Family Time in May is Becoming a Tradition

There are certain times of year that are busier than others. May is one of those times. There is Mother's Day, school is wrapping up, summer is on the horizon, and for the last several years it has also been a time that some of my family has able to get together.

I come from a family that is spread all over and we don't get to see each other that often, so I am grateful for the times when it works out for a visit. 

A majority of my extended family lives in Canada, my parents are in Arkansas, my brother is the closest in Nashville, and my sister and her family live in Florida.

Over the last several years, my Nana has been able to come down for a visit around this time and I am so grateful for our time together and the memories we have created. It is even sweeter now that I have children and they are getting the opportunity to spend time with loved ones.

We had a quick 3-day visit before my parents took my Nana on to Florida to see my sister. 

As we get older and our families grow, it is getting more challenging to be all together at every gathering. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can and be ok with that.

Jack adored having family here. There were lots of trips to our neighborhood park, there were games to be played and lots of good food to eat. 

Isaac hammed it up for everyone with his goofy smile and valiant efforts at communication. He doesn't really say any words, but through grunts, pointing, patting or shouting he is communicating plenty.

It was a great little reunion and I'm looking forward to seeing more of my extended family later this summer when we plan to head north for this year's vacation.

A Look Back at previous years we have managed to get together in May:
Isaac joins the family, May 2015  ⎮  Izzy graduates from preschool and Moriah graduates from high school, May 2014 ⎮ Mother's Day, May 2013

Mother's Day Paddling Excursion

For me, Mother's Day is about doing something I love with the people that I love most. And not cooking is pretty important too!

We recently purchased a new-to-us kayak (a 3-seater Perception Tribe 13.5 T) that we have been anxious to take for a spin. It's kind of hard to believe that the last time we paddled, I was 39 weeks pregnant.

We have taken Jack out in our canoe on several occasions. The first time he was 11 months old. We tried again when he was 2.5 taking him to Wolftever Creek and also to the Bat Cave on Nickajack Lake. With each subsequent trip, Jack has shown more confidence and skill than the last time.

At age 4.5, this paddling excursion was his best trip by far. It helped tremendously that he had his own paddle – something he had been asking for since our last trip. Next up he might find himself with his own vessel.

Anyways, with Isaac being one already, I felt like it was time to take him out on the water. As parents, our basic philosophy is to introduce our kids to the things we love, as early and as quickly as possible because we have every intention of taking them with us on longer and more adventurous excursions as they get bigger.

The thing with kids is that you have to be ready to adjust your plans on the fly. You have to commit to doing the activity, even if it means that you might spend four hours preparing and 15 minutes actually doing it. 

You also have to know (and be ok with) calling it quits. You do all of this knowing that on the next trip you will go further and longer than the time before, and that endurance will come and a love of the outdoors and adventure will only happen with time.

With that knowledge we loaded our kayak and boys and headed down our mountain and across town to the base of Lookout Mountain where we would paddle on the flat water of Lookout Creek.

Lookout Creek really is the perfect place to take kids. We launched under the Cummings Hwy bridge (for free, you can go on into the Reflection Riding Center and launch there but there is a fee). We liked that we could back our Subaru right down to the water and unload our boat without having to carry it a long way.

We started out paddling up river and initially Isaac was totally on board with being on the water. Our kayak doesn't have scupper plugs, so there was a little bit of water in my foot board and he enjoyed splashing in it.

But – there is always a but with little kids – about 10 minutes into our paddle, he was over it. The heat, the life jacket, being stuck in my lap, all of it. Done.

So we turned around and headed back to the car while he cried/screamed. Once on land, and out of his life jacket, we calmed him down with some food and water and he was a happy guy again.

Daniel took Jack out for a little longer (which meant Jack got to sit in a real seat), and then they came back and Daniel and I traded spots and I paddled a bit with Jack.

We need to work on Jack's paddling skills. Right now he likes to drag his paddle (which slows us down and makes more work!). And when he was riding in the middle, when all four of us were in the boat, he had terrible cadence and would end up banging paddles with Daniel.

Overall though we are really happy to know that we can all fit in the new kayak. Jack will eventually learn how to paddle correctly and Isaac will eventually come to not hate wearing a life jacket. I think age 4.5, for Jack anyways, is the perfect age to really start to love paddling.

It was a great Mother's Day. Each year is better than the last! 

Mother's Day Weekend, cont.

After our strawberry picking and quick trip to Atlanta on Friday, we were supposed to get up early (for us) on Saturday morning to take Jack to get his T-Ball pictures. On this particular Saturday there were no games, just team pictures, a cookout, a home run derby and bouncy houses. Daniel had scheduled a vet visit for Sophie so I took the boys to the baseball festivities.

Let's talk kid's pants for a minute... Jack's baseball pants are white. The morning of pictures I realized that while his pants were clean, they were no longer white (rookie mom mistake?). With no time to spare, we headed out the door with dirt-stained knees.

Once at the ball field, each team had to wait their turn for photos. Our team was third up. This translated to little kids jumping off of bleachers, which lead to more stains of the grass variety (in addition to dirt-stained knees). Barring threatening your child to sit quietly and not play, how do parents keep kids clean for outdoor photos? Knee stains and all, the photos were completed and I took Jack to the bouncy houses.

We were early enough in the day that it wasn't too busy. Jack had a blast while Isaac was stuck in the stroller. I finally convinced Jack to leave by way of teaching empathy: Isaac is stuck in the stroller, how would you feel being stuck in a stroller?

We headed home for lunch and a nap for our littlest. After nap time we loaded the boys up and headed to Prentice Cooper for a quick hike. 

The weather was perfect. We didn't have enough time to go to Mushroom Rock , so we did a shorter trail with lots of bridges. Jack was happy to explore some and cross all the bridges.

Isaac just wanted to chew the straps on the kid carrier he was riding in. Which lead us to sing the mom version of "My Answer is No," while we hiked. It was a great way to wrap up our afternoon. 

On the way home, we grabbed dinner for my guys (McDonalds for the boys and Guthries for Daniel) and then I got ready for a girl's night out. I have only really come to understand the importance of GNOs in the last couple of years. I don't think I have really participated in this type of thing since college, but as a mother it is nice to take a break from parental duties and catch up with other moms.

We discussed the first movie that made us sad, the one where you realize life doesn't always have a happy ending. For me that movie was My Girl. I was 10 and it was shocking to sit in a movie theater and realize that there wouldn't be a happy ending. We discussed our kids, what we are cooking, things we are worried about, vacations we have taken, and just generally caught up on life. All while eating delicious food at Tupelo Honey Cafe.

It was a great day to end a Saturday. I didn't get home until 10:30. For me that is a pretty late night, but it was worth it!