Notes From a Small Town

A Walk in the Woods

...according to Ronan.

On Sunday we were able to get out to a local park and do a little "hiking." (In Florida, it's mostly walking with a wee bit of an incline, but lovely, nonetheless). Our adventure started a bit like this:

Me: "All right, Ronan can you go to the bathroom? Joey, can you change Calum's diaper (hee hee)? I'm going to finish getting the water bottles together."

Ronan: (in a whiny kid voice) "I don't want to go to the park. I want to watch..."

Me: "Argghhh!"

At which point, I may have lectured a bit about the perils of TV addiction and the outcome of said "discussion" was me mentioning something about when he is an adult and no longer living at home he can watch all the TV he wants. Ugh. It sounded vaguely like something my parents would say. So, I promptly realized that the TV at Calum's nap time has gotten out of control. I filed it away and planned my strategy with regards to hiking. Meanwhile, he planned on going to the park and staying in the car with me while Daddy and Calum went hiking. I was a bit agitated. And, so I put on my "parent" hat. (You know, that hat you keep in the bathroom so you can lock yourself inside and think about the situation without yelling?)

And, that's when I remembered about the scavenger hunts. I suggested we make one up and he looked interested, but he wasn't completely in my camp, until I said that he could take pictures of everything we found. BINGO!

And, that's how he ended up with my camera and some completely awesome pictures. I definitely think this boy is ready for his own camera.

And, if you'll notice my new "banner," we seem to be doing a lot of hiking these days. A big thanks to Jen for the completely awesome design (it's a bit easy to tell that you do this for a living, Jen)! It looks great and I LOVE the camping Zebra.

pier walking

This past Labor Day, I found myself without a paid job, but thankfully, without a paycheck - on purpose.  And yet, I feel as if my work is some of the most important in the world. (Hmm...I may be a bit biased). It's awfully corny, but I do think that being a parent is one of the most important jobs in the world - a job that is often in addition to paid employment and other family responsibilities.

We spent Labor Day in the company of family and I had a teeny, tiny, sun-filled chance to reflect on how lucky I am to be working for two of the greatest "bosses" in all of Florida. (Okay, so I have a major bias problem). And, while, my housekeeping skills are on sabbatical, I love (almost) every minute of the cooking, exploring, and diaper changes that we do here. It doesn't hurt that we live so close to the water either...

We hung out on our local pier and soaked up some Vitamin D and enjoyed each other's company.

We even got lucky and there were several herds of manatees close to the walkway. (That's truly what they are called - I looked it up!)

And, of course, no visit to the pier is complete without a little fishing.

a morning walk

 Thanks to the thunderstorms, we've been cooling off a bit more in these parts. It's still too hot for afternoon outside play, but at least it is nice enough for a longer morning walk. I've been preoccupied lately and it was a nice break to add these calm and peaceful walks back into our routine.

Apparently, every other Floridian (and the local birds) had the same idea since "our" park was streaming with people - all of them on their own nature/exercising journey. Still, there were plenty of sticks, shells and leaves to go around.

This time, I put in a request for a collection of leaves and shells - we always have an ample supply of sticks. We came home with more than enough for the project I had in mind...a perfect bounty for a simple nature collage to wile away the afternoon - spent indoors.

But, before we headed inside - just a bit of sand play - a nice reminder of why it's so nice to be here.

a nice escape

Despite having a 3-month-old, our eight-hour road trip went surprisingly well.

Of course, it did take us a full ten hours to get back home, but we were figuring there would be a lot of stopping and reassuring - and baby cuddling. As well as some playground time for the older one.

All told, we had a lovely time and we were able to have a little bit of escapism. We set aside the bills, the cleaning, and the planning and just enjoyed watching four cousins play their hearts out (with only a little bit of fighting). I sat holding a fifth cousin who desperately wanted to get into the action. Calum will be ready to join the kids the next time we visit, but in the meantime, he got some quality time with everyone as they meandered over to the quilt where he was laying. They just couldn't get enough of him.

I wish I had some pictures to show you. But...I was a bit busy living in the moment and enjoying myself way too much to stop and get the camera. The pictures live on in my head.

However, we did make a detour and meet up with some long-distance friends. Friends, butterflies and sushi. A very nice combination.

He's been talking about the chrysalis ever since our visit. Me? I've been thinking about the sushi.

good times

Amid the everyday stresses, it's nice to wind down a bit and have a playful weekend - with faraway friends - and some crafting time (in which projects are actually completed). I've got to fine tune some crafty picture-taking skills before I can post to the blog - ah, how my camera likes to vex me!

In the meantime, we look over our pictures from the weekend and smile with acknowledgment, remembering the fun times we had. Thankfully, the brutal sun only came out from behind the clouds to dry up the occasional rainstorm. I'm not sure who welcomed the rain more - us or the animals. Either way, the mosquitoes adored us all. Apparently, we are the in-season delicacy.

snakes, snails and puppy dog tails

During those early days of pregnancy, I wondered whether our first child would be a boy or a girl, but I really didn't give it too much thought. I was much more concerned about our upcoming parental responsibilities. I did know that I wanted my children to have an insatiable curiosity about the outdoors and I didn't want fear to stop them from exploring the world and its wonders. I also didn't want some of those traditional societal stereotypes (boys shouldn't play with dolls) to get in the way. So, before Ronan was born we decided that we would try to be as gender-neutral as possible: with his toys, his room, his clothes, etc.

Well, the first item to go was his clothes. It's really hard to find adorable-looking boy clothes in colors other than blue and red. We tried him in yellow and it just wasn't working. I don't think I ever really noticed how similar babies looked before I had my own. And, although, both of our boys seem to have a "boy" look to them, they could easily be mistaken for girls if they were dressed a bit differently. However, I do prefer white - it breaks up all that blue.

(Calum at 3 weeks)

While the yellow and green clothing didn't really work out, we stayed true with our toy selection...until he was about a year-old and clearly showed a preference for all things boy. I offered a glowworm and stuffed animals and he wouldn't spare them a second glance. He was much more interested in the passing semi-trucks and bicycles - anything with wheels. Suddenly, we couldn't have enough toy cars - and firetrucks are now the coolest thing in the universe. So, of course, when our town had its annual Touch-A-Truck gathering on Saturday, we had to attend.

Despite the over thirty different vehicles on display (where the kids could climb in all of them), do you know which one was the hands-down favorite with almost all of them? Yep, the public transportation bus, Who knew our kids were so "green" already?

 

playing in the sand :: at home

I have a little secret to tell: I strongly dislike the heat. Egad! And, I'm a Florida native. This feeling came on slowly, but surely, and quite possibly due to my experience with a breezy summer in Maine. Now, when the temperature rises above 85 degrees, I cannot bring myself to go outside. I think that the air-conditioning and I have a symbiotic relationship.

Unfortunately, we've enjoyed the last five months of outdoor exploration and it's hard to give that up. So, we structure our day to be outside in the early morning hours and shut ourselves indoors around lunchtime. But, this leaves over six hours of indoor playtime - no easy job to fill when you only have 900 sq. feet of house, a husband who works at home, and you are trying to do it with little to no video-watching time. What's a mama to do?

This mama borrowed an idea from a friend for a portable sand box. This mini-sandbox lives on our front porch - under the shade - and is right beneath our kitchen window. There are chairs out there (yay!) and so I can sit with Calum and hang out while Ronan plays in the sand. Or, Ronan can work in the sand while I work in the (air-conditioned) kitchen.

This was an unbelievably easy project (about $3 for the sand and a re-purposed plastic storage bin). Just perfect for some "outside," but shady, afternoon play time.

adventures in sand

Our outings have been few and far between these days. This is not always a good combination for an active, extroverted preschooler and his caffeine-free mama. Throw in a small home and some ninety degree weather and you've got the makings of a mutiny on your hands.

Fortunately, we live in an area where sand and water abound. Now, I am not that sleep-deprived to suggest a "real" beach outing with my outnumbered status, but we live quite close to a park with some sandy beach areas - perfect for a morning of sand play while remaining relatively dry.

All things considered, I think this was a successful outing. I mean, we were actually at the beach for an hour, which is much longer than I thought we would make it. Of course, I did learn a few things in the process:

- Put the sunscreen on before we leave the house. Uh, yeah, enough said.

- Put on Moby wrap - also, before leaving the house.

- Devise a way to carry the endless "stuff" that is needed. I had to leave the chair in the car because I had no more hands/shoulders. I was quite bummed about this development.

- Leave the house before 10:00, since this is Florida and at 10:01, it is just too dang hot to consider going outside - even in the shade.

- Do not be offended when an older gentleman implies that your screaming, starving infant is probably scaring all of the fish away. Instead, laugh kindly and remember that you have never seen anyone actually catch a fish in this area.

- And, finally, it's probably time to invest in some water shoes. (The poor kid took off his sandals and declared the sand "too hot" and refused to venture any further until I okayed the sock idea).

What type of adventures have you been experiencing lately?