The Estuary

Easter weekend delivered!
As I mentioned before, I pretty much had 6 days off in a row and the weather was nearly perfect for most of those days.  One of those mornings we took a walk along the estuary. This is a place just minutes from our front door, yet you can feel miles from anything.

I love that at every season of the year a new experience of the estuary is taken in.  Its landscape is always changing....Spring brings with it that feeling of fresh new life, which also happens to be budding up all around!

I loved walking with my girls and Kevin.  To say I was snappy happy is an understatement.
I'll let the photos do the story telling in this post.....

see the ol' pop up camper van in the background?  what a spot to wake up to! 

A little "What time is it Mr. Wolf?" to get us going.....

Five o'clock!

 

Kevin and the girls took flight......

I get the music from the ending of Little House on the Prairie (when the credits are running) in my head when I see these photos...You know, when "Laura" is skipping down hill and then she puts her arms out and runs and jumps as the music rises to and end and the shot of her mid jump freezes, and she has  a braid whipping across her face?  Ya, that music.  

Anyway......off they go.  

"Bang, Bang, Rattle, Bing, Bang, Gonna make my noise all day...."
Karis looooves to shout this out!  And act it out too!

I think I take this same photo every time we come out here.  

This middle part is always different...

Yeah!  We did it!

karis:  you two are crazy!

I'm a bird watcher......

In bloom.....

"Time to move on!!" says the Pit Boss.   This girl is one spunky 5 year old.  ; )
And on that note, I should mention that she continues to dress herself and as much as it used to drive me nuts (because her outfit choices can be so hard on the eyes), now I don't even notice it.  It doesn't even phase me one bit.  Thank goodness.   I'm glad I've moved beyond that...however, I do think that Karis has picked up on Kamille's fashion sense.  She's protesting jeans....that is always the start of it!

Rock tossing in the pond.

Nailed it!

Karis and her stick.

I often think about this mountain range.  It will be in the backdrop of my photos for a long time..its there every.single.day. and I never get bored of it or forget about its amazingness.

There are just so many ways to use it in a photo.  Its like an anchor to our time spent in this gorgeous little town!

Our last little bit fun before getting back to the truck....

This girl has been giving the best hugs lately.  She's discovered the Koala bear hug and I LOVE it when I get one!

But gosh do I ever love this photo too!
So delicious!

The Estuary.
It never fails in providing a great bit of time outside together - in any season!

Big Girl Bed

It seemed that for months I was fighting off Kevin's conversations about getting rid of the crib.  

Why, I thought?

Why get rid of something that she has never complained about, never fallen out of or even attempted to get out of on her own?  

Why be rid of the very last item that continues to identify my last born child as my "baby?"  

Afterall, there were emotional moments when I packed up her cloth nappies (that hugged her bum from birth to 22 months), and we had just said good bye to disposable nappies and now our baby was wearing undies!  

Saying goodbye to the crib was like....well, it just seemed too soon to me.  

We had agreed that I would keep my eyes on the local facebook buy and swap site and Kevin would look for something on Craigslist.  We agreed on this but it seemed that I was stallling (not surprisingly!) and Kevin just plain "forgot" about his part.  

So in a "heated" discussion between Kev and I on the matter one night, I whipped open my laptop, searched Craigslist and sent two replies to two different ads for toddler beds before going to bed.   And I did this not because I wanted the toddler bed, but I'll be damned if I am going to be told that I am "too busy" to prioritize this on my to-do list.  Done and done, thank you very much.  Clearly I was just trying to win something here (and it wasn't a bed).      

Aaaaanyway.....

Early the next morning, I realized that I was now the proud owner of a toddler bed, available for pick up and to top off my luck it was here in town.  Kevin was happy.   

In less than 24 hours we had a toddler bed in our house.  

And as the girls and Kevin put it, "Lets just see what it looks like in her room."  

Right, like you're gonna set it up and then take it down till we are really ready for it.  Sure.   

Clearly, just seeing means must keep.

She insisted that she would not go in her crib but that she wanted to sleep in her "bee gurl bed."
I insisted that the crib at least stay up in her room for a few more days.

I had flashbacks of this exact transition for Kamille.
Oh, it seemed to go so well for the first couple weeks and then BAM, I had a girl that was running around the upstairs floor well past her bedtime, a girl that would come downstairs on her own over and over again until she collapsed into sleep on the bottom of the stairs after being ignored by me in the end.  It was a battle I did not want to live out again.  

Hmmmm....could this little sprite be different?
After all, they have been quite different in many ways so far.

She was just so excited about it...and that excitement is hard to deny any child.

my baby, sleeping like a baby with her bum in the air.  xo

Well, if we had to get rid of the crib, I know that I am still holding on to one more representation of babyhood.....that darn soother.  

We let her keep her big girl bed.

Its been over two weeks now and she is a total rock star.
No fuss, no drama.  She gets in, she goes to sleep.  Nap or nighttime.
Yay!  She just wants to be like her big sister, isn't that right?

Picture This......

Just picture this....

...the sun is shining, the air is warm, there is music playing, kiddos happily running about, my thirst being quenched by a Palm Bay on ice (ya, you know it, the sophisticated vodka cooler) and I am in the company of my hardworking husband and great friends.  

That is what I was remembering when we headed on up to our home-away-from-home on the Easter weekend.  

Where, when I arrived, Kevin and Rory were mid-discussion about moving the kitchen over under a canopy of trees and calling it the bar.  (Although I was assured that the bar will have all the functions necessary to be considered the kitchen as well!)  

Picture this view..... 

....where bare branches are covered with greenery, and the wide and slow moving water carries Kevin by on a rented stand-up paddle board.

Picture this kids clubhouse....

 ....where nature inspires creativity and where the thick green branches shade our busily playing kiddos from the hot sun.

 Picture this smiling girl.....

...happily marching about in her "I'm the pit boss" kind of way, making sure that snack bowls are topped up and sunscreen has been applied.

Picture this bottled water.....

 ...quenching the thirst of a long, hot and fun day at work and play.    

And picture this.....

.....but also smell and listen to the sounds of a hot campfire snapping, cutlery and dishware being placed, delicious food enclosed in aluminum foil and placed over a camp stove and the excitement of four little people picking their favourite seat around the large upright picnic table.

Picture this stump......

....and others just like it, with little bums sitting on them and kiddos that are happily holding out poked marshmallows over hot burning embers.

Picture these moments....

...when there is nothing else to do, but sit together and just be.  

 Picture these girls......

 ...having the time of their lives because they are in the company of their mama and daddy, their best friends and the greatest scenery that nature has to offer.

I am beyond excited for the warm and sunny days spent at our little place that we call home (away from home!!)