Planning for Successful Summer Adventures

It's summertime again. The time when we all try to slow down, but it seems like the days speed by faster than we'd like. This is the time of year the our family looks for adventures to enjoy together. Living in a climate where it seems like we have six months of cold, we really treasure these long hot (or at least warm) days.

The other day, the kids and I went fossil hunting and...wait for it...we think WE FOUND A FOSSIL!

 Awesome? Yes.

Coincidence? Sort-of.

Adventures (as my kids like to call them) have a risk for not turning out as fabulous as planned. That's why I try to think of all the 'what ifs' before heading out with the kiddos, having a Plan A,B,C,D....Z ready ahead of time.

Little Man loves fossils. Baby B couldn't wait to find a 'dog bone' as she likes to call them (and to play in the dirt.) I was a little nervous since actually finding a fossil can be a bit like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack.

However, this wasn't the first time that we have gone fossil hunting at this particular location.

The last time we went fossil hunting was before Baby B had joined the family. Little Man, some of his cousins, and myself went out one HOT summer afternoon and sorted through lots of rocks and dirt. It was a risky proposition with a major chance of the entire outing being a bust. Initially I remember feeling frustrated that the kids weren't getting as serious about the whole fossil hunting mission as I was.

Then I realized that I had become that parent who helps their kid with their science fair project by doing the project themselves. Thankfully, this dawned on me before I had ruined the day for the kids. After talking myself down from my sad, type A, goal oriented, "LET"S HAVE FUN LIKE THIS" ledge, I realized something.

Finding a fossil wasn't the point.

 We were there for the adventure.

The challenge, the mystery, the imagining of what if, and 'what was it like here years ago' discussions. The heat, and the sweat, and the scraped knees, and the dirt. The 'remember that time we went looking for fossils?' stories that we shared later. The 'man, I'm sooooo thirsty...I wonder if this is how thirsty you feel in the desert?' questions.

Thankfully, we did find a fossil on that first trip. But, even if we hadn't, I had several things working in my favor to make it a successful adventure.

1. All of the kids loved playing in dirt/sand.

2. I had researched online about where and what we should be looking for.

3. We didn't have a long trek to get to the 'dig' site.

4. I could find some nice rocks for bordering my flower beds while we were there.

5. I had taken a year of geology in college because I thought 'why not, it would be fun' (and only slept      through some of the classes) so I kind of knew what to look for.

And my ace in the hole:

6. I planned to take them swimming afterwards whether or not any fossils were found.

On this most recent trip, we had success. The kids were able to wallow in the dirt AND we found what looks to be a fossil. Plus, I found some more rocks for my flower beds. Little Man and Baby B are hoping for many more adventures this summer. I have some ideas up and MANY backup plans. More importantly, I'm trying to keep in mind that for an adventure to truly be and adventure, there needs to be the element of the unknown. Maybe even a little danger.

ad·ven·ture

adˈven(t)SHər,ədˈven(t)SHər/

noun

1. 1.

   an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.

   "her recent adventures in Italy"

   synonyms:

   exploit, escapade, deed, feat, experience "her recent adventures in Italy"

verb

dated

1. 1.

   engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory.

   "they had adventured into the forest"

My job is to accentuate the unusual and exciting and eliminate (or at least minimize) the hazardous part of the adventure. This time, it turned out great. We'll see how our next adventure works out.

Here's to adventures guys. 'Tis the season.

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Winding up, winding down.

I adore summer and we've had a busy one.  In fact, I think we did more 'stuff'' as a family this summer than we have ever done before.

We moved forgotten flower beds...

ate yummy summer treats,

fished,

and fished,

and fished,

ate more yummy food,

caught amphibians,

caught more amphibians,

grew things,

and made lots of memories.

Sadly, summer vacation is winding down. Today, I spent part of my day getting my classroom ready for the school year. Next week, the other nine months of our year will begin (school, sigh). I love my job, but I always feel a bit sad at the end of the summer.

Hope you all had as much fun this summer as we did!

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Reality Check

We took our dogs to the lake today. Little Man has made a list of things he wants to do with Emmie since it's her last summer. This morning he decided that if we were going to bring her to the lake, we'd better do it soon, and I agreed. 

My vision.

 Emmie hopping out of the car, walking down to the shore, and gliding out into the water blissfully. Feeling young and free of pain.

Sparky excitedly jumping off the dock and swimming, jumping, and swimming, to her hearts content. 

Little Man and I watching them play and frolic together then loading them up in the car and heading home with two happy dogs.

The reality.

Emmie hobbled out of the car and pooped right outside of the door in the paved parking lot. In the meantime, Sparky was freaking out in the car, climbing all over me, wanting to get out and go meet all of the fisherman in the parking lot.

When we get out of the car, Little Man promptly declares that he is going to go look for frogs and hands me Emmie's leash. 

The dogs outweigh me, and I think they might know it. I stand there hoping that they don't drag me across the parking lot in front of all of these strangers.

We have to wait for the boats and accompanying vehicles to leave so that Emmie won't get run over (remember she's deaf and almost blind). Sparky is pulling, whining, and slowly wrapping the leash around me hoping that I will let go of her leash.

When we finally make it to the dock, Emmie swims for like, 30 seconds and comes back out. Yep, she's done. 

 Sparky goes in for about 10 seconds and then jumps back on the dock and almost knocks down a family trying to get into their canoes.  

Another boat comes to the lake so we move to the shore to stand out of the way. Emmie poops again. Sparky tries to drag me over to meet the perfectly obedient dog walking from his boat to his owner's vehicle. That dog didn't even need a leash to heel! I am sweaty, jealous, and developing a headache.

I tell Little Man that we are heading for home, but first I need to pick up some doggy poopie with a plastic bag. There is no garbage can available so guess what we got to haul home in our car trunk? Yeppers.

When we get home, the dogs act more excited for their little doggy swimming pool that they did for the lake. Plus, my car smells like wet, stinky dog.

Little Man looks at me and says "Well that didn't work out how I thought it would."

 I agree Little Man, I agree.

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Just B...

...Peaceful

We have had a crazy few days this past week. The weather was cool and rain was in the forecast so I decided it was time to try to tackle some of the projects that we had put off all summer. Basically,my sister and her kids helped Little Man and I in gutting our house of all the extra stuff that I have stored for "maybe, one day..."   It feels sooooo good to get rid of stuff. I love having less and I hope to continue this trend. 

Then last night Little Man had an injury that required a visit to urgent care early this morning. It wasn't so bad that we needed to rush to the ER but, I will spare you our photos (yes, there are photos). 

We are wiped out.

Today, I really should be painting our basement.  Or going through the remainder of the paperwork that I had neatly (ahem) stored.  Really there is much left to do, and I know that I need to get any extra work done now before Baby B comes home.

However, after the hectic week we have had, Little Man declared that it would be a peaceful day today. Smart guy. You don't have to ask me twice. I'm all in. 

Maybe we should head out picking some more raspberries? 

Who would like to join me?

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Happy Anniversary!

A year ago today, I started this blog. It was a bit terrifying for me, because it meant opening my life up to more people than I would generally be comfortable with. 

Etsy-Avett Brothers print

My decision to start blogging was in large part to keep my friends up to date on my current adoption. However, I also wanted to raise awareness about the adoption process. It is frustrating (for lack of a better word) that there are so many children without families, that adoption still has negative connotations attached to it, that adoption takes so long,  and that in a world where people are out buying smart phones, data plans, and multiple homes...they feel they wouldn't be able to afford to adopt. 

http://www.theshortandthesweetofit.com/2013/08/happiness.html

 (Adoption isn't for everyone, but please don't use the 'we can't afford to...'  as a reason if your lifestyle shows otherwise.)

I wanted to show people what a real family formed through adoption looks like (at least this one).

Family

That adopting as a single person is possible.  That we aren't perfect, but we're doing okay. That people can afford to adopt. That my real kids in this real family are awesome, and that there are other just as awesome kids waiting out there for someone to bring them into their new family.

Thanks for stopping by on this one year blog-iversary. 

I have some ideas for new things to add in year two. I've been pinning like crazy to make sure I don't forget my bright ideas. The Etsy store will be open soon (I hope, I'm just working on a couple more items.) Plus, Baby B will be coming home this year for sure. I'm also hoping to finish my book very soon.

What would you like me to cover in year two?

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Summer Priorities

If I wasn't so A.D.D. I would get so much more done! My list of projects for the summer has not gotten much smaller. I keep getting more ideas for projects I want to start, faster than I can finish all of the other projects. 

Plus, Little Man and I have to enjoy the beautiful weather and long days while we can. 

Case in point. Yesterday, we went canoeing and fishing. What should I have been doing? Cleaning out stuff in our house before Baby B comes home.

But instead...

The waterlilies were gorgeous! It made me think of Monet's Waterlilies. In fact, I think I feel another project coming on...Oh well.

I still think that I made the right choice.

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Saying Good-Bye

This summer will be the last one with our Great Pyrenees/Lab mix, Emmie.  

When I was going through chemo for Hodgkin's, I discovered a lump the size of a golf ball on Emmie's rib cage. I remember calling my mom in tears and telling her that Little Man couldn't lose his dog to cancer when I was in the middle of the battle myself. 

Who am I kidding, I couldn't lose my dog to cancer.

 When we brought Emmie in for her check-up, they told us it was probably bone cancer. The vet and I agreed that with her age, it was best just to let her enjoy her remaining time. We've been watching the lump, which has now reached the size of a softball.

Water has always been her favorite, but she started slipping last summer on the plastic of her custom 'pool'. This year I rigged up a geriatric model just for her. She is loving it, and she hasn't slipped yet!

 Emmie now hobbles around the yard at her leisure. We don't make her stay in the kennel when we are gone, because she can't roam very far anyway.

I have let Little Man know that this month we will need to say good bye. He's convinced that she will get better.  

It's not going to be easy. To add to the difficulty of making this decision, I first brought Emmie home right before a dear friend of mine passed away from cancer. Just a few days before she passed away, I brought my little Emmie over to meet her. My friend managed to say "That's going to be a big dog." as she cuddled her in her bed. It feels like losing Emmie is losing a link to my friend.

 I also really had hoped that Baby B would be home before we had to put her down. She is one of the most gentle dogs with children that you will see. 

Unfortunately, it's not fair to her to make her keep waiting. Her pain is increasing, and her strength is decreasing. 

It's time.

And I hate it.

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Happy Fourth of July!

 Happy Birthday America!

Here's one of my favorites, performed by Martina McBride.

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Enjoying the Lazy Days

Like most places, summer time means swimming. Grandma and Grandpa have a pool, expressly for the purpose of luring their kids and grand kids over on hot summer days. (They also have a zip-line, trampoline, four wheelers, bikes, 100 acres of woods...)

Until recently, the pool has been unheated.

 On the cooler days (70s or even 60s) we would use this little building to warm us up between swims.

The sauna. 

(Pronounced sow-na, it's Finnish. Pleeeeeeeease say it correctly or us Finns get a little peeved.  And don't tell us 'it sounds funny'...unless you also eat Eye-talian food, and TAEcos. ;)

Their sauna is the old fashioned wood fired kind. The kids love it from the time they are quite small. 

It's a challenge to see how much steam they can handle. My favorite temp for the kids is between 120 and 150 degrees.  (And don't worry, we monitor them and watch their time in the heat.) There is nothing like heating up tin the sauna, then running to the pool and jumping in for a refreshing swim.

Anyone up for a sauna?

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Thoughts on Waiting

It seems that Monday's are our lazy, just have fun days around here. 

Although I did some of the regular chore 'stuff' around the house this morning, the second half of the day was spent just having fun. Swimming, roasting hot dogs, eating yummy grapes, and a little bit of fishing (Little Man ate fish for dinner!) 

It is still killing me that Baby B isn't here with us. We really hoped that she would be by now. In fact, I am finding that it is more and more difficult to really enjoy my summer without her here. Little Man frequently talks about what we would being doing with his sister if she was here right now. 

It's hard. Really, really, really hard.

But, I know I need try for Little Man's sake. I am his mom too. Each day, I am focusing on being fully present for Little Man during the day, and after he goes to bed, I let myself think about my little sweetie in Haiti.

Each day I try to make time for those things that he will really enjoy. 

Number one on his list? Fishing.

So, guess what we are doing tomorrow morning?

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Just B...

Simple

There is an old Shaker song that I have loved my entire life that speaks about living life simply. I've never known more than just the first few lines of the song, so I decided to look up all of the lyrics.

My goal is to get my life simplified down as much as possible before I bring home Baby B. Nothing to distract me from the precious moments that I will be spending with her and Little Man (summer is slipping by and she still isn't home).

What things are truly important to me? 

What things can I let go of?

 What expectations am I putting on myself that I need to release?

Simply put, all I want to do is enjoy time with my kids.

Who's with me?

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'Summer School'

I have taken a hiatus for a few days, as I was attending summer school...sort of. Little Man is determined to become a fisherman. Therefore, I am now a fisher-person as well. Since we don't have a boat (yet) I looked online for area lakes that we could easily drive to and catch some pan fish. 

 The first day out, we were really late getting started so I decided to not even bring a cooler or bucket for any fish. After all, it was almost eleven when we arrived there.

 Unfortunately for me, on Little Man's second cast, he caught a keeper!

He was so pumped.

 Sooooo....guess who got to learn how to clean a sunfish last night? 

Yep. 

I will spare you the in process pictures. 

Let's just say it took longer than the 43 seconds that the YoutTube video said it would take.

And I had to have Grandpa help me get started. 

But, I finished it!

Today we went out again for most of the day, but not much luck. We caught fish, but none large enough to keep. On the plus side, I am getting really good at taking fish off the hook. 

Guess I'll have to do a little more reading up on fishing tonight. 

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It's Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime!

Guess what?

It's summertime!

I walked out of the school yesterday afternoon, went for my first walk of the summer, fed Little Man a snack, headed to the first summer practice for the summer, and had a summer sleepover with cousins.

Whew.

I know we should try to pace ourselves, but we just can't help it...summer took so long to get here this year.

 Plus, I need to keep busy so that I don't dwell on the fact that we are still waiting for an update on Baby B. Our paperwork has been sitting in one office since May 8th. Usually it takes three weeks to process through to the next stage. It's been five. It's hard because we can't move forward with getting her visa and passport until this stage is completed.

I want my baby home this summer. (And not the end of the summer either.)

 I really shouldn't complain. Every other part of the process has gone quite quickly and smoothly. We just REALLY want Baby B to get home to share in all of our summer adventures.

So, on today's agenda? Keep really busy having fun and keep praying Baby B home. 

She just has to make it here in time for our summer adventures.

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Freebie Friday

We can't wait for summer vacation to start around here! Little Man and I decided that we needed to make a list of things that we want to do (not wasting a minute of our precious days of freedom)!  I left a little bit of space for adding more ideas.

 Our plan is to print it out, put in under glass and then use a dry erase marker to fill in the blanks, and cross off the things as we do them. 

Oh, how I love a good list!

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Beautiful Day

Okay, so I have issues with cool August days. It definitely is nice to have a reprise from the heat of July. I love a break from the heat. I might even mow the yard during the day for a change. Today is sunny, with a nice breeze but there is something in the air that I don't care for. I believe most would call it the hint of fall.

Don't get me wrong, I love fall. It's so beautiful and the sound of the the leaves crunching beneath my feet as I walk through the woods is one of my favorite sounds. But fall means school. As a teacher, I love my job! Honestly, teaching is something that I feel called to do and I am thankful to have found I job but I truly love. This year, I will even be working at the school that my son attends which will be great!

I don't know if this makes any sense but part of me feels like a kid again when summer comes. As a kid, August and the county fair (which is going on as we speak) meant the beginning of the end for me. Usually, we would have already gone back to school shopping for clothes, notebooks, etc. and the fair was kind-of 'it' for me. After that, the weather was not always warm enough to swim everyday our normal summer activity. Well, I suppose it probably was but I was too busy dreading the start of school to enjoy it. You would think being a teacher, I would have loved school as a child. Nope. I loved the freedom to just roam around our property, catching frogs, wandering the woods, reading.

So. My goal this month with my Little Man is to try to pack in as much fun as humanly possible without tiring us out to the point that we will be wrecks once school starts. Oh, and to put away my internal 'little kid' until next summer. She was getting cranky anyway.

 Now the only question is...do we go to the fair tonight or tomorrow?