We went to Monterey over the weekend, and the thing first we did was stop by a beach and get our feet wet…

Camp Galileo, which Zoe has gone to for the last three years, is over for the summer. On Friday, she said good-bye to her beloved counselor, Victoria (reminding me of when she said good-bye to Geoff her first summer) – and happily cheered with her fellow campers.

-M

The girls have done tons of projects, crafts, and artwork this summer. These are two of my favorite pieces (both from zoo camp); the top one is Zoe’s, the bottom Avery’s.

-M

I just glanced down and realized we reached the 75K-pageview mark on the blog this week! This works out to about 8.5K hits/year – not bad given that the blog was solely created to keep family and close friends updated on our day-to-day lives (and that it’s easier/more convenient these days for people to just check Facebook, versus a separate site). I’ve been posting less frequently than I used to, and sometimes I consider stopping altogether, but I think there would be a void in my life if I didn’t have a place to share my thoughts and my family’s  happenings… So I guess I’ll continue to do it as long as there are readers!

-M

Avery and I were chatting about making friends last night, and she mentioned that a boy in her group  at camp was from Brandeis and had been in Mrs. Eisenhauer’s class last year. “Why don’t you tell him that you’re going to be in her class next year?” I suggested, thinking that would be a way to get them talking. Avery gave me a funny look and said, “Um, I don’t know if that’s how you make friends.” Zoe overheard and chimed in: “Yeh, he’s a boy – and boys don’t respond to things like that. Boys are different than girls, Mommy.”

-M

The girls’ camp features a crazy hat (or hair) day each week. Here was Avery’s choice for this week.

-M

Things have been so busy here lately (so much for a summer break!) that I let late June – and July! – come and go without acknowledging a milestone. Avery is six now, and an update is in order… (Note that I’ll probably stop doing this eventually. But since I did one for Zoe when she was six, and – well, fair’s fair.)

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to sum up Avery these days. The truth is that I can use similar words - sweet, silly, funny, happy - to describe her as I did last year. But what makes her a bit complex these days is that she has pretty different public and private personas. At home and at camp, and certainly in new settings, she comes across as a little reserved and serious. (I’ve heard the word “shy” and the term “slow to warm up” in regards to her more times than I can count.) At home, though, she is larger than life: bouncing up and down the halls, singing, dancing, acting completely silly. (I often tell people that she’s our wild child, while Zoe is our more laid-back, serious one.) She loves hamming it up, so much so that Q and I call her our little diva. And though she may be hesitant to, say, raise her hand in school, at home she comes across as a natural-born performer.

Speaking of school, she wrapped up a successful year of kindergarten just says before her birthday. She loved her teacher -  a grandmotherly type who has been teaching kindergarten for more than 30 years and has an amazing way with kids – and she developed strong friendships, especially with two little girls. She seemed to like the work she did in class, with her teachers reporting that she has “a strong desire to do well in her work” and that “her confidence and ability to work independently have grown tremendously throughout the year.” We have noticed at home that she tends to get frustrated if she doesn’t “get it” (be it a math concept or a new word while reading) right away – so we always try to do a little confidence boosting. (And in regards to reading, she is interestingly at about the same spot as Zoe was when she turned six: perfecting “sight words” and getting through easy-reader books.)

In terms of her likes, they’re similar to things I’ve reported here in the past: She likes doing “dramatic play” (school, camp, doctor’s office – you name it, she and her sister have acted it out), playing with her (many) stuffies, and drawing. She also recently got into Barbie dolls (something her sister has always been lukewarm about), and she has also taken a recent interest in two things Zoe really does like: LEGOS and Harry Potter. (Avery has now watched all of the movies; despite my initial concern about the material, she loves them and hasn’t gotten scared over any parts. It’s just a matter of time before Zoe starts reading the books to her, or, eventually that Avery reads them herself!) As mentioned above, she has two very close girlfriends (and they’re very silly when they get together), but it seems to me that Zoe is her best playmate. They don’t always get along, but they have a very solid friendship.

I’ve mentioned this here before, too, but Avery has an incredibly soft and sweet side. She is the first person to comfort me if I’m feeling or looking sad (“Can I get you a glass of water? Do you want to lay down?” she asked me when I recently started crying about something I can’t now remember), and she routinely climbs into bed with us in the morning just to snuggle and whisper in my ear, “I love you.” She also often dishes out compliments about my work outfits: “Oh, you look so pretty/fancy!” she’ll say. (I wonder if fashion is in her future, as she always notices if I’m wearing new shoes, or a bracelet she hasn’t seen before, for example.)

One of my hands-down favorite things about Avery remains her ability to (literally) stop and smell the roses. I’ve said it before, but she’s always admiring flowers or leaves or puffy white clouds in the sky; she’s quick to point out how pretty something is. As cliché as it sounds, she inspires me to slow down and take joy in the small, beautiful things in life. I don’t always have success, but she keeps on teaching me!

-M

And lastly, one of my favorite photos from our trip. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

-M

Two other highlights from our trip to Wisconsin: hanging out with Cousins Tanner and Brook at the pool, and visiting the Henry Vilas Zoo!

-M

A trip to Madison isn’t complete without a trip to the water, and we celebrated my birthday last week by dining out and boating on Lake Mendota, then showing the girls Monona Terrace (where Q and I got married) and enjoying ice cream at the Union. At one point Zoe said to me, “You know how earlier I was singing ‘Best Day of My Life’? Well, I think today actually IS the best day of my life.”

-M

We spent most of last week in sunny and warm Madison. Here are some pics…

-M

We recently started a new Friday night tradition: After swim class we head to a make-your-own-pizza place at the mall (and sometimes to do a bit of shopping, too). We were joined by friends the other evening, and it was a very girlie affair!

-M

Out of the blue one day Zoe handed me this piece of paper. This part in particular jumped out at me and made my day/week/year:

She works hard; that’s how I like it. She never, ever forgets to love me and Avery.

-M

Now that camp is over, the girls wanted to take me to the zoo and show me some of the stuff they learned. And so we headed there on Monday – and we did and saw tons.

-M

The girls spent the last three weeks at zoo camp, where they learned tons about animals, as well as conservation issues. (Zoe treated me and Q to a lecture one evening on climate change and how polar bears are being affected.) In the photos below, Avery is petting an American alligator and playing a water-themed game, while Zoe is getting to know the rubber boa and picking kale from the zoo’s garden to feed the animals.

-M