Sunday adventures

This morning Reed had the idea of us all having a family adventure out at Stone Lagoon. The drive north is always beautiful, today it was even more so as the ground was heavily saturated from the rains and a high tide. On the drive, I started to tell Reed that I had wished we had brought North's fishing pole, but then realized that I really felt differently. I want my kids to have adventures in which they can enjoy nature's wonders without being caught up in the process of taking/killing something else. I want to develop their sense of curiosity, not be drawn into a uni-directional focus each time they step outside of their house. So today was a good day to leave the fishing pole at home. Even though North loves, LOVES the idea of fishing.

Stone Lagoon is a beautiful beach site. The ocean floor rises very sharply up into the shoreline so the rip currents are very strong and the waves unpredictable. As a result the air is often very misty and the sounds of many birds adds up to a very picturesque setting. I like to walk along the shore up to beyond the point of the lagoon to where the sea stacks begin to pile up.

However, that is my memory of Stone Lagoon pre-kids.

Now as we take two kids and two dogs, the time is not so lovely or relaxing. The dogs always need lots of supervision so that they don't run into the ride-tide fueled killer waves, and North needs to be watched closely as he doesn't know how to read the waves either. So we didn't stay too long. Too stressful. Not enough negative ions to cover all that stress.

Instead we drove back to Trinidad, got some lunch, and scored the best surprise ever! A couple who has a draft horses were exercising their horses by offering wagon rides around town. Normally the horses participate in parades or are hired out for special events, but as the horses were feeling frisky this morning, the couple decided to hook everything up to the wagon and walk around the town. Trinidad is cool like that I am learning. So we rode around for a while. North loved the bells on the horses. He wanted to feed them carrots but the horses were huge! And we had already eaten all of our carrots up on the drive to Stone Lagoon.

Later that afternoon, North and Reed dug up the thistles growing in our yard and North painted. Early baths and dinner rounded out the day for the kids.

I haven't spent any time with just North since Sky has been born, so tomorrow I think I will take just him into town to get more paint. I am currently reading a great book, "Siblings without rivalry" and so am having a lot of reflections as to the way I interact and talk to each child. Having time to really listen to North is something that needs to be added to each of my days. He has been really mellow about the introduction of Sky, I want to make sure I am on top of his developing feelings. I am really enjoying thought process that is coming with the reading of this book.

Saturday thoughts

Today I left the kids! I had planned for a couple hours for myself to go to the beach with the dogs, but with the tsunami warning I wasn't sure I could follow through in that idea. As it was, the police had blocked off the entrance to Trinidad State Beach so the dogs and I walked along the bluffs and looked at the waves for a while (yes, the dogs looked at the waves too). No great waves of disaster, I guess the coastline is safe for another day.

Reed has been diagnosed with 28 food allergies plus an intolerance to gluten. He has been so amazingly positive with the radical eating change. He has been eating lots of rice and fruits and veggies, plus drinking more water. He has had more energy for working out and while not losing a ton of wight, he has lost a good deal of the puffiness in his face and torso.

I, on the other hand, am experiencing an empathetic grumpiness. I can't imagine giving up gluten foods or garlic or eggs or onions, or...the Reed's do-not-eat list goes on and on. I love eating bagels and oatmeal, egg sandwiches. I am trying to be supportive and not eat those foods around Reed, but I failing horribly with the positive attitude. I NEED REAL CARBS!

I picked up a huge bag of carrots from the Co-op a few days ago. North loves carrots and Reed can actually eat them. The carrots are from a farm a few miles inland. I love winter carrots. The frost/freeze makes the sugar stronger so eating a carrot is like a dessert. I am not even going to attempt a gluten-free carrot cake yet. I will most certainly ruin the loveliness of the carrot taste.

You know when....

You know you are deep in Mommy-hood when one goes out for much needed retail therapy, but instead of buying a new pair of shoes, you get an umbrella for one child and a cozy jacket for the other.