Meditations on Life and Parenting
“In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.” – Charles Schulz
We spent some time hanging around this week.
Hitting and catching things.
Before we headed out for an adventure.
Saw some cool things out the window (the first is the view from our hotel in New Orleans). The second is Mt. Rainier with Mt. Tahoma off to the left.
And saw some other beautiful flying things – from the Butterfly exhibit at the New Orleans Insectarium.
Which all adds up to the hug and sign of the week!
“Don’t be afraid to start over again. This time, you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.” – unknown
It felt like we did the same thing all week long. We picked some wheeled transportation and then meandered through the neighborhood to the small park. Then we repeatedly rolled down the grassy hill. But it was so fun that the kids wanted to do it night after night, regardless of the weather.
And Miss O found a recipe in her kids cookbook for chocolate mug cakes she could make in the microwave. We did that night after night this week as well.
We were having so much fun that the daffodils showed up.
So we cleaned the windows to see out better, and the cat wanted to join in.
Add in a rainbow, some meditation, and the sign of the week and it made for a delicious recipe of a week.
“So much working, reading, thinking, living to do! A lifetime is not long enough.” – Sylvia Plath
A weekend at the beach. Seems everyone was digging it!
And wanted s’more…
Beach wildlife
Applying great concentration — to crab stare-downs and filling up our bottles.
And we walked away filled up with love.
“If you’re blessed, you’ve got to be a blessing.” – Pharrell Williams
Work
Play
Love
Neighborhood
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” – John Muir
We went on a road trip to Leavenworth, WA. I felt the truth of the John Muir quote above as soon as we crossed into the mountains. “…places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” – John Muir
Speaking of play, rollercoasters aren’t my thing so thankfully my dear friend was up for the rides!
And everyone was in for the snow and slides!
Maybe Cooper missed us…but kept busy finding some enticing distractions.
Snow tracks and signs.
“The only source of knowledge is experience.” – Albert Einstein
One morning this week, we decided to be a little late to school and work so that we could spent quality time together at Starbucks. Seattlites at Starbucks – seem too cliche? Regardless, we made good use of our time as Miss O’s sign conveys!
Cooper spent some time learning to blend in. He’s behind that gaggle of kids outside the school (no wonder he loves going to school pick up for all the attention he gets). And in the next photo, he was hanging out with some older retrievers. I’m not even entirely certain which one he is.
Mr. D on a mission: spraying, building, and doing push-ups
License plate art at the licensing office. Isn’t that the coolest map? And the sign of the week.
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
As often happens, I opened my phone thinking we didn’t do much this week and then found…pictures of the “make your own pizza” sleepover,
Decorative puddles after the ice melted,
And quality time spent in the garage as Miss O learned to hoverboard while
Coop ate the cones.
And funny signs under blue skies. A pretty good week!
“Beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold
Ice has a magic can’t be controlled
Stronger than one, stronger than ten
Stronger than a hundred men, ha” – Frozen Heart from Frozen
How do you know it’s cold in Western Washington? Mt. Rainier wears a hat. Ba-dum-dum.
But I can’t take credit for the joke because I heard it on the news. The weather seems to be the story of the week for most of the country. Maybe everyone except Arizona?
We didn’t get snow but we roamed around the neighborhood til we found some frozen ground water. Then the kids sang songs from Frozen and pretended they were ice workers.
Tug of war is just a mechanical engineering problem isn’t it? The weight differential multiplied by the friction coefficient or something like that?
Slime, hugs and motorcycles. All good separately – but never good combined in any way other than a gallery of pictures.
A stick for Cooper to chew on. And a sign for humans to chew on.
“Waiting insistently in front of a tightly closed door is unfair to all of the open doors! Give a chance to the open doors!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
There was a lot of excitement in our house for the UW vs Michigan game last week. It didn’t quite turn out as we hoped but it wasn’t for lack of cheering.
Shredding and cooking. Two distinctly different activities but done in our house with the same amount of enthusiasm.
“A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.” – Ogden Nash
Word!
“The only thing an old man can tell a young man is that it goes fast, real fast, and if you’re not careful it’s too late. Of course, the young man will never understand this truth.” – Norm MacDonald
Cooper! 20 weeks ago the stuffed polar bear was 1/3 bigger than Cooper. 16 weeks ago, Cooper drew even. And now, Cooper is at least 1/3 bigger than the bear. No wonder every time I take him to the vet she looks at him, smiles and says, “He’s going to be big.”
And to make sure he stays on track, Cooper is willing to sleep right outside the closet where his food is kept. As close as possible…
Rock climbing and hiking, including find a bus in the woods – but not one that could carry us out of there.
Delivering some neighborhood cheer.
For anyone who giggled at my story about the Christmas present laughter…
The heart and the sign of the week. May you all have a whole (not fractional) great week ahead!
Surprised By Joy 