peace

at the peace gardens ::

chilly day

almost the only ones there

running through the sprinklers

hoodies & cardigans

sitting and resting

wrestling in the grass

waiting for the bells to chime

playing I-spy

loading mama with hoodies & cardigans

collecting dandelions & clovers

bringing flowers to mama

lots of giggles

finding our favorite flowers

flowers reminding us of our old home

watching the gardeners work

little girls resisting the urge to pick pretty flowers

chasing each other through the paths

gate keepers

piggy back rides

making funny faces

looking for coins for the wishing pond

watching fountains

everyone faster than mama

baby kicking

playing follow the leader

walking the cracks

walking 3 miles

lunch at the park

being in Canada for the first time

loving our time together

...on the side of the road

You know those little moments,
that come and go so swiftly
...but you know you never want to forget.

This was one of those moments,
that i'm blogging so i'll never forget.



We had made a quick stop on the side of a country road
...somewhere in northern Minnesota.

Dad had to get something from the camper.
I thought all 3 of the littles were asleep,
when I heard Eliza perk up and say...
"Mom, I need to unbuckle. I see a little yellow flower that I have to get for you. please!"
I hopped out and opened the back door to let her out...
she ran over to the flower, plucked it from the ground and brought it right back over to me.
"It's for you mama, it's beautiful and it smells like sunshine"




Eliza,
I love how you find little bits of beauty everywhere we go,
I pray you never loose that vision
because there is indeed beauty everywhere you will go.
But if your eyes and heart aren't trained to find the beauty in all that is ordinary
...life can become dull.
Keep looking for beauty my dear,
even on the side of the road.

{boondocking} in the middle of nowhere

you know how I said we were .boondocking.

I wasn't using the term lightly

...we weren't parking in our driveway.

We're really really out in the .middle.of.nowhere.

about 2 miles from the farm as the bird flies

8 miles by gravel road

and .9 miles from the road into the middle of a field.

as much as I love being connected...

to power, water, internet, ect.

I think I love being disconnected even more

the peace.

undisturbed beauty.

darkness of night.

rustle of the wild grass in the wind.

it rained and poured .hard. one night

everyone except me slept through it
...the wind was so fierce I .thought. we might blow over.
.but we didn't.

we ventured out the day after the rain

...we flung mud and muddy water all over the van.

There was giggling and hollering as we bumped along flinging mud.

.fun times.

Living .in.and.out. of the camper since January

...has taught me a lot.

less {really} is more.

We become so desensitized to how truly easy our lives are...

Running water.

hot water.

electricity.

air conditioning.

internet.

...pondering how that has changed my views on life...

Road Trip :: Rewind

We may have been off-grid a lot

and off of the computer a lot

but my camera was still in my hands a lot

and now it's finally time to share all those lovely photos!

:: St. Joseph Peninsula, Florida ::

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:: LOVES ::

seeing the ocean on both sides

biking riding to the beach

humidity curls

sitting under the awning watching the rain

collecting sea shells

writing our names in the white sand

splashing in the cool ocean waves

waking up to singing birds

soaking up the salt spray

bird watching walks

going out for a fancy italian dinner

washing laundry outside

the cool airstream camper next door

the lovely palm trees

bringing crystal white sand along with us

running on the beach

falling asleep to the lull of the waves

the perfect campsite

pulling out when the tornado warning came

:: I think ::

I think... my blog is finally up and working

and hopefully it's working for everyone now!

I'd love to hear from you if you can see this

and if it's showing up in your reader I'd love to know that too.

Thank you to all of you who are still around

for being patient and not giving up on me. {grin}

and now because it's hard to post without a picture...

{Badlands, South Dakota}

Can you see me now?

Well... it seems that coming back to my blog has been harder than I thought it would be.

My domain expired, Ooops!

We renewed, but it is only kinda sorta working off and on. sigh.

I have no idea what to do

...except ask my husband to fix it, please! {grin}

He is however insanely busy with planting

...so it's just going to have to wait. double sigh.

I did redirect my blog back to www.4littlemen.blogspot.com

and it should be showing up in google reader.

so, I apologize for the trouble and thank you for your patience!

and now...

for fun,

some random pictures.

Enjoy!