1. Learning, figuring it out and putting it all together
It started out with Chris wanting to go the University Co-op on campus to look for a birthday gift for a friend. Knowing that weekends go much better when I plan things out, I did some investigating to see what else we could do down there. Been to the Memorial Museum many times. Then I saw the Blanton Museum of Art! Kids had been wanting to go to an art museum and i had heard good things about it. And so the adventure was on…and it was awesome!

Coop and Campus

The Blanton
I cannot begin to express just how blown away I was by this museum. It is itself beautifully designed. Add in the amazing collection of artwork and you have a most amazing place to visit. I have no idea how many times “wow!” came out of my mouth.

This kids were incredible and I really appreciated their opening up to the experience. I do think that this particular museum does have a way of casting a spell. Also, they had this interactive exhibit on learning in their lounge area. I hope it becomes permanent. The exhibit is on learning and as part of it they have 10 wooden boxes of various manupulatives. We visited this room twice. I felt like it really integrated the experience – after spending time taking in so many different genres of art, they could process and let it out by creating with the manipulatives.

More Art

This Amazing Room

Some of our artwork!

Now time for some lunch!
So we decided to have lunch down on campus, but what? The kids ruled out hamburgers at Player’s. Yeah, we were shocked too. Tyler really wanted a sub sandwich, but we weren’t in the mood. And then as we are walking we see Crave, a Thai food and sushi place. We had a lovely meal there. Tyler has decided he likes Thai food which suits us as hubby and I love it!

It was a really great day!

1. Food
Food is a celebration in and of itself. My energy can wax and wane around my menus, but there are days where I put something together and when I sit down I can’t help but feel such joy. The colors, the textures, the flavors and everything looking so delicious!

My challenge these days is how to have the slow dinners that I desire with a very active family. Our eating time needs to equal at least half the time I spent making the meal in my mind..or at least this Mama wish it did!! I am sure as the kids get older and more conversational (I hope).

These pictures make me hungry and also very excited to plan next week’s menu as it is store day!

We have another installment of “Kids with the camera” for you. This one brought to you by Quinn. As always I am thankful when the photograph their feet – makes it so much easier to see whose eyes we are seeing through! I think I am going to dig back into my archives to find more of these to post – they are totally cracking me up!

These pictures were drawn after our San Antonio trip to be sent to the kids’ great uncle and aunt. I love to see how an experience is expressed artistically.

I LOVE this shot – I can’t think of anything that more exemplifies living in the moment. And that is where I am right now -feeling so very alive! I feel like I am awakening after a long time. I have been trudging through these last two years searching for escape from my burdens.

But that is not the way to do it. That is running away from my life and whatever realities it may hold. My kids have been showing me all along – “it is raining, let’s gallop through it!”

Life will always be heavy and because of how I am wired, I will always feel the weight whether it be my own or someone else’s. So every opportunity I get, I have to go run in the rain and enjoy the sensations of water falling on my skin!

It has been hard because I am here, but with my husband, I feel like we are in different places. I wish I could just give him this feeling. I literally feel high, drunk, weightless, open, optimistic, sensual, alive and giddy. My focus over the next few months will be to integrate this into my family life. I shouldn’t need to be away from my family to be in this place. I want us all to feel alive, to feel the possibilities of each day. I need to tempt him to my place…and I am pretty sure with some effort, I can do that.

I won’t give up even though I sometimes feel like it. I want him with me. He has been my partner in adventure for so long, I want him with me. He mistakes my anger as pulling away, rather it stems from how badly I want to be connected to him. I have known him for so long, I know him intimately, I feel him, there is so much electricity still there after all these years and yet it seems like there is an abyss between us. Life weighs him down and to escape and decompress he spends many hours in one room of our house engaged in activities for one.

I have seen him elated and blissed out – I know him in that space. He thinks I don’t feel it, but I totally do. The singing, the laughter, the childlike silliness…it comes much less often then it used to. He is retreating to a place where he can’t afford to let go like that, he must at all times have one foot solidly on the ground being the adult.

I want to create opportunities in our home for him to be able to let go and feel light. And if anyone can do that for him, it is me. I left him behind to find my own bliss rather than engaging him more and drawing him out. I wanted him to want that fun, to seek it with me. That is not how he works. And so I will do the seeking for all of us (with the help of the kids I am sure) and I will keep it light.

So I do things like buying puppets. You will have to meet Chicken and Skiddish. Puppets – if you don’t have one and you have kids, you need one..or two. That is for another post though!

1. Spontaneous adventure to see lots of people you love
There is nothing, nothing in this world better than being surrounded by people that love you….when you didn’t expect it. And so it was one Saturday about two weeks ago.

Tyler and I were awake and the weekend was not looking that promising with not much in the way of plans. Getting a bit to late to get us out on the lake to kayak. Tyler says to me, “Mama, I want to see some family.” So be it. I told Chris that we should go to San Antonio. I could see my ill Grandmother, take the kids to the Wittie and possibly see my aunt and uncle. We called my Mom because I love dragging her out on our spontaneous adventures. She is a caregiver – and she needs to do something a little crazy now and then. I made a phone call and she was in!!

The drive down was quick and we first went to see my Grandmother. She is getting very frail and I wanted to see her as I don’t know what the future holds for her. She is in a place where it could be soon or it could be a year. They are starting hospice care, and she is getting weaker with passing days, so we will see. A nice surprise was that when we arrived, my uncle Darrell was there with his son Aaron as was my great aunt Dorothy! So we all had a great visit with Grandmother and each other. It was so fitting because this is how I grew up – always surrounded by family. It seemed to me that Grandmother was also quite please with having so many visitors.

After that, we went and had lunch and then headed to the Witte Museum to see their dinosaurs exhibit. The kids enjoyed the dinosaurs, but I think they enjoyed the treehouse at the Witte even more – four floors of interactive exhibits for the kids. They were really cool and the kids had a blast. We even went to a 20 minute demonstration on air pressure that was awesome – the kids really enjoyed it! Daddy enjoyed it too. He and Tyler must have spent at least 20 minutes at the stop animation table making a stop animation movie together. We had a great time there. Grandma enjoyed showing Quinn the animals in the Texas animals exhibit.

We stayed at the Witte until it closed. Then we headed over to my Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Dennis’ house for wine, cheese, a light dinner and some swimming. We had such a great time visiting with them and so did the kids. We had gotten the kids out of the pool and in dry clothes, but not before long, they were back out there with Uncle Dennis. He was showing them how their dog loves to bounce the beach ball with his nose back to my uncle. Next thing I know, the kids are back in the pool splashing with Uncle Dennis!

For days after this, the kids talked non-stop about the museum, wanting to go back and visit Grandmother and definitely wanted to go swimming again with Uncle Dennis and Aunt “Beth”. It was one of the best days we have had in a long time. I felt like a kid again and that was a great feeling.

Tyler wanted to see family and I think we delivered in spades! What a most wonderful day that I will not forget anytime soon!

Ya know, I sometimes don’t pay attention to all these shots, but I am starting to because they are truly hilarious. I think I need to back through my files and pull out some more. To see what they decide to take pictures of cracks me up. Most fun is that I don’t always know when they have walked off with my camera, so downloading often has some fun and hilarious surprises for me.

Our two cats are very shy and pretty much live under the bed. Since the kids don’t get to snuggle them as much, they love to take pictures of them. Tyler’s foot makes an appearance as well – I think this was his camera shoot this time. I don’t always know!!