A little bit of this, a little bit of that . . .

(4th of July Neighborhood Bike Parade)

I thought blogging would be so much easier in the summer. Free time, loose schedules. Ha! The days are so full that it's late in the evening before we start to wind down and there doesn't seem to be the energy to find creative thoughts to share. But a number of you were so good to comment on my last post about our beach trip so I'll share a few more pictures and stories of what's been going on this week in our neck of the woods.
(4th of July Neighborhood Block Party)
4th of July - Our neighborhood has a block party every year. I gave birth to this baby a few years back as a tribute to a block party I remembered attending in my old Nebraska neighborhood as a kid. I wanted my own kids to have that memory so we made flyers, conspired with the retired couple two doors down from us and planned a party. We were blessed to have two other families join us that year. Now, about 5 years later, we had close to 80 people attend and participate including nearly 30 kids in our bike parade. It's a great opportunity for our multi-generational, multi-ethnic neighborhood to freely mix and socialize. There are still some who hang back on the fringes of the party but we're working hard to make them feel included and hoping they'll come back next year. Brad was the great party guy and had all the adults and kids participating in water balloon toss games. Some great pictures!

(The Party Guy at work)

The birthday boy - Today was my little guy's 9th birthday. You have to understand that we've been planning this day for over 6 months. You see, when we were at the movie theater in the dead of November, we saw a poster. Not just any poster - the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 poster. And the date for the premier? July 7th - my guy's birthday. We decided then and there it would be a pirate birthday. So today we celebrated with chocolate gold coins, pirate eye patches and swords, a treasure hunt and of course, a trip to the theater to be transported to the high seas with Captain Jack Sparrow for a few hours. It was so fun and J. had a great time at his party. (For those interested - the movie was very good, great special effects, but not quite as good of a story as the first one. Worth seeing for sure if you're a fan of the first one!)

(J. and his buddies find the burried treasure)

Summer Reading Rebellion - One of my favorite parts of summer? The SRL - Summer Reading List. There's nothing better than a good book on a hot day (or any day, for that matter). In my last post I mentioned I was reading The Devil Wears Prada and Deb and Cate asked how I was liking it. Well, even though I went to bed exhausted at 11:00 pm last night I flipped on the light and told Brad, "My book's getting really good, I'm just going to read for about five minutes." An hour and half later, I was setting down the book having just read the last page and thinking, "Wow. That's not really how I pictured it ending." So my overall reaction, a great read, she does a great job describing the totally bizarre world of the fashion industry. But for some reason, reading the book made me a bit less interested in seeing the movie. I still really want to see Meryl Streep's performance of the dreaded Miranda Priestly, but I can't imagine that she'll really be able to capture the true evil nature of the woman. I don't know though, if anyone could , it would be her. I'd give it (the book) a thumbs up.

The reason I titled that section "Reading Rebellion" is because I have not even picked up the selection my book club chose for the summer reading. It was one I really did not have any interest in reading. They chose James Mitchner's Centenial for us to read. I went that very week to the used bookstore in my little old town area of Hillsboro and picked up an ancient looking trade paperback copy of it that smells like 20 year old cigarette smoke is trying to escape from the pages. I promptly put it on my bookshelf and since then have read three other books and have three more in line to read it before I pick it up again. On my nightstand: gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (have heard so many of you quote this that I have to read it now), and Shouts and Whispers, 21 Writers Speak about their Writing and their Faith. I know there's others just clammoring to get into my house as well and somehow I think Centenial's probably not going to see the light of day for a while. The competition for my late night reading time is fierce and only the strong should try out for the team.

I'm going to try to get to Sunday Scribblings this weekend but have to work tomorrow and Sunday and then we have a family dinner Sunday night. The prompt is "hotel". Hmmm . . . someone to make my bed, pick up my towels, clean up after me? I would really like to be at one right now, how's that for a start?