two hikes and a bonfire

busy, busy times it has been... i owe you lots of updates, for instance the birthday handmade's from may... yikes! but for now i'd like to say happy 2012. it's been a red letter year so far. i'm not one for resolutions, i don't really have anything i'm not already trying to do. and i abhor the "starting on monday" thing. once i want to do something i'd just like to get on with it, why wait?

since procreating, there's not a lot of time alone with my man. we've been trying to get a bit more in. just a bit. we like being with our kids all the time. we know it goes fast and we really enjoy it. it's the kind of parents we wanted to be, it's the kind of parents we have been for 6 years. we were married for 7 years before we had kids and we knew each other for 6 before we got married. we've lived in 3 states and in our car, the wanderlust runs deep in us. we waited a long time for our kids, and they are really fun to be around. so it is a rare occurrence that in three days we had three dates. very cool, very us and very fun.

for one hike we walked out of our house, up the street, to the end of a court and into the woods. up the mountain, down, then up, saw our neighborhood from the top, then around, came out through the botanical gardens and then walked back home. so very cool.

for another we hiked up and then around a lake. a hike we've been doing since we were teenagers. we did it when i was pregnant, with our nephew, with friends, by moonlight, with the kids on our backs. it's nice to be somewhere you know so well. when i am near trees and water i know who i am and where i belong.

new year's eve we had the kids in bed and asleep by 9. which if you know us, you know is a magnificent feat of daring, mixed with an ounce of know how and boat load of luck. we made a bonfire in the back yard, the sky was crystal clear, the stars were bright, the lake sparkly. at the stroke of 2012 there were bursts of color in the sky set off by folks around the neighborhood. it was exactly where we wanted to be.

cheers! to doing what you love this year with who you love to do it with.