One Beautiful Life

A Little Get Away Time

Where have you been?  Well, we snuck away for a little dip at the lake.  It was Brenda's first trip there and even though there were some very cold moments, and the water isn't all the way up, and it rained all day one day... she loves it there!  YEAH!

We combined a little work trip with a spring break trip and it was totally nice.  The kids got to spend time in the water and we soaked up some sun.  Tooling around on the boat is always nice, even with hoodies on to keep the chill off!

 

On one of the days, it was pretty windy and so we went back into a small cove and beached the boat.  Don worked on installing the new stereo and the kids discovered a great big mud hole!  I have NEVER seen Abby play for so long with one thing and be so happy... playing in the sand at the beach is a close second... but this girl was ALL ABOUT SOME MUD!  I loved it.  I sat on the boat for an hour and just watched them play all along the shoreline... it made me all warm inside!

It was really cool to see them all three content doing their own thing too.  Brenda spent most of the time in the water... just walking around and throwing sticks for Dusty to retrieve.

Marc played the rocks the entire time and tried to find some he could eat, of course.

And I already mentioned Abby and the mud.  She squashed the mud, threw the mud, dug out the mud, made mud pies, mud castles, mud villages, and then sat in the mud, slid down the mud, and fell down the mud.  It was GREAT!

B being silly!

Abby and Brenda's relationship is growing.  It is wonderful to see.  I know it will take time together for there to be a bond... but there is a quiet closeness between them that I get little glimpses of and it is really neat to see.  They each have an inner place that seems to be all their own.  They each have a love for me that I can see and feel and yet it is different.  And they are so very different... and yet so similar.  I feel like I am getting to be a part of some great story in their lives and it just touches me in the quiet deep spots of my spirit.

Here is Don's first attempt for a group picture.  Abby was throwing something over the side of the boat and she looks, well, totally frightful really!  So we try again.

Attempt number 2- I've got a death grip on the dog, Marc refuses to look at daddy, and Abby is back at the mudhole (in her mind anyway!).

Attempt number 3- Marc refuses to look and is unhappy I keep "asking" him to, the girls think it's funny, and the dog is gone.

Attempt number 4- Marc is going full throttle with what he does best, Abby is not sure what his deal is, Brenda is falling asleep and I put on my super happy mommy face!

Marc is removed to have his moment alone...

and the picture goes from "group shot" to "me and the girls"!

Yeah for Daddy!

More later, I've got to go make dinner... my twenty minutes are over and Marc is calling my name over and over from the potty!