As the girls get older and punkier, I recognize in them everyday that they (especially Belly) have inherited my need-to-fly gene. I mean, I think about flying away all the time - getting a little bit of a running start and blasting off into the sky. To where? Away. Somewhere. For awhile. It's how I've been for as long as I can remember. And I've come to realize that it's not an indicator of unhappiness in where I am, it's just that things feel stagnant when I stay in one place too long. Like more than a month. I need to shake it up. I need to forget the things that tether me. I'm restless. Anyway, they're so much like me in both good and bad ways. Seeing their imaginations take flight helps inspire me to try to be more imaginative in my parenting. And since I feel like that doesn't happen nearly often enough, I'm going to brag about the two things we've done so far this summer that have been fun and inventive (on my part, I mean - those two are fun and inventive every day).

First, I actually looked at a kid-craft website and then not only got inspired, but went to the store and bought all the supplies we needed to execute a summer mural. Holy crap! Follow through! I bought three yards of white cotton fabric and nailed it to the fence along our back deck. Then I got some poster paints and turned the girls loose. The idea is that we can just wash it off with the hose and start again whenever we want. Overall, I'd say this has been a success. Except the one time I decided to wash it off, it was utilizing a TON of water. I started to feel bad about the wasting. I started to feel like a Republican or something with my blatant disregard for the environment (oops - did I just let my political views slip in there?). So I stopped. Who cares? They can paint over the old paint. One of the best parts is that they can paint naked and then run through the sprinkler to clean up. And if I was a foot shorter in stature (which would probably technically make me a little person), I could, too - but right now I believe the neighbors can see me over the fence. Too bad.

The other project was totally of my own making. I really wanted to go for a walk one beautiful, sunshiny morning and the girls were being crabby about it. "We want to watch Sesame Street! Don't make me go outside!" But I am the boss around here and I was insistent that we go. I tried to cheer them up. I told them it was a special walk. "What's so special about it?" Buggy wanted to know. "Ummmmm...... it's a rain...bow walk. Yeah. A rainbow walk. We're going to walk around the neighborhood and pick a flower for each color of the rainbow. We'll put them in a basket (which we can each take turns holding) and then we'll put each flower in its own vase when we get home to make a rainbow down the middle of the dining room table." Their little eyes sparkled. I couldn't believe it. I'd come up with a great idea at a moment's notice. I'm not usually that good with the short notice stuff. And so off we went on an hour and a half stroll with our basket in hand. We had a great time looking at everyone's yards and stealing the flowers that were exactly the colors we wanted. I'm thinking once summer fades and fall comes on, we can do variations on this seeing how many different kinds of fall leaves we can find. And in spring, how many different shades of green leaves. Whatever gets them outside and happy....

This evening we flew a kite in the school yard up the street. It's not creative or inventive, but what a joy to see them so happy doing something so simple! Dang, I love summer. I love, love, love, love, lovey it.