Sandy Beach at Little Elm

I know I don't have to give y'all my excuses for why it's been a long time since I blogged last.



I know that if you read my blog, you recognize that I have four littles... none of whom even potty completely by themselves, let alone get snacks or drinks, print coloring pages, find markers, sort fights, get into car seats, etc.

So I won't bother with excuses.  I'll just say it's nice to finally post these pictures!



We tried out the Sandy Beach at Little Elm a couple weeks ago.  My sister Heidi was here, and she helped me with the bags and bags of stuff you have to bring to the beach when your littles carry nothing and in fact need to be carried.



We had a nice time!  It was hot, of course. And the sun was intense, of course.  But overall I much preferred this experience to the actual ocean beach we visited last year.  The water was calmer, and I wasn't burdened with the constant concern about salty water burning their eyes.  The sand-in-the-eyes is a concern always.  But at least there wasn't the salt and the big waves.



One downside to the lake is that it's not clear.  When the kids go underwater, they are completely hidden.  That was unnerving.  But they didn't go underwater much, and they stayed together and relatively close to Heidi and me anyways.



Charlie really got into his own groove, crawling into the gentle waves and pausing to sit peacefully in waste-high water while he looked around.



All the kids seemed to really enjoy playing in the sand.  Building, scooping, and just feeling the grit between their fingers.



Lunch time came, and we got the kids showered off and piled into the car, thinking if we could just get them home we'd be able to actually get truly clean and dry before our next event for the day.  Unfortunately, I had no idea the funeral procession was underway for the 5 police officers killed by the sniper.  We spent a long time on the road getting home.  



There wasn't time to rest much at home before our next outing of the day.  But the kids did okay anyways.



It was really fun to be able to grant their request for a "trip to the beach" without actually driving 6 hours to the coast.  I definitely want to go to this beach again some time.  I'll just need to make sure I have a helper then, too!

On Fear and Parenting

Today we celebrated Lensbaby's fifth birthday.  Lensbaby is the name of the mom-tographers group I'm a part of.  They are responsible for many, many of the photo ops from which I've posted pictures in the last year and a half. 

We celebrated at a splash park in a neighboring city.  

 

This splash park used to give me such intense anxiety before I had 3 kids.  

 

I felt certain that if I looked down at my camera for even a second, someone would snatch one of my kids and be gone before I looked back up. 

It is truly remarkable how quickly your mind can recall every Lifetime Original movie about kidnapping, replaying them instantly in your mind merely seconds after you realize your kid is not where you thought he/she would be.

It is not my mind's most helpful skill.

But I was realizing today that I didn't feel that way -- or at least, not nearly as much as before.

Of course my awareness is heightened in a park like this -- open to anybody, no fence, with a few dozen kids and a parking lot very close by.  How could it not be. 

But what surprised me was the lack of paralyzing fear about it.  

 

The kids play together.  They stay close together, and pretty close to me.  They are, at least for now, a cohesive little group.

I don't know if it was that, or the fact that I have had to let go of some control issues over the past year, having three kids.  

There are personal limitations I just have to acknowledge on a daily basis.  I cannot get them all the sippy cup they want at the moment they want it.

 

I can't spare them the despair suffered while waiting for a turn with whatever plastic toy is the darling of the day.

 

I can't hold all three of them when they're all three upset or hurting at the exact same moment.  

But that's ok.  I have begun to accept it -- this helplessness every parent has to come to terms with during child-rearing.  You cannot control every circumstance all the time.  

Heck, you can't even control every circumstance some of the time.  

Yet, the kids are ok.  The momentary despair they experience on a day-to-day basis doesn't destroy them.

And despite my trying my very hardest to care for their every need, my limitations are real--and the kids are not destroyed by those either.

It's as if they're in someone else's hands altogether.

Someone bigger than me, whose love and power is not limited and whose patience is never exhausted.

It's as if they're safe.  And a peace that passes understanding is with me.

While I snap photos of my three precious babies. In this splash park with no fence.

The Zoo. In July.

Wowsa it's hot outside.



The kids have been asking daily to go back to the zoo since we had a few fun trips there during the spring.
 

I finally relented and planned a trip there for this morning, and one solid friend braved the heat to come with us.



Jennifer was my roommate most of the time I was at A&M and remains one of my best friends.
 

Her daughter Evie is just a couple months younger than Oliver.




We crammed a lot of fun into the two hours we were at the zoo.  We rode the kid train, saw the snakes, saw the monkeys, koalas, and kangaroos...







...fed the goats in the children's zoo (and played in the egg statues and the water nearby)...






...and finally we saw the elephants and giraffes and rode the merry-go-round.



The car was a thousand degrees when we got back to it, but the important thing is that we did get back to it.  The zoo feels like a precarious outing with three little kids, especially in the heat.



But it's fun to go with a friend.  Lucy loved holding Miss Jennifer's hand, and all my kids love Evie to pieces.



Mostly I felt relieved when we were back in the car.  I'm hoping that the kids will be satisfied with this zoo outing until it gets a little cooler in the fall. 

Our Friday Night Tradition

This summer, it has become our Friday night tradition to bring pizza to Heights Aquatic Center and spend the evening swimming and playing.  It's really fun.

And it's a bit chaotic.  I you haven't noticed, I have become somewhat addicted to spliced home movies.  I hope the video above plays for you.  It pretty perfectly demonstrates the fun and the chaos that is Friday night at Heights.

Curbside Service

Look who was willing to follow me back to our house after a play-date this morning?  No way was I going to invite this mess into our car, but for curbside service in our own front yard... okay. 



I think the kids figured out during our last snow cone adventure that although blue is their favorite color, red tastes better.  So today it was red for both big kids. 



And, of course, clear for the one who doesn't have color opinions yet. 



Lucy didn't ask why this snow cone (self served syrup) wasn't as sweet as the previous one.  Or even why this snow cone wasn't as soft and perfect as the last one she had.  I guess she didn't notice.



Comparing the quality of snow cone from one experience to the next feels like a distinctly first world endeavor.



This was, in Lucy's words, ''a fun treat!''