Tis the Season.

With all of the wackiness that this summer has brought (torrential rains, tornados, seven-foot tomato plants, and spiders galore), we will miss the warm Colorado sun, but are also very ready for a new season. Although we've enjoyed every minute of these last, very green, three months, we are preparing to welcome lovely Autumn (my favorite season) with open arms. I'm already stocking up on spicy, veggie-filled soup recipes, am planning a hand-made Halloween costume for Gabriel, and have pulled out the various autumnal home décor (mâché witches, Mexican skeletons, dried gourds). Here are a few things I've enjoyed about summer this past week, when the temperature finally got above 85º and really felt like the season of the sun:

- dandelions, which have taken on a whole new meaning
now that Gabriel has learned how to blow

- the Denver Museum of Nature and Science,
where we can escape the heat and bark at bears

- happy, happy basil,
which means pounds of pesto

- the occasional and very welcome rain shower

- gorgeous caterpillars,
whom I found out are actually very vicious!

- and Gabriel finally sleeping in his own bed.
- and, of course, making faces like that when he wakes up.

Four-Year-Old Photographer of the Year.

Last weekend, our family got together to celebrate the return of a cousin who spent his summer interning in Ohio. After working on rocket ships, calculating big numbers, and seeing peacocks in the road (don't ask me), we felt he needed a bit of a welcome-home party. It's always wonderful to get together, but now that Amara, the first rascal of the next generation, has a playmate (Gabriel), it's all the more fun. At the party, I handed my camera over to Amara, who gleefully tried to take photos of people eating their hamburgers, drinking sodas, and laughing. She had a bit of trouble with the timing at first, but I think she got some good shots. :)

And, once I had finally reclaimed my camera, I got a quick photo of the photographer herself:

Miss-most-adorable Amara-Loo.

around town: "Butterflies are Self-Propelled Flowers." - R.H. Heinlein

One of our favorite places to spend an afternoon is at the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster. They've got everything we like for sunny days: nature paths, big fish tanks, roley-poleys, and, of course, tons of butterflies. They also have an impressive collection of cockroaches, tarantulas, scorpions, and other creepy, too-many-legged creatures, but as somebody who isn't too impressed with bugs unless they're cute and harmless, we usually make it through those exhibits in under ten minutes. If you're in the neighborhood, I highly suggest stopping by here. Not only do you get to walk around amidst a flurry of beautiful butterflies and turtles, but you can also pet starfish, see upside-down jellyfish, and hold Rosie, the famous tarantula! (I have yet to muster up the courage to hold her, something my 84-year-old grandmother did without flinching and teased me for later. She said that Rosie felt like velvet.)

Love-making?

It's hard to tell, but the butterfly that Gabriel was reaching for was the biggest one in the place, about the size of a hummingbird. He's green and black- do you see him?

I got lucky!

And then we got tangled up in a giant spider-web. Help!