my kids crack me up

Sam exploring on the rocks in Yosemite National Park
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

"How fiercely, devoutly wild is Nature in the midst of her beauty-loving tenderness!-painting lilies, watering them, caressing them with gentle hand, going from flower to flower like a gardener while building rock mountains and cloud mountains full of lightning and rain."

- John Muir, The Yosemite.

I stumbled across this list I made Sam write so he'd remember his trip to California in Summer 07 - here's a link to the Jun blog archive from then with some other pics and writing about the trip. It cracked me up - so minimalist! When I took them to Australia I made them both keep a daily journal (hey they were missing some school for the trip), so this was an EASY one to just make a list. It just brought back memories and made me laugh so here it is. Note though he sounds like he was 4 or 5 in his minimalistic answers, he was 10 when he wrote this! And a very smart 10! I think next time I'm going to make him write a bit more about each little adventure...

What i did/saw/got/ate in CA, by Sam

* I saw a bear
* I saw a clear river
* I saw a trout and carp
* I got a poster
* I got 2 fake bears (WH Commentary: I have no idea what he means...stuffed animal??)
* I saw Kira (WH: his cousin)
* I saw snow
* I made a snowman
* I had a snowball fight
* I got to drink some spring water
* I got to swim in a glacial lake
* I got to swim in a very cold river (WH: The Merced at Yosemite!)
* I got my name painted (WH: by the guys in San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf)
* I saw the bushman (WH: ROFLOL - this is the guy dressed as a bush who jumps out and scares people in Fisherman's Wharf in SF)
* I got an Alcatraz hoodie
* I saw sea lions
* I saw a guy doing a crazy trick
* I saw a baby sea lion
* I got to fly on a plane
* I ate "gooseberries"
* I ate fresh honey from a hive
* I got a gong (WH: When I first read this I thought it said bong! LOL!)
* I saw a wild plum tree
* I ate unripe wild plums
* I ate a fresh organic strawberry
* I got to tour the garden (WH: At Green Gulch Organic Farm)
* I got to tour the Zen Center (WH: Green Gulch Zen Center Monastery)

That's it! Hopefully I'll blog some more later. I revised my chapter on truth, yet AGAIN, but I'm liking it finally, and I'm working on another chapter about my frustrations with the church after my divorce. Why were all my non-Christian friends there for me, while my Christian friends were not, and often turned their back on me? It's all there... later chapters will talk about redemption and forgiveness.

Last night when I was tucking Savannah in for bed, we were cracking up! Somehow we started talking about spontaneous combustion. I think I said something like, you might just spontaneously combust. And she was like, that does NOT happen, really. And I was like, yea it does! You just disapear, fwoop! And all that's left behind is a little pile of ashes. She was like, no it does NOT. I said, yea I think if you eat a lot of beans and have a lot of gas you're at a greater risk. She was like, whatever. I said Go look it up on Wikipedia!! If it's on Wikipedia it has to be true! She said, Yea right, I made an entry about a giant rat man on Wikipedia. I was like, you did?! Are you serious?! She said yep, I wrote a whole long story, but then I hit cancel on accident! (she didn't have it saved elsewhere - big no-no!). So anyway the giant rat man will go undocumented, for the time being.

Here are a few more of the pics from that trip!

Sam at the Green Gulch Organic Garden, where my best friend Daline lived and worked for over a year. This is outside San Francisco. I think this may be the gooseberry bush but I'm not sure...
The guy painting Sam's name in Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.
Sam and Savannah jumping in the frigid glacial Merced River in Yosemite National Park. They went swimming with my brother and Kira while me and Zofia stayed on the shore. I may be wacky, but I am not crazy!
Sam about to go into Dog Lake, a glacial lake and also very cold!

Sam making a snowball.

And about to throw it! This was the first time my kids had EVER seen snow! Well they did see snow when we spent 3 weeks in Alaska but Sam was 9 months old...

God's art alive

Your beauty
surpasses brilliance
of the nighttime sky
shining brighter
than all the stars
luminescent
as the moon
full of magic sprinkle dust

Samuel, my son
God’s art alive
living
breathing
laughing
three-dimensional complexity
mindful of babbles and bubbles
thoughts comprehensible
only to God
and yourself

Copyright (c) 2000 Wendee Holtcamp