insta friday - summer

Oh insta friday.  

I have neglected you.

So this is two weeks in one.

Sort of all jumbled together.

First up.

Creative summer boredom busters.

Fort building.

Run, Roll, Repeat.

Again, and again, and again.

Swirling chalk and water together.

Some kind of art therapy.

 Parties and celebrations.

Two in one day.

A super fun hawaiian theme birthday

with a candy shop and water play by day.

 To a beautiful baby dedication

in the evening.
My dearest friend from childhood puts
on the most personal, and special
baby dedications in her backyard.
Moved to tears I was.
The good kind.
The joy and blessing of a baby.
And the miracle of everything.
With readings, prayers, song.
The Holy Spirit was so present.
And I'm just so happy for the joy this little boy has
brought their whole family.

Next up, hiking with that special baby, his brother, and mama for a picnic dinner at sunset.

Honestly, one of the most beautiful skies I've seen in a long time.

My instagram feed was filled with evidence that others thought so too.

Thank you Lord for your glorious artistry.

Your wonders never cease to amaze.

My husband and son spent a few days away.

A boys trip.

Doing all those things boys like to do.

While they were away, the girls and I spent the day

in Newport and headed out to sea in hopes of spotting a blue whale.  

It was a sort of final field trip to our 

year long study on sea animals.  

The day was pretty amazing.

It took a long time to find the whales.

But dolphins.

Hundreds would swim and play around our boat.

My pictures do not do it justice.

It was absolutely magical.

And then finally, six and a half miles from shore.

We found them.

Two great blue whales.

The largest animal in the world.

Again, my little cell phone pic

doesn't quite capture the awe.

The day rounded out perfectly with more

shell collecting on the beach and a big fat

slice of New York style pizza.

Some random bits of the last week.

Happy Mail!

This bracelet, reminding me of 

one of my favorite scriptures

Romans 15:13.

May the God of hope fill you with all 

joy and peace 

as you trust in him, 

so that you may overflow with hope 

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I had been waiting til the day 

farm girl paints re-opened her shop.

Etsy sent me an email she had.

I quickly placed my order.

And alas, it was actually an etsy error.

She really wasn't open yet, but she still

honored the order.

And although I was in no hurry to receive it.

It made for a happy mail day that it came so quickly.

This mail makes me almost as happy too.

Printer ink.  

It's a constant necessity for my etsy shop.

And when one runs out, the whole thing shuts down.

I can't get it locally, so the mail is my friend.

 This little lady and her perch.

This is her favorite spot in the house.

I just love how lanky her legs are

and how cozy she looks in such an awkward way.

And more randomness.

Can I just say, I hate my home phone.

Really, truly.

Drives me crazy.

Half the time it's not on the base.

So when I actually find it, it's dead.

And this dog, 

it sets her off. 

With a high pitch howl.

So the chaos that ensues while I'm trying to find

it and she's bellowing at the top of her lungs.

It's enough to make me want to just get rid of it.

Pallet randomness.

It's a pretty one isn't it?

My daughter spotted it for me.

I have them trained well.

But alas I'm not allowed to bring anymore stray pallets home.

I'm still waiting for help with the others I've scavenged.

But this one, she sure was pretty, and it was hard to leave her behind.

 We began this week with the beach

and are ending it with another trip to the shore.

I think I've said it before.

It's my happy place.

So I'll take every chance I can to 

soak in these summer days.