This year is a year of being very tan. Tan does not mean vanity at all. Tan simply means being outdoors every opportunity we have. Each year I think..wow another kid milestone...and it gets easier and easier. We wake up each morning and discuss the day. Am I conditioning my boys for constant adventures in their day? Yes, and know this to be true as they ask each morning what kind of fun for today is planned. They are truly indepentant of me. I can step back and watch them play together, run through the water and not one person is holding my hand, grasping my legs or running away from me, into some odd tangle.

It's always a process of letting go as a parent. Letting go of my hand and running into the waves with confidence. Further away each time. This summer has really been like that. Letting go of the training wheels, letting go of me being a constant. I use to say that when my kids start dating I will know and recognize the importance of that other person when I become less and they become more. It's a process that slowly happens, in the same way a small child lets go and goes on their own.

I also have three little boys who have become experts on their bikes. I took them to park yesterday and they rode loop after loop with no chance of getting tired. I did something I realized was a first...and just sat and watched, fixed a few flat tires, adjusted a bike seat, and stopped a chain from scratching against the chain gaurd. My eight year old told me I could start a bike repair shop with how good I am at it.

New bikers, important people in my older kids lives, playtime on the beaches, and me a mom who continues to smile, and embrace with a sense of humility all that God gives me and allows me to be a part of.

Oh and the picture of waves over my toes...that is a pedicure under there. Something that I am getting back in the habit of doing after years of taking a break. It's just a little something that this mama can do now that match box cars are no longer driving over my feet.