Best Summer Ever

...and it's only July 28th.

It started out glorious. We flew to Rome, met Tom's college friends, basked in the art, architecture, food, wine and stand-up cappuccinos. The kids are older and easier, the older girls are women now and are lovely to watch as they embrace life. It was blissful.

Attitude is everything and I had a feeling that I should savor every moment this summer; that it was to be a precious one. It has not disappointed me. It has been precious.

Aidan with his Cousins Morgan, Alex and Indy

The summer sunrise spends a few minutes warming our faces before moving into the yard.

Kieran and Aidan took cooking classes in our own kitchen with Natalie from NOURISHED.com

I see blissful moments as punctuation and to respect them, they should be captured on film.

Cousins and Srikar, who moved to India for a full year and is BACK!

sparklers on Independence day were almost as sweet as the homemade ice cream

The kids are at precious childhood ages. Every moment to be savored!

My sweet baby Hannah, whom I "nannied" from ages 2 to 4, became a wife. 

Aidan and Jack helped William celebrate his 9th Birthday.

I met this friendly whale on the Condor Express. I love making new animal friends.

This was a sweet one. Hitchcock movies at the Courthouse on Friday nights.

The UCSB pool and some merfolk.

It's not even over yet but I thought I should document that this summer has been precious. I am so grateful to my husband for supporting me in all my passions, my kids for being so fun to be with, my friends for amusing me and my family for their constant support and perspective. Love and joy to you.

CAMP DRAGON

I came up with the idea for Camp Dragon as a way for Kieran's friend Jena to earn $470 to pay for Earthlight Pictures Animation Camp, which begins next week. I believe Kieran and Jena are very marketable as artists and I had all the resources to create a crafting camp for the kids at Hope School who already know me as a Noon Aide (lunch lady). We needed eight campers to earn the money we needed. During two week-long sessions, we had 11 campers. What I didn't expect was that I would be shown my own soul's purpose so clearly.

WEEK ONE

 We had four campers. Their artistic fortes spanned from sculpture to painting to beautiful wire work. During this week, I exposed the kids to sculpture, painting, vision boards, candle-making, book making and jewelry making. I realized the need for me to recognize natural talents and feed them.  I had all the resources to feed their talents and passions.

Sasank was a natural painter and sculptor.

Kara was hungry for the overall experience. She wanted to DO everything.

Evan was a natural wire sculptor and made about a dozen beautiful wire and gemstone rings.

Srikar loved to write and found his passion in book-making. His story is handwritten and at about 40 pages so far.

Jena and Kieran are visual artists and absolutely thrive in sculpture, drawing and painting. Their talent is such a gift to the world. 

Wire figure with sword by Evan.

WEEK TWO

The second week of Camp Dragon brought six new artists with new personalities and passions. 

I had a feeling we were going to need squirt guns.

I told Nick that this might be the last year he can hold his cousin, Aidan on his lap
 so he should just GO WITH IT.

Jairo loved the playtime with all the other kids

Hall of paintings

Sofia was a skilled and gifted sculptor

Nick sculpted and painted these three pieces.

Chris was an inspired sculptor.

Kieran and Jena drew these dragons in about ten minutes on the first day of the first week, We turned them into awards during week two.

Sofia painted beautifully!

Claire painted this amazing abstract which reminded me so much of her- carefully planned out, executed with control; calming and full of love.

Aquatic Wolves by Sofia

This is my FAVORITE painting by Kieran.

Jena's incredible study of the trolls of Homestuck, all free drawn by a self-taught artist!

Painters

boys reading

This says "The planet does not need more 'successful' people..."

Art takes many forms

We had a movie afternoon and I brought out every sleeping bag in our arsenal.

I realized that this group required the creativity of dynamic relationships. They needed more time to interact with each other and play. I made it a point to meet them all at their needs rather than forcing them into art projects if that wasn't what they really wanted.

We made a "measurement wall" where everyone was measured.

Part of what I do well is quickly implementing ideas. Kieran said, "we should measure everybody" and within three minutes, we had a measurement wall.

The floor in our garage is a palate.

This floor is a place to socialize as much as it to express ones self. The cacophony of colors may be unnerving for some, but I LOVE it. I get to touch the moments left by various kids. I always have them sign their name and write their age on each drawing.

This was one of the sweetest weeks of my life where I felt perfectly aligned with my purpose.

 Lucky me.