In the Merry, Merry Month of May

Yep, Aidan. That's the way everyone feels about stale blog posting. Here's a bundle of snapshots from May, nearly four months after we waved goodbye to her.

June's on deck, and July's in the hold.

Twice as Nice

John's parents passed along a mirror they didn't need, and before I hung it, Skylark enjoyed befriending her reflection.

The video is even better.

Stylist for Hire

...and the rates are reasonable.
Clients can enjoy her skills in trade for a banana or one picture book read upon a couch.

Peekaboo

Monkey Finds a Home

For as long as she was aware of them, this girl has loved trees. As soon as she learned to write, she'd proclaim on scraps of paper to leave all over the house, "I am a monkey!" Annika's physical bent was obvious from the beginning. She started walking at nine months, and when she had freshly turned four, she was already a monkey bars professional.

Her physical abilities have only found outlet in country kid activities-- tree climbing, backyard soccer, and the like, all of which are fine and good, but knowing that she would have taken to gymnastics training or formal soccer (or, say, trapeze artistry) like a monkey to a banana has always made me feel like I wasn't helping her use the abilities that God delighted to give her. If He spent His creative care to design her with specific gifts, He means for her to use them for His glory!

All of this background is to explain why Annika buying herself a ticket to Wednesday Night Workouts at a local obstacle and trail racing course has been the gift of a lifetime for both her and me.

For a couple of years now, our friend Owen has told Annika that she would love this obstacle course he runs at. This year, she received a money windfall (an exorbitant gift for helping out with a certain move), and Owen offered to pick her up each Wednesday evening to join in the Wednesday Night Workouts at the Newbsanity course.  Turns out, it's only fifteen minutes away from us!

From that first Wednesday night, anyone who knows Annika has had to endure detailed praise of Newbsanity and the people who frequent it...all summer long.  A large spot that needed filling is being filled, and I am grateful that God worked a way for this monkey to delight in His gifts, praising Him for what He has given every single Wednesday night and every day in between.

Most Wednesday nights, one of the Newbys takes pictures of people running the course, so I pilfered all of these pictures from the public Newbsanity facebook page, and all rights and ownership thereby belong to Newbsanity.

And, because I know some of you will think it, I'll quote Grandma Owen. When she saw these pictures, she said, "People PAY for that?!!!"

:)

Yup, and happily, too.

Annika alert: top right-hand corner.

Annika alert: top center

Oh, hello Evan!

And, since when I was looking for that video of Little Monkey Annika, I found this picture of Little Monkey Mildred, I'm going to try convincing Mildred to spend HER money on a Wednesday Night Workout pass instead of on that used spinning wheel she's been hunting for.

Ha! Who wants to bet I'm going to lose that one?! :)

The Mud Gauntlet

Annika gushes about a lot of people, and she tends to see the best in everyone. This is a character trait I wish I could take credit for, but unfortunately, she didn't get it from me.  With this knowledge, I tend to take her words about people with a grain of salt, but when she gushes about the owners of Newbsanity, I throw that grain of salt out the window.

The Newbys have been nothing but gracious, kind, and encouraging to Annika, and she's matured a lot from her experiences there this summer. She has no real money-making means out here in the boondocks, but she's saving all her pennies to pay for next summer's Wednesday Night Workouts. Because of this, she knew that racing in the Mud Gauntlet was out of the question, as it's quite expensive if you haven't paid for the all-in pass at Newbsanity.

When our friend Evan (who is also nothing but gracious, kind, and encouraging to Annika) asked about the possibility of a discount for her, Jarrett said there was no discount but-- probably after seeing the wave of crushing disappointment sweep over Annika's face-- he then offered for her to do trail maintenance in exchange for a free race. Since every time she's worked up the nerve to ask when she should do the trail maintenance, he's shrugged it off for another time, and since the race was almost four months ago, I'm thinking he wasn't too desperate for trail maintenance workers. :)

I was there for the start of the race but not the finish, because I had to get home to get everyone ready to leave for a wedding shower, but I was able to take these two pictures. Here are the intimidating, steely women in the front line (seriously, they still have me shaking in my doughnut-filled boots).

Aaaaand here's our Annika, the person who had a grin instead of looking grim.

The remainder of these pictures are copyright of Newbsanity, except for the one with the watermark.

Here she is running up the hill toward the finish line. We all think she looks like Ruger. There's a definite kinship between those two.

After Owen and Evan drove her home, Annika asked if there was enough time to take a shower before the wedding shower. Since she smelled like a walking swamp, and her braids were stiff with mud, I said I supposed we could spare the time.  All in all, a wonderful day.

Thank you, Newby family and Purdy boys men! You made one of this girl's favorite summer memories!

Fancy-Pants Philharmonic

Well, one would think that after a morning Mud Gauntlet and an afternoon baby shower, the Owen family would come home and crash. Not so! If one thought that, one would be wrong.

I blame it all on our friend Cadie P., who contacted me with the offer of a few free tickets for a local philharmonic concert. When I checked into pricing for additional tickets, a cheerful man told me I could order as many more as I liked for $10 dollars apiece. Since I'd made some money selling clothes at the consignment shop, I had an envelope tucked away for Summer Fun Stuff, and this fit the bill! Thanks to the free tickets, I was able to buy additional tickets and invite additional pals for not much more than it would have cost to take the family roller skating, which was my original plan.

I left the younger children home with John, filled our van to its full capacity with fancy young ladies, and off we went for a magical night! Rebecca took these pictures of the girls during pick-up.

Some of the girls were worried we'd stick out like sore thumbs because we were so fancy. I told them that was half the fun! Plus, we'd show those uncultured bums who wear jeans and leggings to the Philharmonic what's what. Seriously, athletic leggings?!

But this. This is much better.

The fact that so many older people commented favorably on the girls' appearances assured me that we made the right choice.

Since I forgot my camera (hey! I was scrambling like mad to even get out the door!), here are crummy phone pictures.  My one regret is not forcing a fancified Diedre to come. (Though her brothers may have used pictures of said fancified Diedre for blackmail, so perhaps it's for the best.)

When I used the word "magical" above, I meant it. I used to attend nearly every free Philharmonic concert during college, watching the musicians-- kids I knew from the cafeteria-- transform with their instruments into something extraordinary, a unified entity. I'd sink down and close my eyes while the music filled all the spaces.

I was a bonafide country bumpkin, and those concerts, such as they were, were one of my initial exposures to culture and fine art.  They were magical then, and they're magical now. This was the first time I've been to such a concert since college, and sharing that experience with all these lovely ladies, almost all of whom had never attended one before, was a great pleasure.

After the concert, I forced them against the wall for an ill-lit snapshot, and we were off.

Thank you, Cadie! I feel like your gift was just as much for me as it was for them!