river + marcos = the best

summer changes everything. it comes suddenly, always, like a snake in the path, like glancing up as you cross a sticky parking lot to see the fat hot full strawberry moon rising over the mountains. now fans must be placed in the windows at night. the pool must go up, and the filter, and the little twinkle lights on the patio. everyone is ready, suddenly, to hang out all the time. people gravitate together; laughter is frequent and loud. i don't know why summer makes such a difference on the social scene; many of us don't even have youngsters in school yet, but somehow once it is 90 degrees out we have to eat together outside on blankets and plan outings to watering holes and then hang out late into the evenings with tired kids just getting wilder and wilder.

with summer come my favorite days. it's a simple equation. spend a day at the river. then pizza and beer at marco's. nice, long, easy-breezy, perfect river days.

we've had two such days in the past week, so yeah. summer's officially here.

lucy is learning to hike. but if she MUST walk on her own, the going is very slow. she stops to see everything. lizard, pinecone, wildflower, noise in the bush, rock in shoe. all must be investigated thoroughly. 

we brought watermelon and cheddar bunnies. met up with our buddy seth who tells hilarious stories and is a gold panner and can spout little tidbits of knowledge about the flora and fauna of these gold rush hills.

two water sprites. (she's learning from the best.)

moved to another, sunnier spot with Jorden and Becky, where we made a baby beach tent.

i could just stop writing my silly captions because i only really want to say one thing: this. is. summer. (anditfeelssogood)

we met up with darin and zack at marcos, shared a couple pitchers and just enjoyed the lingering evening light.

felt like a rivery sit-com: seth peeks in to tell us some meteor just hit the foothills and he's off to find it.

addie, utah, and pops even showed up there! toot about lost her shite to see her favorite boy in all the world.

running down the hill, full tilt. over and over and over again.

so i had to take joey and em back to that same river spot yesterday.

i always need a helper. this time pops drove us down in his car, and darin would meet up with us later. 

sweet pops, always carrying a baby, doing a task, holding a hand. 

We brought along a little picnic and set up camp for a couple hours.

It blows me away how much Toot loves the water. She does not want floaties or water wings or anything at all between her and the water. (I have to watch her so carefully.) She rushes right on in;  nowadays it might be accompanied by a "too Toh!" although it's more a statement, almost of admiration, than a complaint. She never, ever wants to get out.

and I think Polly's headed in the same direction! She didn't even mind the cold. I would stand up and then bring her down splashing into the water with a whoosh, up to her waist, and she would kick her chubby little legs and giggle with glee. It surprised me!

So glad my little naiads love the river as much as I do! 

And lo and behold....more Marcos!

These cousins adore each other. They like to smile at each other now, grab at each other and just generally be seated close together.

(and check out Scout's absolutely beguiling little rat tail!)

It was Lucy's dream day. Jojo, Memmy, the river, and then some cheese pizza and running around at Marcos where she can climb up on barstools, drink water from dixie cups, and just run amok. Somebody's been having a blast for about a week straight....

I'm so proud of these two little beans we've got on the scene this year. Polly and Scout, Scout and Polly, sunsuits and rolly polly thighs, curiosity and big toothless grins.

Things start getting crazy, we herd them up, head home. Lucy says "hoh-om, hoh-om,"as we drive up our hill now. Even after marvelously fun and exciting summer escapades, it's always nice to go home too.

Hope your summer's off with a bang! What is quintessential summertime to you?