Albion Basin Wildflowers

The children and I did this hike a couple times last year and it was one of the best things ever, so we were all really excited to get up to the canyon again. The wildflowers are so stunning! We are always talking about how lucky we are to live near these canyons. I will never get tired of them. I don't know if the Albion Basin is world-famous for wildflowers, but it should be!

The wildflowers are just packed into every little space between the rocks. It's almost indecent how profuse they are! :)

Marigold was quite pleased with her perch on my back. She certainly saw more of everything than she did last year!

Daisy consults her wildflower guide (she got this for Christmas and loves it)

If you look up close at this hillside, you can see it's just covered with flowers.

Little girls catching up to us after a rock-climbing detour

I took a picture of Malachi sitting on this same rock last year. (Hey, Junie was wearing the same shirt!)

We were very happy to see some of our favorite flower--elephant's head!

The views above Lake Catherine were beautiful, of course.

Goldie quite enjoyed them!

Junie seems to have gotten progressively more and more disheveled. Could it have something to do with the time I heard her say, "This is what a snake would look like!" and turned around to find her on her stomach, wriggling up the trail behind me? Perhaps.

I love these different shades of paintbrush

Ducklings going up a hill

After finishing our hike, we stopped for a picnic a little way down the mountain. There were storm clouds passing over, which made the temperature so pleasant---and the light really beautiful!

What a beautiful day!

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Daisy's Black Eye

Quite puffy

Daisy and Junie crashed into each other (racing to get back into bed as they heard the Feet of Justice coming upstairs) and poor Daisy got the worst of it. However, she likes her black eye very much and has been Most Anxious that I document it in every stage. I used to make my mom admire my bruises too ("Ah, Stage 2," or "Stage 3," she'd say, with a clinical eye) so I quite understand. Here Daisy is over the course of the week.

Less puffy (with sad face for effect)

Purple and black

Purple and yellow

Brown and green--almost gone!

Just a ghost of its former self

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Random Thoughts

I was playing background piano music for an art show last month and I started playing "The Rainbow Connection." It is impossible to feel like a serious musician while playing "The Rainbow Connection." I was really, really hoping someone I knew would walk in so they could hear how earnestly and sincerely I was playing it.

I find the phrase "light industrial" (as seen on zoning/for sale signs) strange. It makes me imagine an upper-class, pearl-wearing woman who just drops in occasionally and dabbles in a spot of welding or car repair.

I like braids and ponytails on little girls, but I especially like the strange actions they do with their heads so they can feel their hair swinging. When I was little I used to swish my braids around and say to my mom, "I'm an egg!" (??)

This look is such a classic Junie-face. ^^ She's been doing it ever since she was a baby.

 The skies this month and last have been spectacular. I guess August doesn't have a monopoly on good clouds!

Daisy dressed herself up as a Penguin Scientist going to Antarctica to study penguins. It makes me hot just to look at her. Glad she's got her Blankie tied on there too.

Seb's been totally immersed in electronics for the past several months. This means that most electronic things we own have been various states of disassembly and I'm always stepping on tiny, tiny screws. On the upside, he's somehow managed to fix my bedroom clock, my metronome, and the kids' room fan remote control. 

I find great satisfaction in telling Abe I'm giving him "the opportunity" to change Goldie's diaper.

Overheard recently:

Abe: "My hair would taste terrible!"

Daisy: (singing) "My hair would taste hairible, hairible, hairible!"

Junie: (sniffing sadly) "Mommy, Daisy keeps saying 'theobroma cacao' while I'M trying to say it!"

Malachi: "You don't really have to be a strong MAN to resist scratching your sunburn. You just need strong willpower. Luckily . . . I have it."

Junie: "I can’t open the gate! I’m full of hands!"

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