This time Grandma Havel joined us. When I was a kid, my parents had their own bowling balls and were in a league. So it was good to get her our bowling again.

I also have to post these two shots I took this day. One of a cool design Tyler make with buttons and another of the the kids with their treasure bags filled with coins ready to go and spend it.

Tyler was very excited about figuring out what some of his fossils were. First though, the day began with some art and family game time. Chris just got the kids a new game called Kids of Carcassonne. Awesome tile laying game – the kids love to play and so do we!

Identification Day!
We headed off to the museum, each kid with their rocks and fossils in tow. It was really fascinating to watch the process of identification. This woman was great with the kids and Tyler in particular. She helped him ID a possum jaw that he had found and also pointed out scratches in other meat bones he had found where small animals were eating off the bone to get their minerals.

I love watching Tyler learn. He came with specific questions. And he wanted that nugget of knowledge. Those would get answered, but more information would come to him. He might look away, but he was listening. He wouldn’t respond much, but all those bits and pieces had gone in and were floating around. After we left, he would slowly integrate all that information and it would come out days later when he was explaining what he had learned another child.

As I move more into a teacher role, I have to remember that. It is all going in even if he doesn’t seem to be paying attention. He needs time and space to integrate it all.

We then went to the archeology table to identify a few articats Tyler had found. I think he is slowly leaning towards this specialty. He is wanting to go on an actual dig badly! Quinn was not an idle participant either. She wanted to know whey there was in a break in one of her rocks, so we asked and she got her answer!

After we were done, we explored other parts of the musem

We headed down to the prehistoric area where all the dinosaur fossils are. In the “lab” area, there was student looking for microfossils in cave sediment. Tyler was fascinated. He could see what the student was looking at through the microscope via a large flat panel screen.

Tyler was enjoying helping the student find some bones. The student got some fossils out for Tyler to identity which was fun. Tyler loved it. He now wants a microscope and the other day was searching through sand using a magnifying glass and tweezers to search for “micro-fossils”.

It is cool to see him to see him so fascinating and drinking in all these experiences and how he integrates what he experiences.

There are a lot of normal days around here, but so much cool stuff happens during those normal days.

The kids got a bunch of “bendy” straws and masking tape and made stuff. Tyler was very proud of his “trident”. He also took a coffee cup sleeve, taped some straws to it and made some kind of claw thing. Then I got out a cardboard box and Quinn and Tyler made the place quite cozy. I love looking back at these pictures when it is night and the house is quiet. With nothing else to distract me, I am able to fully appreciate their play and creativity.

Later on the kids put on Daddy’s shirts and had quite a good time swinging in them.

Later on that day we had crafts. We made Thanksgiving candles. This one is mine. Our fall nature table looking quite cheerful with the addition of some lovely flowers from a friend And finally, Tyler found my camera and took some pics of Quinn hiding behind her bank.

Some days I get so busy, I forget about all the magic and small moments. I am trying to change that. After all, that is one big reason I stay home.

Chris grew up going to these in Ohio and so we have brought this tradition into our family for the kids.

Tyler then got a hold of my camera and captured some memories for himself!

The opening slide says, “The ride home from Bastrop – from Quinn’s viewpoint”. Enjoy!

YouTube link (faster and easier to watch):

Click on the image below to view my copy – only do this if the YouTube one is unavailable because it will load much more slowly.

The weekend after our Renewal, we headed to Bastrop for a little bit of nature. We tend to always do our favorite hikes which the kids sometime tire of. The kids were not in the best mood this day and were getting pooped when we reached the turnaround point. Nevertheless, it was a good to be out there with the pine trees. I enjoyed documenting it with my camera. There is something about collecting the moments, the sights that I cannot resist. In fact, I am often cranky when my camera is forgotten on an adventure – almost as if the moment will be quickly forgotten or didn’t happen if I don’t get a picture of it.

I loved my shots from this day and so am posting many of them. I love our hikes so very much. I really do.

Who knew that after this event, life would spiral downward for both of us landing with a big thunk in December? But I am glad we did this. That we paused to recommit to this partnership right before the shit hit the fan. We are in this for the long haul. This is our life for better or worse. And we are fighting and working hard for it. We believe in each other and in us.

Our marriage is not perfect. I think we got really lucky. The parts that worked seemed to override the ones that didn’t. As we matured, other parts improved. And as we are dealing with the crap of life, we need to lean on each other more than ever. This vulnerability on both sides has allowed us to begin to tackle some of the longstanding issues that trip us up.

It is not important that we get it perfect, but that we continue learning, gaining a deeper understanding of and showing greater compassion for each other.

Who knew that at the ripe age of 20, this boy who I wished was my boyfriend, would become that and so much more.