The Surf Contest Comes to Town

While Eden was enjoying her first long day of school a few weeks back, Jon and I were enjoying (or surviving?) our first long day without her. The hours that stretched before us seemed endless and in fact they were. We had a quiet breakfast (just the three of us) then biked down to the surf contest (which they were still setting up so everyone got to surf - yay!), but we were all surfed out and adventured out by 1:30...still looking at 2 more hours without Eden. Oh man, doing this every day will be incredibly hard. But since this first day, Zi and I have sort of gotten into a groove. We are really enjoying these long days together. Every Monday with Zi has really felt like such a gift. What a joy to spend this quality time with such a gem of a human being. Man am I lucky...

Going down to Lowers with the kids is such an adventure. Just one child seemed a bit more do-able than two though.  After the trip down with both I think we both had a silent understanding that we wouldn't be trying it again for a long while.

I love how much significance this picture holds...I can't help but wonder if there will be one similar to it when we fast forward 20 years.

These pics are from the actual contest - we brought the kids down there to watch the girls surf. And even though neither of them paid much attention I think it impacted Eden more deeply than we could imagine.

All the below pics are part of the 'Find Zi' series. It was crazy how well he blended in with those rocks!

Eden's Last 1st Day of Preschool

Eden is back at preschool for one more year. This is something that I feel very conflicted about, but in the end I think it will be the best thing for her and our family. Eden had been looking forward to school for weeks and you can see from the 'before-school' pictures how excited she was to head off. But just like last year, when it came time to say good-bye, she clung to me screaming and would not let go. The fact that Eden cried the first day was the talk among all her friends to their mammas. It was at this moment that I felt most acutely that the right decision for Eden had been made. That being said, Eden is really enjoying school this year. She has one long day each week 8:45-3:30, wherein she attends an after school program called "Owls". The focus of this program is science and music. We were unsure how she would survive this day as historically the mere three hour day had been so exhausting for her in the past. As it turns out, this is the day Eden looks forward to the most. She has told me over and over again that she wishes every day was her Owls day. Then the other night at dinner Eden told me out of the blue "Mommy, I am so much happier now that I am back in school.". And though I didn't really notice that she was "unhappy" before I do have to admit that her happiness shines forth like a beacon. Her smile is radiant and her play infectious. She really is quite happy and coming into that whole wonderful version of her true self. I am happy to see her enjoying school in this way. And if this year is for nothing else but to teach her the pure joy in learning then this year's value will be immeasurable. 

Getting back into the routine of biking to school with dad - one of her favorite things to do. It's stuff like this that she will remember for the rest of her life. 

Fun in Fins

I just love these pics of the kids in their fins at baby beach - especially the ones at the end of Zion surfing in them. Reminds me of that time Eden dawned her fins at 11am and did not take them off until 6pm - riding her scooter down to yogurt in them and all. Seriously feels like yesterday. ):

Zion's 3rd Birthday

I am finally getting around to posting these pics from Zion's 3rd Birthday on September 6th. We had a quiet morning of watching Winnie the Poo while Jon went surfing first thing in the morning. Zion still tells me about this with so much pride (watching cartoons at home is a rare treat for these two). Altogether it was a nice and pretty quiet day celebrating this special little soul. I feel so lucky to be his mamma and am so grateful for the love that he showers upon me and the lessons I learn from him daily. I still want to write more on who Zi and Eden are at 3 and 5 but will do that in a later post. 

Eating cake batter watching Winnie the Poo

I recently got this book for Zi and we had just recently read it which made watching the movie even more meaningful for him.

These sticks were meant to stack into a tree with birds sitting on the branches - it was fun to see what they chose to do with it instead.

It was really special to have Nanny over for Zion's bday with the fam. The kids really do flock to her and she is such a great sport with each one of them even though she struggles to remember who we all are. 

The men talking shop

Playing 'tug of war' in the grass