Today, Noah was hard at work doing this:

(He called these his birthday candles. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Mai. I love this vintage Fisher Price tool set...)

While I worked on this:

(Flowers for a swap I'm participating in... Just a few of the gazillion I still need to do. They'll have pearls in their centers...)

It was a good morning. :)

A Summer Outing: St. Louis Boathouse

{this post is done "Little Momma & Company" style-- a homage to that Emily's quirky, fun, awesome way of documenting her family's life.}

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We've been working on making the most of summer this summer, so lots of little outings have been on the agenda. Yesterday's outing? We headed to the St. Louis Boathouse in Forest Park for paddle-boating and lunch:









We saw a lot of neat stuff... starting with the ducks, of course.





We saw the classic bridges of the Basin at Art Hill:

With the horseback riding park cops atop one of them:





Noah loves cranes right now. They're "like a train set", he says... Because his train table has a yellow crane, too.

You can rent these boats for $15.00 an hour.
I'm not gonna lie. We didn't last a hour. It was HOT, ya know?? So we headed back after about half the time.







And after the sweaty, leg-muscle-burning work of the boat, we figured we deserved lunch at the Boathouse's amazing restaurant.
We LOVE this place.



Seriously--- if you are ever in town to vist us, please remind us to take you here. It's perfect!

Like the patio seating while you wait for your table:





We had to wait a bit for our table, so we chilled in a shady spot on the patio.



I snapped pictures to pass the time.





Noah KIND of let me snap a few of him. I swear, this kid is a classic "Photographer's Kid".... I get so many faces and blinks and head turns. He doesn't fall for ANY of my tricks anymore.





But I got a few worth keeping. This one's my favorite of the day:



And the BIG kid is ALWAYS cooperative. Love him!



And of course, I had to snap a few of me to prove I was actually there... (Ah, the plight of being the family photographer... Always BEHIND the camera).






And Noah was feeling extra magnanimous, I guess:





And then Noah wanted to snap a few. He took this one (while I held the camera, he put his eye to the viewfinder and pushed the button):



And this one:



He wasn't half bad!





Finally we got our table, and we were so delighted to get into the air conditioning and get some FOOOOD that I ended the photographic journey early, put the camera away, and just enjoyed being with my boys in a charming restaurant with some yummy food... So forgive that there's no more to see...

Oh, wait. Except I loved the patio lights that were strung up, so I snapped one of them....


Ha!

So.... Summer Outing: The Boathouse was a hot, sweaty success...Smiles from all three of us and a grand finale of a great lunch.

Ah, summer... We're loving you!

Nothing Much...

Nothing much going on here... And that's EXACTLY what I want right now. 

One week down... three to go... Living Slow and learning about Slow and trying to be mindful of everything.  I'm on hiatus from a lot of things at the moment, and trying to just BE. And I've loved it so far. LOVED the pieces of my day I've been actually beginning to notice again.

Today, I ran a bit (it was icky and hard, but I'm proud of myself...).... Took a blissfully cold shower. Worked steadily on work stuff for a few hours. Stretched. Snuggled Noah. Babysat a little amigo. Read some. Played "Angry Birds" til I got above 1 star on every level (I only had three "1-star" levels left, so I promise I didn't do this ALL day!). Caught up on emails. Dug a big little tree out of the flower bed. Mulched the other flower bed Joe cleared. Played in the water with Noah to cool down. Snuggled Noah on the couch after dinner. Read some Wizard of Oz with Noah (we are finally at the part where we meet the wizard. Noah just wants to go back to the poppy section). Watched Netflix and Hulu while I edited photos.... Ate no meat at all today. But lots of cheese. 

Nothing much... but it's been everything I need. 

'Night!

{photos: kinda cheating... these are from April, from another lovely day. But they fit the mood of THIS day, and I want to catch up on older photos... so these work perfectly for both reasons. So neener neener.}

I Mean To Sew....

But... somehow, my sewing table keeps ending up looking like this. Not pretty or inviting or inspiring at all. 

Hmm...Something's gotta give.

July, Where'd You Go??

After, after, after.... After THIS, I can do __________. After I finish _________ I can finally do ___________. After we have ______________ we can finally _________________. After after after......

Sigh.

I mean to blog. I do. I have so many photos of my own life, my own child, my own trips... Stories to tell... Ponderings to ponder...

After I finish the newborn session I am editing. (Hopefully will finish that one tonight.) After  I sort/batch/edit the minisession from last week. (Might get that done by tomorrow.)

After.... After I check off this list or that....

And truly, for once, there might just be a window of time to breathe, after those sessions I mentioned. I have nothing scheduled now until September. And I'm keeping it that way. And I will begin to tell my OWN stories again... The right intent is there....

It's just so disheartening to see that even after the enlightenment of realizing I MISS telling my own tales, there is still the postponement... this finishing of loose ends first... this telling myself, "After. After. After."

Sigh. 

Change comes slowly, right??

(P.S. I have dug out an old folder of CDs and found my old St. Louis Symphony recordings. I. Am. So. HAPPY to be hearing them once again. I once upon a time made gorgeous music in gorgeous groups. NATSUKASHII.)

Rebecca's Baby Bump | St. Louis Maternity Photographer

There's nothing like a perfectly glowing mom-to-be. Rebecca is one of my former English teacher friends from our school. She is spunky, passionate, and so ready to be an incredible mama. It was a joy to get to capture her and her beloved at the cusp of a new era in her life. Thanks, Rebecca. I am so thrilled for you!