The Race is On.

If the first day of school is the official finish-line for the race that is summer...then we have two weeks left until we burst through that red tape.  And we plan to bear down and give it our all as we sprint towards that finish line.  We have many things to accomplish on this homestretch and the best part...

"the dad" is on holidays.

Morning coffee on the deck...going to the beach...

camping...

flying kites and walking dogs...

...all of it is better with dad around.

In this last leg of the race I don't have much time to write all that I want to. 

There are suitcases on the floor calling my name.
And when we get home...

...she will be having a birthday celebration!

The race isn't over yet.

Home Town

I have lived in the same town my entire life.  Born and raised as they say.  And some days I wonder what it would be like to live somewhere else... maybe in the city with its theatres and shopping and fine dining or in the country with its dusty roads and wide open spaces.  But in the summer time, there is no place like this little town that we call home. 

Our town has a completely underdeveloped tourism industry.  The potential is there for this place to burst in the summer months like other resort towns with its miles of lake shores laden with beaches and its waters filled with a myriad of fish...a fisherman's dream.  Water sports and camping.  Parks and pools.  Festivals and events.  Yes, our little town is a gold mine...or should I say zinc mine.

It sounds like I work for northern tourism!

  Hay Day at the Zoo

Big sister was so sweet...taking care of little sis, taking her shoes off and holding her hand...waiting for their turn on the bouncy slide.  Although,  when it was finally Lexi's turn, she said, "no way, where's my mama?"

It is only to our benefit that our tourism potential has not been reached.  My beach blanket never has to overlap with the people next to us.  We got some last minute campsites booked.  There were still openings in the summer swimming lessons.  And there wasn't another boat in the bay at Nana's and Papa's as the kids were pulled round and round and round.

I've been watching my big girl's confidence grow this summer.  Jumping off diving boards, off the back of boats, off the end of the dock...still with plenty of encouragement but she's doing it!  And Lexi, with all her timidness, has no fear of the water.  She always trying to keep up with the big kids. I often have to remind her that she's only turning two not five like big sister.

     This was actually a park day, not a beach day... bathing suits anyone?

As our summer days fly by, we will continue to fill our days enjoying our home town.   Taking the girls to beaches and parks and pools and community events.  I want them to know that it's OK to dream and wonder about far off places and maybe their lives will take them to some of the places they dream of...but it's also OK to bloom where you are planted.

We're happy to be planted on this beautiful piece of earth.  Good Night.

Country Road

The girls and I took a little trip to the country. 

We went to visit my BFF who is just weeks from bringing her fourth little bundle of joy home to experience country living.  At this visit, we celebrated.  We celebrate birthdays and unbirthdays, friendships and babies, and most importantly we celebrated Shaun and Chad's 10th Anniverary.

Everyday I wish Shaun and her family lived closer to us than the current six hour drive.  I wish she lived just down the street so that we could meet at the park or go for ice cream.  She could come over on Thursdays when Jon is out golfing and stay late and the kids could play in their jammies and we could watch old Jenny Jones Shows like we did in college. 

On the drive home... when all was quiet as Callie was entranced with Monsters Inc on the life-saving portable dvd and Lexi was fast asleep due to exhaustion from the abundance of country air... I was feeling sad leaving my friend.  Again wishing that geography wasn't against us.  Wishing that I could be there when baby came into the world.  Wishing that I could be of more help than just sending flowers and an e-mail congrats.

I drove, taking in the prairie scenery... glowing yellow canola fields, cows and horses, fences painted bright white, old barns with thier aged, grey boards on the verge of collapsing, and the never ending horizon.  Callie poked her head up from her movie every so often and interupted the silence with questions...why are those barns falling down? Why do cows eat grass?

I thought about our visit and how much fun my girls had at the farm.  I witnessed Callie's uncontainable excitement as she headed out to the garden to pick vegetables.  Geared up in rubber boots and toting empty ice-cream pails she radiated enthusiam for the unknown as she has never been in a garden before.  And I had a moment as stood back and watched Chad name all the vegetables and explain how you only pick the fat pea pods and showed her which carrot tops to pull.  And in that moment I realized that, up until this point, Callie thought peas and carrots and lettuce and corn came from the grocery store and that this was amazing, and somehow like magic, that these vegetables were growing from the ground!

So for as much as I wish Shaun lived six minutes away instead of six hours I realized on my drive home that if she did  we would be living the same experiences.  And if she lived down the street my girls would not have seen where vegetables actually come from.  They would not have experienced the sound of complete silence, the joy of catching frogs, or the friendliness of shopping at the local Co-op where sceaming kids get rewarded with candy!

And they wouldn't have experience the world's best bakery.

I am still sad that we are so far apart but so completely grateful for the hospitality and the experience.  A lot has changed in the last decade... things just keep getting better.  Happy "10 years" my friends!

Love and Loss

And so July has slipped by... it's like trying to hold water in your hand.  No matter how hard you try to hang on, the days just slip though the cracks.  August has a different feeling.  It has this annoying little voice whispering "summer is half over..."  But we plug our ears and shout loudly so that we can't hear it's frightening words.

I had big plans for my first post of August.  For this was when I was going to write about how we were expecting baby #3!  I had strung the words together in my mind...about how we would be a family of five and we were so excited.  But as we know, things don't always go according to plan and baby #3 didn't make it past twelve weeks. 

The hard part is over.  The loss of our baby.  And we are working on healing our minds as it is amazing the planning and decisions and dreaming that had already taken place in those twelve weeks.  And I have lived though this vicariously with countless friends and loved ones but now I know, first hand, the grief.  Now it is my turn to be supported by my friends and family...and I am so grateful for their love, comfort, kind words, and listening ears.

I have purposely written these words of loss intertwined with glorious, happy photos of our many summer beach days...because that is exactly how it happened.  And despite our loss, beautiful things were still happening all around us.  And with my two sweet girls at my side everyday it is almost impossible to stay focused on what we lost when there is so much life right in front of us. 

We have been surrounding ourselves with the people we love.  Our families.  Our friends.  Each other.