Fishing off the Balcony -- Thankfulness

More things I'm thankful for:

34. Vacation Bible School -- the kids has a blast at Space VBS this year. Now that Elijah is four, this was his first time participating officially (and not via the nursery with me) so it was monumental for him.

Unfortunately, the first day when I attempted to "let go" a little and let Elijah go with his group and teacher without me, he ended up outside... alone... He finished a robot craft and then was told he had to leave it there. Poor Elijah didn't know he would get his robot back at the end of the day... After that I shadowed his group for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll let go next year...

It was great watching my kids and all the other kids learn about God and about creation! I especially loved the singing time and love hearing my kids continue to sing the songs they learned there.

35. Boating on the lake in our inflatable dinghies. We went out two by two -- boys in one boat and girls in the other and then Desiree and I watched as those boys flew across the lake thanks to Daddy's muscles. Desiree commented a time or two about it and I told her clearly she had picked the wrong boat to go in if she wanted to go fast.

On the return trip it was even worse because the wind was against us. I honestly wasn't sure if we'd make it back to shore without being towed by a motor boat. But -- we finally did! The silver lining is that Desiree learned a lot about rowing through first hand experience (when I needed to take breaks) and the lake was so beautiful.

36. Watching the kids practice fishing off the balcony. Desiree (6) had one particular amazing cast that landed her fish weight right in the neighbour's tree! Daddy said "Kiss it goodbye", but Mommy (that's me) climbed the fence and then the neighbour's tree up to about 15 feet and rescued the fish weight. Interestingly, climbing that tree worked more muscles than the 2+ hours rowing out on the lake did?!?!

37. Fishing for real at the lake. Now this was technically a horrible day because Ernie had a meltdown (due to his stroke symptoms) and didn't actually fish with us after all, but if you look at the pictures it looks like we've had the time of our lives... Parts were great. I fished with the kids and rescued snagged hooks (although Elijah didn't get the benefit of a real hook due to age and impulsivity!).

Desiree's attitude impressed me most of all. After saying all day "I'll be so disappointed if I don't catch a fish" she left the lake saying "At least I got to feed a fish!" One tiny 3 inch fish nipped her bait off the hook and swam away...

38. Matching outfits. See in the fishing trip pictures how Desiree and Elijah have matching shirts? I love matching outfits...

I know some people are upset when they find out what they're wearing matches someone else, but not me... When I was growing up my Grandma would make matching dresses for my two cousins and me. We'd plan intentionally to match. Being an only child for 11 years I think it was important to me because it symbolized belonging.

PS: At my wedding, my mom and my mother in law unintentionally had matching brocade dresses in two different shades of blue. Thankfully both of them are like me when it comes to matching and they thought it was so neat (and funny) that they matched!!!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~