from frustration to bliss

Last night at home was the definition of chaos. There was fighting, yelling, crying, the house was a mess, the girls' paperwork from school was covering every space I looked at, there were unattended dishes in the sink and laundry waiting to be folded. Tension was high and we were on the verge of at least a couple of meltdowns. So we grabbed our scooters and skateboards and left it all behind us. We live right across the street from the school so it's easy to escape to the playground for a little while. 

I ran into a friend and had a lovely conversation. The kids played (mostly) happily. It was just what we needed; a literal breath of fresh air.

(I love my daughter Lily, but she didn't make it into any of the photos from last night)

The smoke from the California fires creeps over the mountains and floods the valley every evening; this is what we see every day around sunset. It's getting better and there seems to be less every night but sometimes it's so bad that it stings our eyes and makes our throat hurt. It's a nuisance and eery and beautiful all at the same time.