continued

with grandma on her very own adventure and moved, we continued on our journey.  the next leg was spending time with friends.  rob and sam with emily and olivia was the first stop.  we parked the tailer in the meadow and spent our time enjoying cups of tea, beautiful conversations that challenged my heart, and moments together that built upon our friendship.  i will always be so very thankful for this family and their friendship to us.
we celebrated fathers day with a quick trip to tofino.  we stopped at all the normal places along the way, tea in port alberni, gas just past port, park stop in tofino and then on to chestermans beach.  this trip we picked up two extras that we found along the way...kat and chett fichett, who are part of the hallway living at trinity.  we rode, jumped waves, built sandcastles, sat and listened to the roll of the waves and enjoyed amazing company.  maybe a favorite day for me, something about salt water in your hair and the smell of neoprene on your skin that does it for me.  shared experiences, moments and smiles that are not easily lost or forgotten.  time with others is valuable and cherished in my heart. time spent in creation, the smells, the sights and sounds.  i could have stayed there forever.
reluctantly we piled into the truck to head back at the end of a great day.

our days following included horseback riding, more tea and conversations, more 'grandma attic' readings at night time, more time, time with each other, time to just be together.

these were our days with the baus and fitchetts.  from here we rolled down island to camp imadene where more friends and adventures awaited us.

adventures together

by the time april comes, my heart can hardly be contained for all the longing and excitement it waits for.  june holds the promise of time together, time as a family exploring, serving, participating, and adventuring together.  it mourns the loss of students and the change of pace, but it rejoices with the thoughts of building into each other.  and now, with the volkswagon van sold, the transportation takes place with the cruiser and trailer, so, packed and ready to go, we deviated from our normal course down the oregon coast and instead set out for vancouver island.

june 7, 2013 a travel day.

our first destination was grandmas, to play, to pack, to sell, and to move.  we backed the trailer into the yard and made it home for the week.  the first item to accomplish was a garage sale and from there we continued to help grandma move while also exploring at the park and beach, catherdral groove, and coombs.  our nights included a marshmallow roast, livingroom chats while sitting on the floor and reading grandma attic to the girls in bed.  there were sunny days spent sprinkler jumping and rainning ones spent hiking trails and looking for crabs.  i asked the girls if they would tell their kids one day about how their mom made them walk on trails in the pouring rain while they were hungry and cold, it may have done my heart good to hear them giggle of such things.  we got our summer feet back, dirty and calloused, and we cried when grandma left.

marshmallow roast with grandma in the backyard.

 morning beach walks in the rain

a day at the park and the beach with nana, who came to play with us.

 cathedral groove in the pouring rain.  it was so quite and peaceful.  we were wet and muddy by the time we finished exploring, also maybe cold and hungry.

when it was sunny we still made choices to get wet.

we moved grandma and then played at the beach one last time.

a picinic and a barbie kite, some buckets and shovels, tubes and bathing suites, we could have taken on the world...at least until the little one got cold. 

and so this is the start of our summertime adventures and first week of holidays in june.

dancing

i don't fit well in the world of dance moms.  i didn't grow up dancing and i have no idea of what to expect from our children.  i watch intensely and have become friends with one mom who does know, and who herself is a dance teacher.  she watches and sometimes writes notes on observation day.  she is backstage during the show for both afternoon and evening performances.  she has asked her children to be dedicated to this sport, competing and practising multiple times a week.  i kinda like her and as much as she asks a lot of her girls, she hears them when they say they would like to stop.  she has taught me to participate, to not be afraid to ask the question i have no idea the answer to, and to push a little harder when desire is shown.

i didn't ever imagine dance for our girls, but i did imagine them building into each other, supporting and encouraging each other.  my heart gets a little overwhelmed when i watch them.  and maybe i cry a little too.  you pour into your kids, whether dance or soccer or art or music or games, we pour into them.  we drive them, we make sure their uniforms fit, that they are well fed, we ask them all the questions we can think of to get some sort of idea of how they are doing in it.  we ask them to practice, we ask them to preform.  we teach them and squeeze them when they think maybe they haven't done such a great job...cause to us, they couldn't have done any better.

and so i cry sometimes when the curtain pulls back and the song starts that they have been practising to since christmas.  my heart stops for a second and then swells as they take their first steps onto that stage.  and from where i sit, they have already completed more than i could have asked.  they have accomplished goals, they have supported each other from the wings, and made sure they are okay as they wait in the green room.  that is my heart.  not the dance but the love they share with each other in the process.