One of my goals was to give Big L a boring summer. A summer filled with ordinary days. Lightening bugs, and bike riding. Swimming and camping and food right off the grill. No big adventures needed, just family time. This is what we are sinking into.

She catches fireflies for Gus.

Unfortunately, he’s a bit of an accidental firefly squisher, so instead we’ve started giving him little bits of grass. At first he didn’t notice the difference, but now he laughs and says “no!”.

Hanging out on the patio.

The mail has started pouring in. It is so fun.

Her first one that she got was a message in a bottle, complete with an umbrella and sand. It was adorable! It came from CA, from Jenny. Jenny blogs at Insane for Ukraine. Thank you, Jenny!

And her second was from a super sweet new friend, Amanda, a cousin of someone who adopted from Gus’s orphanage. Inside were two bracelets– one from Big L and one for her to share with Lena. Thank you, Amanda!

She is excited and baffled by these people she doesn’t know sending her mail. She asked me today if it was my mom. Nope! I explained to her that they are friends of mine who just want her to know how special she is.

We pulled our bikes today. Big L told me that she knew how to ride, but I wasn’t sure. But, she does. Turns out she’s rather confident on a bike.

Don’t worry, Gus supervised.

That’s life here. Sometimes boring, pretty ordinary, but shaping up to be a pretty fun summer, too.