Adventures in La La Land

1. Levi survived his first week of summer camp! He was not at all nervous beforehand. I do think I saw the nerves overtake him when we got to his cabin and he realized we were going to leave him with all these people he didn't know, but he shooed us out the door without ceremony. I made him take one quick picture with me first. I left with a pit in my stomach wondering, "Will he make friends? Will the other kids tease him? Will he be scared at night when he's trying to sleep? Will he eat anything?" But I'm a pro at compartmentalizing my emotions, so I stuffed them down and tried not to think about it. That said, I was very relieved when the camp started posting pictures and I could see him smiling and having fun. Second row, in the lions shirt. I didn't even know they were going to do the dune rides! Haha. But he's always wanted to, so I knew he was thrilled! He loved camp. It checks almost all his boxes: constant entertainment? Check. Constantly surrounde...

I have got to stop skipping weeks. It takes me way too long to catch up. Alas . . . 1. On Tuesday, I randomly decided to start reading Emma M. Lion. It's gotten a lot of buzz lately, and seemed like my kind of book, so I jumped in. This morning, I finished the 8th book in the series. Lol. The first two were less than 200 pages each, but they picked up in length after that. Suffice it to say, the buzz is deserved. The writing reminded me very much of L.M. Montgomery. There were definite Anne of Green Gables undertones, but it actually felt more like The Blue Castle . And in a strange way, it reminded me of one of my favorite children's novels: Adventures with Waffles - endearing, hilarious, delightful, but at turns serious, heartfelt, and deep. By the end, there was a bit too much poetry for my dull mind, but I adored the series as a whole. As Emma herself says, " There is no feeling quite like finishing a book that you’ve loved."  And lucky for me, there are more ins...