing, while I had a solitary brunch back @ Pike's Place, and chatted with both of my sisters on Skype.

my Seattle home in the late 70s

Before heading back to Vancouver, we navigated around Seattle, searching for the rental I spent a year of my life in in the late 1970s. We found it, and I posed on the steps of a house I don't remember living in when I was two.



On our return to Vancouver, we stopped again at the quaint On our way back toward the Canadian border, we stopped again at a cove we had happened upon on our way down. On our second visit we remembered to grab some coins from the car, which we put on the track that ran right along the beach front at the base of the trail. (Placing coins on RR tracks was a childhood trick that I knew, but that Mr Johnson and the girlies had never done.)

After reading up in our Lonely Planet, we learned that the cove is a infamous, locally, as a nude swimming area ... which quite frankly explained a lot. We had great fun on both stops there, and we remained mostly clothed. (Although if you looked closely you would note Mr Johnson adopted a 'when in Rome' philosophy ... Most of the summer term college kids @ the cove just went swimming in their undies ... and he followed "suit"less)

Related Interweb Sites ::
Wing Luke
http://www.wingluke.org/
Klondike Gold Rush Museum
http://www.nps.gov/klse/index.htm
Pike's Place Market
http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/
Seattle Center
http://www.seattlecenter.com/
EMP
http://www.seattlecenter.com/locations/detail.aspx?id=63
Boeing
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/tours/index.html
Washington State Parkshttp://whatcom.kulshan.com/Washington/Whatcom%20County/Western%20Whatcom%20County/Outdoors/Teddy%20Bear%20Cove.htm

Such A Good Summah {The Northwest I}

In late June we jumped on a United flight bound for Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

We spent two and half absolutely wonderful weeks in the scenic, wet, Northwest ... a welcome change, as by late June it was already very apparent that the summer of 2012 would be remembered in the Midwest as a season of drought. {Fate and good planning allowed us to reconnect with four families from China, and there might not be a more beautiful place on the globe for such a summer reunion.}

We stayed with our great friends and gracious hosts the S's who made elaborate meals, treated us royally, and introduced us to their life and surroundings in the Greater Vancouver area. In two short years since emigrating, they have immersed themselves in Canada. Their girlies who carry passports for three countries, are living a Canadian childhood.

We visited Fort Langely, White Rock Beach, Crescent Beach and ...

 a local berry farm, where this picture of
five of our favorite girls was taken!

We were "show and tell" in their girlies classrooms, and we got to see their school and meet their classmates and teachers. In YVR proper we played tourist @ Granville Island, Stanley Park, and Canada Place on Canada Day.





The Johnson's (& some smiley random guy)
in front of the Olympic Flame
@ Canada Place on Canada Day

Related Links on the Interweb ::
Historic Fort Langely
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/langley/index.aspx
Stanley Park, Vancouver
http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx
Canada Place, Vancouver
http://www.canadaplace.ca/

Such a Good Summah {or :: What We did on our Summer Vacation}

It's officially autumn, although sitting through three soccer games on Saturday with hoods up, and  noses red, and  shivering under a quilt, it seemed like summer had skipped right on to winter. It's a funny time of year when there are both Uggs and flip flops still camped out at the back door. The weather is arbitrary. It is autumn.

It might then be time, thought I, to record some of the highlights of our summer holidays.

Last week I had the rare pleasure of having my seven-year-old for an hour in the middle of a school day. While I ferried her to the dentist and then back to school for the rest of her day in second grade, she was chatty.

"I wish it would be April and my birthday," she said.

I asked why.

"Because after that it would be May and school would be out."

At first I panicked that she was not really settling into her new school routine, and thought what a very long year this would be if we were already optimistic for forth quarter, from our early vantage point half way through the first quarter.

"Because we had such a great summer, this summer?" I ventured.

"Yes!" she piped up exuberantly. "It was such a good summah"

{She still pronounces an open mouth /r/, especially as a final. I think it's cute. The British phonics curriculum taught it that way ... and she clings to it, although American phonics and her Speech therapist are working on helping her grasp the harsher American pronunciation of /r/.}

Our "Good Summah" began with back-to-back weeks of VBS (for all three), Volleyball Camp (for Bei Bei), a Teen Philanthropy Summit (for our teenager), Beekeeping classes (for our middle)and Nature Camp for all three. 

We went into Chicago so many times I could have changed our prefix to 312. We hit the Children's Museum @ Navy Pier, The Planetarium, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (which was a totally wonderful surprise and is free to IL residents every Thursday.) We spent Father's Day in Chinatown.

I drive my kiddos nuts requiring them to put away any electronics or books as we broach the City. They are forced to identify landmarks, and places of interest, beaches by name, and major thoroughfares.

"This is your city." I tell them, "I want you to know it!"



{Chicago Skyline}
Photo Credit :: Seven-year-old in the back of a moving vehicle

MGJ's GPS Summer Summit

MGJ had a great opportunity to participate in Allowance For Good's Global Philanthropy Summit this summer. You can read more about it here: http://www.allowanceforgood.org/index.php?subpage=/content/summit.html&menupage=/content/youthmenu.html

Winning isn't Everything {But it's a Great Confidence Booster}

MGJ is excited about soccer these days. She loved watching the US women play this summer in London. She's scoped out tickets to see the team in action when they are in the Chicagoland area next month.

She's also been excited to be team captain this autumn. It's a young team, and they've had to work hard to complete against bigger schools with bigger players. She's been up for the challenge.

They've had a decent year, but last week there were a string of losses that could easily be chocked up to poor calls and things just not coming together.

Friday night we sat in lawn chairs under the impending threat of a downpour, at the first game of their tourney, and they suffered their third loss of the week.

They were discouraged, but Saturday morning dawned clear (yet freezing) and they had the fresh start they'd been looking for. They won their nine o'clock game which put them head-to-head with a team that trounced them at the start of their season.

At one o'clock the whistle blew, and they started a match in which they held their own. At the end of second half the score was tied up at 2:2. They were playing for consolation, so a shoot-out was in order.

Our five shooters and very nervous keeper headed out to the field. We shot five goals and made three, the opponent also made three.

We moved into sudden death ... one by one our player kicked, their player kicked. And finally we came out ahead ... after nine nervous kickers. It was a tough way to win it ... but it sure boosted the confidence of our young team and our Girly Captain.

 

preparing for her turn in the shoot-out

 

she nailed it

 

nerves!

 

the consolation champs

 

three soccer girlies

My Two Cents {the Middle East}

I'm late to this discussion.

I probably don't have much to add.

Barack and Mittens have already weighed in. And, most people on this continent have probably formed their own opinions ... and then, quite sadly, simply moved on.

I've read the news articles and followed headlines, and even watched that dreadful 14 minute dubbed video.

I understand the First Amendment. But, I wonder when simple decency will trump our "right" to saying whatever we want, regardless of the outcome.

J. Chris Stevens, the ambassador to Libya who lost his life there last week, was by all reports a wonderful man ... committed to his mission and passionate about the possibilities for that country. A friend in the blog-sphere who lives a life in foreign service in that region reminded that all in those posts know the danger. I appreciated what Donna had to say over at her blog Email from the Embassy. (http://emailfromtheembassy.blogspot.com/2012/09/here-in-jordan.html)

This week The Economist eulogized Roger Fisher. I'd never heard of Mr Fisher, but I've heard of the events he helped influence. He wrote a book about negotiation called, Getting to Yes. He wrote letters to Heads of State, and whispered quiet challenges in their ears. Fisher was foremost an academic, but, he was also an adviser at the Pentagon. He also coached leaders of Ecuador and Egypt.

It was Fisher who advised Reagan in 1985 not to confront Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, president of the USSR, at the Geneva Summit. Instead Reagan, "sat by a roaring fire with him while they exchanged ideas." (The Economist 9/15-21/2012 pg 86)

It worked.

"In December 1987 Gorbachev signed an agreement with U.S. President Ronald Reagan for their two countries to destroy all existing stocks of intermediate-range nuclear-tipped missiles. In 1988–89 he oversaw the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan after their nine-year occupation of that country." (Source http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/238982/Mikhail-Gorbachev)

In 1989, The Wall came down. In 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

Things are moving fast in the Middle East. But our best move in the Arab Awaking might not be a knee jerk one.

RIP Mr Stevens and Mr Fisher, may your work not have been in vain.

Labor Day

On Labor Day the population of our little town, in our little square county easily quadruples. It has become our little tradition to watch the set-up from the vantage point of our front porch. We drink our coffee and watch our little town vibrantly spring to life:

BBQs are lit and smoking. The kiddies line up on their bikes for the parade. Firetrucks and sheriffs squads queue in the street. And floats, with kids anxious to launch candy, are staged in the school parking lot. There is the familiar cadence of the antique tractors' motors, their belching of smoke and then the Veterans kick the whole thing off.

The parade begins at 10:00 and usually ends about a quarter of an hour later, but this year is an election year, so there were a few more floats (dueling candidates for coroner!) and there was a fire call @ 9:55 that our volunteer crew promptly attended to ... and then even made it back (only modestly late) to throw candy and blow sirens.

Later there were jumpy castles in school lawn, and pork chops in the gym. There was music, a classic car show, and in the park our girlies and their cousins (the even blonder Johnson's) enjoyed the Reptile Show.

We registered Bei Bei for the pedal tractor pull, and she claimed third place in her age group, beating out some boys, and pulling the same weighted sled her dad and uncles pulled at local festivities a generation ago.