Nostalgia

This summer I wanted to be sure my kids did not sit around and miss some real hands-on adventure. They have enjoyed the usual suspects of swimming and popsicles on the patio, special nights over at grandmas and barbecues with out of town visiting family, but it can be easy to fall into the samo, samo rut and it is in those little adventures (some not even that involved) that we form our most prized memories.

One day last week, we took up a friend's offer to join them in driving up to a few u-pick farms in the north part of the county.. the not-so florida-ish, not beachy part of our area. We headed up early on a mission to pick blackberries, blueberries and peaches and although the sun was bright, they had a ball.

It was a fun outing and reminded me of summers up at my grandparent's house in North Alabama, picking from their extensive garden. Our days were so free back then, filled with shrieks of joy, imaginations run loose, red clay-stained bare feet and the adventures of a team of cousins in a treehouse or hiking in the woods. We were free to be pirates and princesses with our only decisions surrounding what time we would break for lunch and our only dissapointments at having to take a nap after lunch. We challenged eachother in our little red wagon, to ride faster and faster down the hill of my grandparent's driveway, over the bridge covering the dark gully, which we thought was really a moat filled with snakes and dragons. The sounds of crickets and cicadas, the wood screen door slamming behind you as you raced out to catch some lightening bugs in an old jam jar... such vivid memories! I would do just about anything to escape to that old porch swing creaking in the breeze while I rested my head in Mimi's apron, her soft voice.."I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.."

So to my girls: I wish to help you make many summer memories and I will know I have done my job if you look back one day and feel tingley remembering the warm sun on your neck, the prickle of blackberry bushes at your ankles, the sweet peach juice slipping off your chins and can appreciate my quiet joy looking back to find you napping in your carseats.. lashes resting on sticky little cheeks.

As for an update on Sam, he is doing pretty well this week. One of his nurses lost her mother and so they are in our prayers. Sam had Jason and I to himself last night as the girls got to stay with thier grandparents. He seemed to take notice of the quiet.. maybe even missing them a bit. But he is quietly napping as I type right now (see pic below) and seems content to enjoy a rare, quiet morning with no sissys running all around.

He is trying to eat some new things but with each step forward there are days that seem to step back. We are taking it slow. He is doing some new things with his movement. He is trying to get his knees under him, but pulling up his carriage is no easy task. He is rolling all around, his way to crawl I guess. This morning, he tried to do itsy bitsy spider with me and almost ended up clapping his hands.. it won't be long. He needs a cooling vest to get out and enjoy more activities as the Florida heat is just a little much for him. They are not cheap and so I am researching this. He has been in the pool twice now and seems to get alot from the weightless feeling. He wants to push out from me and glide across the water to his sisters. The pool has been a blessing for widening his experiences. It is only the start of the summer and already seems promising..

Lord, thank you for the adventures of summer.