Saying Goodbye/Celebrating Mom

Ryan called me late Saturday night to say Mom had gone to see Jesus, so the girls and I headed out to go be with our dear hurting family the next morning. The 5 hour road trip was something I dreaded, but the girls, the puppy and the kitten(yes a baby kitten!!) were wonderful. We tumbled into the arms of Ryan at the end of it and were so glad to be with him again.

 We spent lots of time as a family remembering Mom, and the tears were many, but the peace of knowing she was with our Saviour ruled our hearts even in the sad moments. Monday morning was Ryan and my anniversary. 13 years!!! It was spent much differently then most of our past ones have been. We took the girls to the park and fed the ducks and goldfish donuts..it seems they like Mrs. Dunsters donuts as much as we do!!  Who knew??

 Little Elle ran upstairs at our house after I told them about Grammie going to heaven the night before, and came downstairs with a bandana on her head. Mom had been wearing them after she started her chemo and so she was known and loved for her many ,bright head coverings. Elle has never worn them before ,but didn't take that one off day or night for a week after. She didn't mention anything about it,but when Ryan casually asked her if she was wearing one to remember Grammie, she shyly said"Yes,, is that o.k. Daddy?" Dear little heart. It was her silent tribute to her much loved Grammie.

 Bear had an exercise in self control at the sight of all those running, flapping, swimming ducks.

  Little Elin has a bit too much of her Mama in her.. She thought it would be great fun to catch a duck to pet!!

   It didn't work out too well for her and I had my hands wrapped around a warm cup of cappuccino, so didn't feel very inclined to lend a hand. She had fun though!!

 I am so blessed to have this man as my husband for so many wonderful years through the easy and the hard.  It was fun to reminisce with him for the occasion .To think of the kids we were back when we said "I do" and having very little idea of what it meant,then to flash forward to our 4 little girls running around chasing ducks and squealing over goldfish. God has blessed us beyond "what we could ask or think" and we are so grateful.

 After we fed the various wildlife( and one drooling not so wild life!!), we took to the trails. Ryan blew us away with his handy athletic skills  :)

                This one really got the giggles out of the girls!!

 Then Elin had to try her hands at it. It was a happy time in a sad day, but that is how the week went. The happy, good times and memories interspersed with the sad tears . The feeling of loss and missing Mom so bad was unlike anything we had experienced as a family and it hurt. Just being together and sharing our stories, memories and thoughts of who Mom was to each of us made everything feel so much better.

  We said goodbye to Mom in a beautiful service through which God's love and goodness was clearly spoken. The girls sang "What a Day That Will Be" with their cousin Sami, and Ryan, his brother and sister all spoke of their love for Mom. She was an amazing lady, so deep in her love for Jesus for life,  and us as her family. She taught me so much and I'm so grateful that God gave me such a wonderful lady to be my second mom and super Grammie to my girls.

  Dear Elle wore her bandana to the funeral too. We didn't say anything to her about it. We just let her pay her tribute to her Grammie in her own little 7 year old way.

 Back at Mom and Dad's beautiful home, we stayed together for another day. Elle and I got to look after the twinnies , feed those adorable boys, and....

   Put them to sleep!!!

                            This little turkey kept popping his little eyes open as soon as I set him down, so I propped him up in the corner of Grampie's chair,  he thought he was still being held and slept on!!

 Little cherubs.. Man I miss baby days at times like this!!

            We did one last thing to celebrate Mom before we went to our own homes again. We went for a hotdog roast at her beloved shore. Whenever we were all together Grammie would always suggest a cook out at the shore and we would bundle up and have a great,delicious, smoky meal together. Every year it seemed there would be a new little one grown up just enough to get to climb on the rocks with their cousins/or siblings. First it was Em that would explore, then Elle joined , and Eva and this year it was Elin who was  just another one of the girls on the huge rocks.

  Ryan and Bear heading to the water.

  Elin gathered her own "fire sticks" to add to the blaze.

                             Bear had to be tied as his nose was too much for him and got him into trouble with all the food around.

   Oh the times we have have had  through the years. Our family has changed and this time it is minus one instead of adding one(or two!)  And although we will never feel or be the same again, we are still a family and our memories will keep Mom close to our hearts always. I love to think too of  how through the years we will see glimpses of her in her children and grandchildren. Whether it be a look, laugh ,smile, or just plain spunk!!The lessons she taught us and the legacy she left I hope we never forget.   God is so good and we are looking forward to spending eternity together again already!!

Balloon Festival

Every year in September the sky around and at times above our dear little home is filled with hot air balloons. We have the perfect spot to enjoy this amazing festival. The balloons launch if the weather is right first thing in the morning and after supper for 5 days in a row.

 The girls roll out of bed and run to the yard, and I serve up breakfast with hot chocolate and bring it out to excited girls to eat in between excited shouts.

 The balloon  fest happened one week after we got home from our Lunenburg vacation.
This year was very different than the last 2 for us in that  we had gotten news that our dear Grammie Skaling was on her way to Heaven , and Ryan was leaving to say his goodbyes to her just after our breakfast was done.  But in spite of our sadness,God had something very special planned for our little girls this particular morning to lift their (and our )spirits.

 So we spied this particularly interesting shaped balloon soaring close-by our house and Ryan asked if we wanted to go "chase" it. Chasing hot air balloons involves following them in your vehicle and being there when they land in someone's yard or field. The balloon team welcomes any and all help packing the huge balloon up again into its tiny bag and into their truck or trailer . Folks will put white balloon,or streamers up to indicate to the pilots that they are allowed to put down on their property when the run is over...wherever the wind happens to carry them.

 So off we went and watched it drift closer and closer to where we had parked.

         When it was obvious they were setting down, we decided to go closer and watch them descend.

It came closer..

   and closer,

  Then much to our surprise the pilot seeing the girls and other children around yelled" does anyone want a balloon ride....first come first served." Well the girls started off on a run!!

  They lifted all the girls up into the basket along with another little girl,

              Offered the girls a crash course on how the balloon works

  Then they lit the burner and away they went. They only lifted a foot or so off the ground but the girls were flying!!!

                                  They finally arrived at the place to where they were going to have enough space to lay the balloon down

 And one by one the girls were lifted out. They were sooo excited!!

          .

 That crazy huge beehive started to deflate.

Then we all pitched in pushing the air out of all the individual bees and eventually out of the entire balloon

                  It went pretty slow at times!

     Emily got the job of putting the velcro strips around  the main balloon after it was all pushed into a line of material.

                     Then they started stuffing it all into a canvas bag, and threw the girls in to"push extra air out!!" The girls got to do this part last year with another balloon team and looked forward to "helping" with this stage again!!

 The funny thing is that the balloon billows up around the child and they are almost swallowed by it. We did lose a flip flop or 2 that had to be retrieved after the child was removed from the depths of the  collapsed balloon.

                   The girls didn't tire of reliving that morning for a while, and it put a smile on their faces, when there were more tears than smiles and more sad moments than happy ones over the next week.

 The next morning, missing Ryan badly and sad that Grammie was leaving us soon, we headed to the lawn and saw 30 balloons go up. Such a beautiful sight and almost magical to see the colors floating up and over the trees.

          Breakfast on the lawn for the second day!!

 The girls and I also headed over to the festival grounds later that day  to see our pilot friends again and be there for the opening ceremony and the cutting of the cake!!