the highlight reel

Hello, darlings. All eleven of you faithful readers. Are you still there? Forgive me. Because Pen has been Five Months for a very long time in this little part of the world, and our lives have carried on completely undocumented for many months now. To get us back on track, here are a few highlights from life here in the little yellow house.

Pen will be nine months old on Sunday. I'm about to say what every parent says. I can't help myself. But where did the time go? Suddenly, we have a third person in the house -- not just a baby -- but a person with personality and opinions and a little will all her own. Pen is turning out to be lovely, sweet, funny and feisty. We are enjoying this stage immensely. Every week, she learns something new. This week, she's working hard at words. Mama. Dada. Bye-bye. It blows my mind that my baby (my little baby!) is starting to talk to us. Tell me: How is this possible? Oh. My.

Pen has one setting and that is: GO! She has boundless energy and is keeping us on our toes. She is also officially mobile -- pulling up, crawling, climbing on EVERYTHING. And even though I'm not urgent for this Busy Girl to be walking, I suspect she will be by the end of the summer. Watch out, world.

Ben and I celebrated our 5th anniversary with a belated trip to the Florida Keys. It was our first big trip away from Pen. We missed her, but it was a treat to get away together. And I don't think Pen pined for us, seeing as she was in the capable hands of Grandpa and Didi. Plus, they whisked her away to the beach for her own mini-break.

The Keys feel very much like an outpost, a little village of islands just barely attached to anything resembling America. It's like a little piece of the Caribbean reached up to hold hands with Florida. It was so good to reconnect with each other post-baby. It felt like like a Five Day Date. Reading on the beach. Snorkeling. Napping. Oh, and eating. Always eating.

Then, in June, Ben went back to South Africa for the World Cup. His two great loves: football and South Africa, it simply could not be missed. It was a whirlwind visit. He made good use of every minute, seeing family and soaking up Cape Town, while squeezing in the Italy/Paraguay game. Pen and I stayed behind and had our own adventure - a week at the beach together. It was a good time all around, but we are very happy to be reunited as Three again.

We are deep in the goodness of summer. And I am reminded almost daily of why I love this season as much as I do. Even on the hottest of days, it feels good to be warm to the bone with sunshine. I love how long the days are and how the evenings linger well into the nine o'clock hour. The farmers market is literally overflowing with delicious-ness, which has made for a very happy kitchen lately. Most meals on the grill. Tomatoes and okra and corn so sweet, it tastes like candy. Yum.

Summer also means lots of beach time. And in fact, I'm about to pack up for a July 4th weekend at the beach. I'm pleased to report that Pen loves the ocean. This must be a genetic predisposition, because Ben and I love nothing more than a day at the beach.

She's our fearless little fish, jumping the waves, sinking tiny toes into the sand, splashing in the water. If we'd let her, I think she might leap out of our arms and make an attempt at swimming. Makes my heart happy. I have such seminal memories of being at the beach as a child. Having Pen at the beach is an exercise in indulging childhood all over again. Giving in to the messiness of sand, sitting in tidepools for hours on end, splashing around. And there is nothing better than carrying my sleepy, salty girl back from a day at the beach, soaping her up in the outdoor shower, and bundling her up in a towel, near-ready for bedtime.

Speaking of Pen, here's the latest album. (Let's talk again soon.)