Check out the video and photos of our kids' school

A deep connection with the outdoors

From the time she was born she's needed to be outside. 

Everyday. 

Rain or shine, it doesn't matter.



 
Any excuse, just let her be outdoors.

She gets lost in nature.  Plants, birds, butterflies

One for the road... Do you play?

As a kid I remember playing games on long car rides with my younger brother.  The alphabet game with road signs. Spell your name with the letters on the license plates of cars we passed. Count the number of cars of a particular color...  Whatever kept us from fighting as we sat for hours upon hours in the car long before there were portable DVD players or hand-held video games.

© Photographer: Cheryle Myers | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Over the mountains and through the woods we'd drive.  But it didn't matter if it was to Grandmother's house or to the beach that we were headed, our favorite road game was always Slug Bug.

© Photographer: Cheryle Myers | Agency: Dreamstime.com

You know the game... If you're the first to see a VW bug, you yell out the color and get to"slug" the other person.  That was half the fun, getting to punch your sibling.

© Photographer: Cheryle Myers | Agency: Dreamstime.com

But now, times have changed.  Kids have changed. And so have the games.  Now they call them "punch buggy's" and don't even punch each other.  "Punch Buggy Red!" They yell.  There's no winner, no loser, and no bruises.  Where's the fun in that?

© Photographer: Matthew Bamberg | Agency: Dreamstime.com

I think I prefer the red, black and blue, in an old fashioned game of Slug Bug.  What do you play on the road?

To the moon and back...

I asked my daughter last night, as I tucked her into bed, if she knew how much I loved her.



With a little smile, she said,

"Yes.  To the moon and back a million times."

My heart melted.


© Photographer: Matt Antonino | Agency: Dreamstime.com




Then later, I found a little Valentine she'd made for me with a pop-out heart.

I love that she makes me little cards.  I love that she leaves them on my pillow for me to find after she's asleep.  

I was trying to think of something creative I could do for her, and leave a surprise on her pillow.  Her imagination is light years more advanced than mine.  My creativity ends at my camera.

Then it dawned on me that maybe I could find something online that I could use to make her a card. Check this out:
Hearts (a Dreamstime search)  Perfect!  If you haven't discovered the magic of stock photos, you truly don't know what you're missing.

Here's what I came up with...

A cute card and all I did was add the text.  She'll love it.  I better go slip it under her pillow.

I did it...

I stayed home.  I passed up a change to take pictures. Winter pictures of my girls sledding and playing in the snow. A drive to the mountains and a day in the cold.

Nothing.  No winter wonderland photos. No sledding.  No funny crash scenes, cold noses or sun shining through the trees.

Nothing. A break from everything and a quiet house.  Some time to work on some writing and relax.

But, even as I try to enjoy the solitude I keep thinking that I'm missing out.  Not on the cold fingers, or numb toes or wet clothes of course.  Missing out on the squeals of delight, the screams of excited kids and the opportunity to freeze those memories forever.