Semi-Wordless Wednesday {Gwens Latest Writing}

All her own creations, all done without prompting or input!

I'm a proud Mama!

(The pigeon in this last one cracks me up!)

Repticon - A Playdate!

The week after we got back from New Mexico was absolutely overwhelming! I had meetings with two new potential doula clients (one of which then went into labor - 1 hr of sleep in 37hrs!), Gwen was back to Monday/Wednesday night swim lessons (after a month and a half of having them on Sundays), there was a night out with friends to celebrate a big event in a friend's life, all my normal teaching (and class prep for the following week), went to yoga, plus the myriad of things that needed to be done to get back into the swing of things after being away for almost a week. I did about 8 loads of laundry, a few grocery trips, and did some baking. I didn't get around to vacuuming, and I have a lot more sorting to do. I absolutely needed more hours in at least a few of those days.

That said, the weekend after we got home and before the overwhelming week was a really lovely one! Saturday was much lazier (I desperately needed to sleep in), but Sunday we picked up one of Gwen's friends and headed to Repticon. Not your typical playdate, but a fun one for sure!

There were so many beautiful creatures there: multiple types of snakes, chameleons, geckos, and even sugar gliders (bears)!

The girls wanted to hold everything, and I can't blame them... I sort of did too!

Snakes are such beautiful creatures! It was a lot of fun to see Gwen get to interact with them, and great to see her interacting with a friend.

I'm excited to start helping Gwen see her friends outside of school more. She's definitely at the age when encouraging these friendships to deepen is important; plus its just really nice for her to have the extra companion around while still being with her family. Its nice for us too!

I'm looking forward to more playdates in the future. 

Spring in Colorado

It’s time to break out —
Jailbreak time.
Time to punch our way out of
the dark winter prison.
Lilacs are doing it
in sudden explosions of soft purple,
And the jasmine vines, and ranunculus, too.
There is no jailer powerful enough
to hold Spring contained.
Let that be a lesson.
Stop holding back the blossoming!
Quit shutting eyes and gritting teeth,
curling fingers into fists, hunching shoulders.
Lose your determination to remain unchanged.
All the forces of nature
want you to open,
Their gentle nudge carries behind it
the force of a flash flood.
Why make a cell your home
when the door is unlocked
and the garden is waiting for you?

– Maya Spector

 
It's been a beautiful spring so far! There are have been so many walks, hot days with cool breezes. Burning sun, and the relief of lovely sunsets. Stream wet dog and kid.

Its so nice to live right off such a great trail!!

We had a rough time for a week or so after the daylight savings time change. Gwen was not herself, instead more fragile and easy to upset. It was a relief to us all to get out there and walk it off. To get hot and sweaty, and then come home and relax together with cold drinks and a movie.

Its hard to get too cranky with each other when you're zoning out to a cute movie together. (Recent favorite: Moana! Gorgeous!)

I've also worked through some of that Netflix/On Demand backlog I talked about, watching crying my way through This Is Us. I've read most nights and written more creatively then I have in... well, ages.

Of course, I've slept a bit less then normal thanks to all that, but I catch up when I can! I still need a few more hours in the day, but I'm fitting things in.

Spring is such an amazing time of reawakening. Its like by the end of winter I get so bogged down in it all, just everything about normal life. Then the weather warms, the breeze gets mild, and things start to bud and bloom. It all starts to feel possible again!

Best of all, the sound of birds is back. How can you not feel joyful when happy little birds are heralding the light?! I'll take a tweeting chorus any day of the week... and now I get one every day of the week.  :-)

Happy Spring indeed!

Not-So-Wordless Wednesday {New Mexico Pics and Lessons Learned}

I had too many pictures from New Mexico, so even with culling things down from what I took... I still had to pull pictures out when writing my post the other week. Here are the others I wanted to share.

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

I hope you'll indulge me a little bit too. Every trip we take is a learning experience for me, and thought it would be good to record some of those lessons.

Valles Caldera

Lesson #1: Setting up and breaking down a tent gets tiring. I have no problem camping for 5 days straight in the same place, but three days of camping in different places is enough for me to want a break in a hotel/motel/friend's house for a night!

Bandelier

Lesson #2: By day 5, no one is going to want to see peanut butter, nuts, or seeds for a very long time. I need to pack more things that *I* like, even if Gwen won't eat them, because more variety is always good! I also need to up my game with more foil packet cooking. And yes, maybe even plan a dinner in a diner just so everyone can eat whatever they want for one night. 

(We did complete our entire journey without stopping at one fast food restaurant! Win!)

White Sands NM

Lesson #3: Even though I want to be a camping purist and only cook on the fire, building a fire first thing in the morning just too cook breakfast is time consuming and sometimes more exhausting then I'm interested in... especially when its just me and Gwen. Might be time to invest in a mini camping stove.

Carlsbad Cavern

Less of a Lesson, and More of a Reminder #4: I love camping with just Gwen and I, and frankly Trav wants to save his vacation days for the bigger trips (Cape Cod, and this year France and Mexico) so it will normally be just us... but it does make things more difficult being the only adult in charge of everything. Gwen is a great help, and as she gets old it will get easier; but right now I need be okay with the fact that I'm doing all the set up and break down, all the cooking and all the entertaining. (Hence #3, and maybe even investing in a smaller tent for these trips.)

Rio Grande Del Norte

Less of a Lesson, and More of a Reminder #5: Be flexible! We had more downtime in Bandelier because Gwen made a friend and was having the best time playing with her around the campsite, and didn't really want to stop to do another hike in the evening. That's okay. Yes, I want to get the most our of our stops, but if she's having fun, then let go a little. Does that mean we forwent all previously planned hiking/activities? Clearly not! But letting go of some arbitrary number in my head for how many miles we should do? Absolutely!

Rio Grande Del Norte

Less of a Lesson, and More of a Reminder #6: Its okay for Gwen to be bored! The "free day" I built in didn't end up being as fun as I hoped. We made it work, and it was fine; and the downtime was needed.


Also, for the love of all that is holy... woman, buy a damn ax!  😳


I can't wait for our next trip. One that will hopefully be even better with these little lessons!