davidandmarta.blogspot.com: longer days, shorter years

it was my birthday yesterday, and i turned 39. it's not very old, and it's not young. it's likely very much the middle of my life. but it's the end of a decade, and that has me thinking about how short years are, how dynamic time is, how fluidly life flow through and past all of us. there are so many things to feel and say and see and do, and i feel that acutely as time moves swiftly past me. i try to do and see so much, to feel all the things, and to do it as well as i can. and in that spirit, we have been doing and seeing and feeling and going going going this month.

we went to a local small time amusement park, where the first ride broke and the children's coping skills were tested.

despite the set back of a broken ride while suspended in the air (you guys, it's quite the story...), they pulled it together and had a great day riding what appeared to be safe-ish and functioning rides. we had fun.

(we even had fun when the rides were so loud that we had to have our ears covered...)

friends in the front seat of a roller coaster!!

we had our local 4th of july triathalon, in which i was the first place female finisher. but more importantly, we all had fun despite the dangerously high levels of toxic algae bloom and e.coli in the beach water. (don't worry, we did a water balloon toss instead of a swim, which is exactly how i placed the way i did....because i don't swim well at all, but i can catch a balloon with the best. )

look at this big triathalon crew!

after the triathalon, there was the little bike/scooter/unicycle parade and dunk tank,

the ping pong,

the bubbles,

and the sparklers.

but the parties don't stop just because the fourth is over. david had never been to summerfest and neither had one of our favorite bands, arcade fire. so OF COURSE we went to see them and check summerfest off of david's list of "things to do to become a naturalized citizen of wisconsin."

on our way to summerfest, we swam with friends at their milwaukee pool and james went off the diving board for the first time ever (and i am VERY PROUD OF HIM).

we left our kids and our friends' kids with their old preschool teacher, and headed off to summerfest by way of the beautiful and idyllic estabrook beer garden, complete with mid-day accordion band.