The Last Hurrahs of Summer and The Beginning of School

Mali ~

So, yo, yo! I think the biggest thing that happened in August was your beginning of 5th grade! What?! Yep...top of the food chain...oldest grade at your elementary...and next year on to middle school! Again...what?! Time sure is flying.

Well, let's start at the top, shall we? The night before the first day of school you were so excited that you couldn't sleep and even compared the feeling to the night before Christmas. Do you realize how much I love, love, love that you LOVE school this much? You even requested our tradition of reading you the "Adam letter" about being grateful, kind, and brave. The difference is that this year, you wised up just a bit and asked, "Really, Mom...is Adam a real person?" and I finally had to come clean that this particular letter I had borrowed from one of my favorite mama bears (Glennon Doyle - she had it in her wonderful blog way back when). I worried that it would ruin the mystique of the message when you finally knew it wasn't my personal story, but with how emotional I get every dang year when I read this letter to you...I don't think it ruined it at all. You know how important and meaningful this message is to me and now by allowing me to impart it to you on each first day of school eve, you have embodied it too. I love that.

Stepping back a bit in time (before school started), another super cool thing that we did was bought a new car (since mine pooped out on us - boo) and the very next day, took it all the way down to Hocking Hills to the John Glenn Astronomy Park to look at the Milky Way, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and the moon with gigantic telescopes! It was a spontaneous trip for you, Lao Lao, and I...and so much more fun than I realized it would be! The whole thing was just a bunch of random stargazers joining up and volunteering to let all of us take turns looking through their telescopes and teaching us about the stars and planets. You really got into it and learned so much. It was a joy to see your mind expand!

testing out the back up camera on the new car w Lao Lao

this was probably the biggest telescope there

and of course you had to get a Milky Way for
the drive home...clever!

zonked out in the back...a late night but well worth it

soaking in the rays, living your best life before school starts

scaring the crap out of me with a facial mask

here was just a random scene I captured one day on the way home
from the store...a fox crossing the street followed by a flock of geese
(our neighborhood is so cool)

uni-brow at bath time...courtesy of shaving cream

shaving cream pointy bra?

Oh! Oh! Oh! And another super cool thing we did the weekend before school started was take a trip to Chicago to tour their Chinatown with Miss China International (2017), Jennifer Zhang. I happened to find this particular tour on AirBnB and she was so incredibly nice and informative. We also toured several other places in Chicago the next day and headed home the next morning. It was a quick trip but perfect for the 3 amigos (you, me, and Lao Lao)!

the oldest building in Chicago Chinatown

this guy was part of the Chinese art/cultural museum...
I thought he was cute and fun

we walked all over the place w Jennifer

a beautiful mosaic 9 dragon screen/wall denoting Chicago's Chinatown

beautiful mosaic depicting the Chinese experience of coming to America

gorgeous home in the new part of Chinatown

my little rat, showing off one of the 12 zodiac statues

snapped this on our way back to the hotel

The following pictures are from more of our Chicago shenanigans.

this thing was 3D, very near Chinatown, spotted on our way
to find the water taxi to head downtown

water taxis are so cool!

there's the Chicago skyline in the background

cool fountains at Navy Pier

chomping on my Chicago dog

we rented these crazy little bikes to cruise the waterfront

look at that view!

right near the water, the pavement was on an incline and
we all felt like we would topple into the lake

had to dip our toes in the cool water
of Lake Michigan

of course we had to see The Bean!

and one more stop back in Chinatown on our way out the
next morning for some bubble tea and candy

With all of this fun that I was able to have with you this month, there was this one thing that I did just for me. See, Stacy talked me into going to something called Soul Camp. "What's that?", you ask? Well...it's a bit hard to explain. Basically, it was a way for me to rediscover more of my authentic self in a nurturing and supportive and fun environment...it's adult sleep-away camp but with a lot of glitter, hugs, yoga, smiles, tears, meditation, bonfire, ceremonies, soul searching, and lots and lots of unconditional acceptance. It was all of that...and so much more. Ahh. So hard to explain. Perhaps I will just leave it at that. But, since I was very profoundly moved by the entire experience and finally able to let go of some of my past pain and trauma, I thought I would share a few of the pictures I took. And I will leave you with just this tiny piece of advice...if you ever have a chance to go to anything like this...GO!

Stacy, me, and Lana standing outside our bunk...Bunk 22!

some of my camp swag with an intuitively chosen quote on
a sign above my bunk...it couldn't have been more perfect

when the energies and emotions got to be too much at times,
this little path through the woods is where I would go

getting ready for the bonfire under the full moon
(there eventually were about 265 people around that fire!)

hiking down to the river

I sent this to you and said that the purple flower reminded
me of you and I am the little red flower behind it,
always cheering you on...always

this was taken the morning we flew home, we had just slept in Long Island
City at one of Stacy's friend's apartments and I walked onto the
pier that morning to capture the scene...a beautiful urban oasis

and this big guy...I was happy to have an impromptu
margarita date with him when I came home

So, evidently when I was gone...you and Daddy had some fun of your own. Playing games and drinking slushies!

We also got to finally meet Erin's baby, Remy, when I got home too. Erin has adored you ever since I met her and she got to know you and so it's very fitting that I get to love on her little one now. She asked if you would help be a role model for Remy and I am happy to report that you are taking the task very seriously.

look how comfortable she is sleeping on you

And also...you were so excited that you got to be "ball kid" at a St. Charles soccer game with Daddy!

And last but not least...I will leave you with this. I can't remember exactly when this past month that you sent me this text, but I was brought to tears when I received it. I'm so glad that there are some heartfelt things I have done, (like singing to you at bedtime all those nights), that has stuck with you. This song will probably always feel special to me, too.

Love you, forever and ever.
Mama