The view from here

Newsflash: We're not dead. I haven't left the blogging world. We haven't packed up and moved away. The sun's been rising in our world (as have the mounds of laundry). We've just been living.

Learning to swim. Loving to read. Living to laugh.

There's been all of summer's best ... and only one day I've wished for school. Now with backpacks and buses getting so close, I'm holding it close. Longing for more of what's been.

No strollers for Kings Island. No diaper bags for the park. No four carseats to fasten and unfasten at each stop. Freedom.

Running, loving, learning. Splashing, dreaming, talking. Playing, planning, wishing.

Babies and toddlers turned kids. Kids who soak it up, live it up and love it up. More questions than there is time to answer them. More fun than ever imagined.

The world through their eyes is a summer vacation.

Trace and Alysse being whipped around - their screams are comedy.

Alivia loves this huge pink duck at Kings Island, and insisted she must be photographed with it.

Trouble and happiness all at once.

Alivia modeling hazmat gloves at Fairfield's "Touch a Truck" event.

Trace tries on a Fairfield Fire Department helmet for size.

The children's librarian we saw weekly this summer. The kids love her, and she's helped nurture a reader in Trace.

Bumping up on the ride scale, Alivia is able to enjoy new "big kid" rides at Kings Island this summer. She's a rider at heart.

Please note: Our children did not inherit this desire for thrill from me.