Summer...Let the Adventures Begin!

Summertime and the living is easy. Oh how I love love love nights of sitting out of doors enjoying slow conversations, great friends and warm breezes. I adore afternoons strolling through summer towns and resting on patios with live music and local foods. I cherish every memory born on sandy beach and forest trail. This is my time of the year. There is a thing refreshing about the confines of weather and temperature falling away, as though god reaches down, lifts our house off the set and leaves us standing exposed to wide open space, sunshine and infinite possibility. (Have I mentioned that I love, adore and crave summer?)

This is also the season of bright ideas. If the sun is shining and a child can remove nearly all of their clothing they will create themselves a fabulous Mark Twain, Huck Finn style adventure.

As parents we indulge every single one that is not beyond realistic achievement, we are, after all not so far removed from our own days of cooked up adventures to forget the tingle of a challenge.
It is the memory that propels us to strap a canoe onto the roof of the van at a moments notice and drive a couple of adventure seekers to the water.

That's what we did this past long weekend for KJ and her friend. They wanted to paddle around, we had the time and live pretty close to the water so a last minute voyage request it pretty do-able. We indulged.

It used to be that a canoe trip meant Mike would be on the water with a couple of gigglers who dropped paddle by the 1/4 mile in favour of a free ride. The kids are getting older now and are growing ever more capable of unaccompanied adventures. In short they can paddle their own canoe but they still need us to get them to the water. Lucky for them Mike and I have loaded the boat enough times that we have shortened the half day affair of strapping the canoe to the van down to a pretty fluid 10 minute system of heave, hoist and tie down. It makes saying yes a little easier.

We got them to the water, we lifted the canoe off the van, we supplied them with all the safety equipment and we wished them a safe voyage.

...and they stood there looking at us.

Warm summer days are also a time of great learning.

On this day the girls learned that people will help you get to to water but if you are going to live out your adventure...

You have to carry your own boat

Gratitude today for awesome kids who are not affraid of a little adventure seeking.


Gratitude, Hope & Smiles are meant to be shared...enjoy your Sunday
Michelle