headed to iowa

the kids and i are headed to iowa to visit family for two weeks. it will be a great trip...once we get there. i do have to travel with two little ones for 8 hours and i have to fly solo without matt. i hate flying. maybe it is the loss of control...who is flying that plane anyway or maybe it is the fact that it IS TOTALLY UNNATURAL!!! anyway, say a prayer for me won't you? i will need it. so, see you all in a couple of weeks. we are headed to corn country.

m and m

the day we went to the beach brought one of the most special moments for me as a mother. that was watching my two men snorkel together in the ocean. micah rode on matt's back and together they explored the depths of blue looking for fish and whatever else they might find. i don't think there is anything more fabulous as a mom than watching daddy be an amazing father! i love this picture for several reasons. number one the relaxed way that matt is with micah, number two the way micah's arm is securely around his neck...so trusting...number 3 the flippers micah are wearing, so cute and little and number 4 the pure fact that they are doing something they both love, together.

summer begins

we spent last monday at the beach. it was wonderful! micah, matt and i snorkeled with our good friends john and heather monda and their son roman. it was a great day of sun, sand and lots of water. when we got home beatrix tried her hand at snorkeling too.

a nod to grandpa

this picture just make me laugh!

picking her out

that's right. we are adding another family member. this one has 4 legs, a wet nose and dog breath. we are still having discussions about what to name her. matt is picking her up while i am in iowa with the kids the end of june. and i'm not sure who is more excited about this next phase of our family, matt or those two under the blankets.

what she loves

shoes and sunglasses...they don't have to be hers to wear them.

a decade of...

love, happiness, anger, joy, sorrow, passion...today we celebrate a decade of our lives spent together. i can't even begin to try to do the last 10 years justice. but if i had the time i could write pages and pages of all that we have learned and been through. i can honestly say i love matt more and more every day. because of him i learn new things about myself, daily it seems. he is always learning, always reading, always questioning things and he always takes the time to explain it all to me. for that i am so thankful! here is to a decade of being Mrs. Harrison and sharing my life with a wonderful man!

thoughts

matt will be finished with school this friday for the summer and i have to say i am READY to have him home. we have some fun things planned but mostly we are going to try to make it a low key time with plenty of rest and relaxation. the end of the year is starting off with a visit from matt's parents. they arrive tomorrow and of course graduation which will be especially meaningful this year as it is the year matt's first class is graduating. he had this class the first year he taught at trinity when they were only freshmen. i feel especially close to some of these kids as i have watched them grow up for the last 4 years.

i am looking forward to having matt around and i know the kids are too. but mostly i can tell that this year is different in that matt himself is desperate for the summer. he is tired this year. more so than the other end-of-the-years. i am really praying that he finds the rest and the rejuvenation to start next year ready and refreshed. would you pray for him too? teaching is hard work. even more so for a man like my love who doesn't do anything half way.

i have a couple of photography sessions scheduled which will be fun, i will be working 3 nights a week still and of course we plan on getting as much beach time as is possible given the fact that our beaches could look like tar pits in a couple of weeks. every time i think about all of the oil spilling into our beautiful oceans i can't help getting teary eyed.

this morning we were driving to costco and the farmer's market and micah started singing, "he's got the whole oceans in this hands, he's got the whole oceans in his hands, he's got the whole oceans in his hands, he's got the whole world in his hands." i smiled to him and then to myself as i silently prayed asking God to forgive the way we have treated his oceans, his land, his world...

my thoughts turn to relaxation and the fun that the summer holds for us as a family, but it also turns so quickly to those families and wildlife that have been devastated by this tragedy.

we need rest and relaxation so we can work harder for Him!

squatters

matt left for work last thursday at his normal time of 6:00. what wasn't normal was the fact that he called me a little after he left. look out the window, he said. i did and saw a red tent in the darkness. what does that sign say i asked. he told me, i laughed and got up to start making some breakfast for our squatters.

when micah saw the tent he was so confused, "what are they doing on out there mama?"

i made them some blueberry muffins and chai tea. we had to leave early to get to trinity to buy micah some school uniforms and to take beatrix to her check up at the doctor.

these girls make me so happy and keep me feeling young and silly. i remember doing fun and carefree things like this. they remind me of the importance of staying youthful at heart.

the next day we had to say good bye to one of them.
ashlea got an amazing opportunity to work for a not for profit organization in washington dc this summer. (one of the reasons why they camped out in our yard the night before.) the whole harrison family was sad to see her go, but excited for what may lay ahead for our dear friend. blessings ash, we love you!

a sweet get-up

micah raided his piggy bank last week. he really wanted some flippers to go with his snorkel. we went to target where he proudly gave the clerk his money and he put the bag over his shoulder and told me he couldn't wait to show daddy. when we got home it was time for a rest and when i peeked into the room this is what i saw. i turned around and ran and got my camera. flippers and snorkel mask on even to read before nap. that is some dedication!

ocean preparation

this is what micah has been doing.
in the pool and in the bathtub.
he is practicing for the real thing,
snorkeling in the ocean.

having dinner outside after a dip in the pool.

like him, take 3

she wants to be like me, part 1

my make up on her face and my tooth brush in her mouth...
only the beginning.

the mother of all mother's days!

for over 4 months my two best friends from college, melissa and amy, had been planning a weekend away. we choose mother's day weekend. how appropriate to take a vacation away from our families, right? they arrived on a thursday and we left for key largo on friday. we stayed in a hotel on the ocean for two nights and 3 days. we went to fantastic restaurants, the beach and stayed in the hotel relaxing. it was wonderful to reconnect with these girls after so much time has passed.
without interruption!

at marker 88 on the bay watching the sunset and eating great food!

the restaurant we went to for breakfast on saturday on our way to the beach.

do you know that there is nothing more relaxing then sitting on the beach with no obligations or responsibilities?
well its true.

outside of the fish house waiting for our table.
i love these ladies!

admiring our pedicures.

on sunday we left our hotel at 11:00 and headed north to find another beach. melissa and amy had fun learning to snorkel and took to it immediately! they didn't know i was taking this picture of them, but i thought it was so cute that they were doing the same thing at the same time without the other one knowing. i imagined them in 30 years as older women, coming for a visit and doing pretty much the same thing. thank you my sweet friends for an amazing and memorable weekend. it was absolutely perfect!

extinct no longer

a couple of weeks ago matt called me to say that he had a huge surprise for micah. i made the mistake of telling him. micah asked me all day when daddy was getting home and he wouldn't take a nap. when matt got home micah was at the door instantly wanting to know what it was. the surprise was more than he could have ever imagined. one of the teachers at trinity was retiring and she had put out all of her bins for anyone who wanted them. matt brought home two bins FULL of everything dinosaur!
micah was ecstatic and had no clue where to start!

he is well on his way to becoming a soccer playing paleontologist.

wants to be like him, take 2

saying farwell to an old friend

matt bought this bike right before we were married, in 1999. we rode on it together for 10 years...we drove it when we were single, matt rode it to iowa to visit me while we were dating, we signed our marriage licsence on it at our wedding, we rode off on it to our hotel the first night we were married, we took it to canada, we drove it to lake michigan, we rode it around grand rapids, we moved it to florida where matt has enjoyed riding it year round, we also drove it in February 2008 to the ocean where i told matt we were going to have another baby, beatrix.

but this bike was getting old and expensive to fix, so a month ago matt decided to put it on craig's list and he sold it to someone else who gets to have new memories on it. i have to say that since the kids have come i really didn't get to ride on it much, but when i did, it was wonderful.

it was a sad week in our house the week that the bike was no longer in our garage. but on to new adventures. we are saving our money for our next one. a sail boat! who knows what memories we can make on that.