Not just another rainy day!

       Today it has rained and rained and then rained some more.  It was also our last day to babysit Noah and Luke on the regular basis we have been doing since Amie went back to work after Noah's birth.  I have truly felt like the lukiest grandmother in the solar system (all forms of life included) because I have been able to really get to know my grandsons and develop a wonderful relationship with them both.  When we get back from our wanderings, Noah will be in school and the logistics of regular care will be too difficult for all.  I am reminding myself that it doesn't mean that we won't be caring for them.  There will be lots of weekends that their parents would like a break.  There will, there will, there will . . . .
        I didn't plan anything big today, but instead thought we would enjoy some of our regular activities.  But I really didn't count on rain and a three year old and five year old boy in the motorhome all day.  So we got creative.  We played "clam pizza" in the picnic shelter ( a game of chase in which the chasee is a clam pizza), an imaginative form of soccor in which team members change sides at will and the boys still win regardless of which team they are on last, pine cone hide and seek, and just enjoyed general silliness with each other.  Grandpa built a fire in the fireplace and we roasted hot dogs and made banana boats.  At nap time, Noah, Luke AND Grandma all snuggled in the bed, and truthfully, Luke was the only one who slept.  When I was driving the boys back to meet Amie, Noah fell asleep.  I heard Luke in the back seat saying, "Noah, it isn't time to sleep, it is awake time".   "Noah, listen to my words!"  "Noah, baby butt germs"  and he continued along the same vein for most of the ride.  Noah didn't notice and slept the sleep of an exhuasted clam pizza. The hardest part of leaving on our exciting adventure is saying goodbye to family.  I will be back for a visit in early July, and I can come back often, but it isn't the same.
      Tonight I went to a weekly gathering of friends and said goodbye.  I will miss them all and our weekly discussions of life's struggles and gifts.  I am hoping to stay connected through this blog, facebook, email and telephone and of course I will carry each and every one of the friends and their wisdom in my heart.  It has been a day of counting my blessings and finding many more to count that I expected.  I have faith that our journey will bring even more to count.  (Noah can help me - he says that he can count to the end of numbers!)
      During the day we had 45 head start students come for a barbeque.  They all crowded into the other picnic shelter and seemed to have fun, but I felt bad that they couldn't enjoy the beach and play in the fields of grass and flowers.  Later in the afternoon approximately 50 highschool students from Garfield High in Seattle arrived to work on an evironmental project until Friday.  They are hunkered down in tents listening to the drip, drip, drip, I am sure.  I think I will probably sleep more than they do tonight.