and they continue to grow...

The kids and I have always had 'adventures'. From the time Morgan was born, I never hesitated to pack her, and the boys as they arrived, in the vehicle and off we'd go. When they'd ask where we were going, I'd always say, "oh, an adventure..."

I am going through a time of missing them...missing them as younger kiddos. When they were still pretty small, we would just pack a lunch, the portable potty seat in the back, and head for parks. We would stop at a park that looked fun, a great playground was a must, and play for a bit. When I would get bored, we would get back in the vehicle and head down the road to another park. Sometimes we would visit four to five parks in an afternoon. Needless to say, we all have a great time!

As they got a little older, and we didn't need the potty seat anymore, we moved into letterboxing. Kind of the same concept, except that their mother had turned into a maniac for letterboxes! We scoured the PNW, clues in hand, finding letterboxes from Green Tortuga, Amanda from Seattle and Daelphinus. We hiked trails that we never knew existed, ate picnic lunches in places we never expected we would and filled up logbooks with much anticipation. It was just me and my three short companions, and I just loved it.

Then, again, they got older. In time, I started to hear things like, "Mom, do have to look for their box? Their clues never make sense..." or "can we just do a drive-by?" I felt the time slipping through my fingers as they began to say that they didn't want to go, but can't we just stay home? It is raining, after all... ::sigh::

So, here we are. Morgan is 15, Alex is 13 and Tay is the dreaded 10. They most certainly don't want to spend the day letterboxing, although I think Alex would still enjoy it. I miss the days of them happily excited to be shuckin' schoolwork to go on an 'adventure' with Mom. Yeah, we still spend time together, but it's just not the same. They like to travel now, but not just day trips as much, but real travel that involves hotel reservations. Much to my dismay, Morgan has decided that she doesn't like to go to the beach anymore; the beach is always my getaway destination. What's a Mom to do?

I'm just thankful for the memories and photographs. And, trying to adjust to seeing the glimpses of my grown-up children.