Our van died. As we pulled off of the highway one night, the lights on the dash began to come on, one by one. Our headlights dimmed. It was bad. We were still a couple of miles from home, but Aaron decided to try to make it home. The car came to a very dead stop just a quarter of a mile off the highway.

It was not what we wanted to deal with late on a weekend night, with all 3 kids in the car, but there were many positive things about it as well.

First of all, it had died just OFF the highway. While we might have preferred the timing a little bit closer to home, we were so glad it happened off the highway and in an area where we could pull off of the road.

Second, AAA. A few weeks ago, we had to have Aaron’s truck towed. I told my mom about it, thanking her as she is still paying for my AAA membership, even though I left her house many years ago. “I am?!” She didn’t even know she was (oops!), but I was so grateful to have it in a real emergency like this, when figuring out a tow truck would have been another hassle.

Third, our friends. Even before I called the tow truck, I texted two of my closest, most helpful friends and explained what happened. Both of them were willing to drop everything and get us. I was so thankful for their help and so thankful to have the sort of friends who will do that. My friend Danae, the one who ended up picking us up, took better care of us than we would have taken of ourselves, as she always does.

Lastly, my kids. It was late when we got home and they hadn’t eaten yet. They were obviously hungry and tired. But, instead of any sort of whining, Reed suggested that he go ahead and start getting ready for bed while I made dinner, and Lena followed without being told. I’m thankful that my kids are helpful, even when things don’t go well. Reed said “I was a bit scared at first, but it was fun to go in Danae’s car!”

We ended up being without a car for almost 3 full days, two of which were school days. This meant extra early mornings where we rode our bikes to school.  I thought this would be awful, and I have some muscles that might tell you it was. But, it was also a pretty fun experience.

I loved the experience of “noticing” things that goes along with our slower method of transportation. We ended up finding a new route to school that we loved, lined with beautiful, orange and yellow trees and going past 3 chicken coops.  We heard the rooster crow and we heard the chickens cluck. Gus can tell you about each of them. He pointed out all sorts of things as we went and asked me all kinds of questions about what we were seeing– lawn mowers, ducks, cats. We even saw a raccoon one morning!

We also rode past a Quaker church each day as well, which left me thinking about their beliefs on peace and silence. Those reflections, along with the physical yet simple act of riding a bike, left me feeling peace and restful, too. Isn’t it funny how that happens?

While I still could have done without the repair bill, all of these little things felt like a prescription for my soul– early quiet mornings, required exercise, reliance on friends. I was ready to have my car back, so I could make a trip to the grocery store and take Gus to preschool, but I’ve also found myself checking the weather, wondering when we can bike to school again.

This pictures are several weeks old now– the giveaway might be the t-shirts and the fact that no one looks freezing in them! Ha!

We met up with our friend Amanda at the dog park a few weeks ago. Our dog park is huge– over 30 acres. And, we ended up spending most of our time in a quiet little part of it, playing on some round bales. I wanted to take some time to practice photography while we were there, so I took a lot of photos.

Round bales make such a fun sort of playground. My kids always enjoy them.

They played hide and seek for awhile.

They climbed on them and I made them pose…

And, of course, there was lots of jumping off of them, too. I love how nervous Lena looks.

Even Amanda’s tiny dog Margo managed to jump up on the bales. The bales are about 5′ tall.

I think she was pretty proud of herself. We were all pretty impressed, too!

I never cease to be amazed that my children can be entertained by something so simple, but I love it, too.

Lena is laughing here because she just pushed Reed off of one of the bales. It was pretty cute and got them into a game of pushing each other off.

But, they were still best buddies.

And, of course, the dogs enjoyed it, too.

Aaron is the kind of person who like to take care of things himself if possible. He says it’s to save money. While I think that’s the largest part of it, I also think he enjoys it.

Reed and Lena wanted to watch him and “help” on one of these projects and he gladly let them.

I love that they get to see their dad do all kinds of projects and also begin to build a basic understanding of tools.

Safety glasses make a good accessory, too.

A couple of days ago, I heard trucks on our street and lots of crashing and crunching. “It can’t be!”, I thought, ah, but it was. They were demolishing the house across the street.

I’d seen signs of it for months– the tenants moving out, lots of trash by the curb. It was not a pretty house, nor did it look repairable, so this was rather exciting to me.

Of course, many little boys love to watch big trucks in action, so this caused lots of excitement in our house.

Gus had front row seats to a big demolition project!

He kept putting his hands on his head and/or shaking his head, saying “der makin’ a mess!”

It made for a pretty fun, out of the ordinary day for us, and we’re glad to see the neighborhood improving.

Gus has two favorite books right now, ones that he keeps on pulling out.

One is the Russian alphabet book that he’s played with since we were in Moscow.

I’ve shared about it a couple of times. You press on the letter and it makes the sound, along with a word that starts with that letter.

The other book that he’s really into right now is the Oxford Russian-English picture dictionary.

Last Sunday morning, he looked through the book telling me every picture that he saw. I was editing some photos and just not quite in the mood for this constant narration.  I told him, “I don’t really care”. He starting saying “Mama doesn’t care. Mama doesn’t wanna care. I gibe up!” Of course, that actually got him the reaction that he wanted when Aaron and I both started laughing.

I love that these are his favorite books right now. Even if he can’t read the words or even understand that it’s another language, I love that the sounds and shapes of the letters are getting into his brain.