Places: The Mountain Top

Each year in Maine, we make a day trip to Mt. Battie.   Des started asking when we were going to do something different because she 'is getting bored doing the same old things all the time'.  I knew this year would be different, mostly because I'm stronger physically than I've been in a very long time (since month 4 of my pregnancy with Rachel to be exact) and I tried to encourage her to be thankful we were on vacation at all since it almost didn't happen....  But I also really felt God telling me that we could do all the same things and still experience 'more' - if we just looked for Him more.

 

I brought our race shirts so we could keep her 'with us'.  I brought her blanket with us to all the places we love to go and propped it up next to them for this one.  It's what she was wrapped in at birth, I snuggled her in it while she died in my arms, and I sleep with every night to this day.  I stood in this very spot when I was pregnant with her, looking out over the water and missing her before she was even gone.

 

 

 

 

We went over to get one more family photo (did these before anything else that day just in case the day went haywire to be sure we got them!)  and as I was balancing the camera to take one of all of us, a woman came running over and offered to take it for us.  After we took the next one, she said to us "I remember those days - you can never get the whole family in one photo"

I agreed, but my heart had an entirely different meaning for that statement.  I don't think she noticed the baby blanket I was holding - or the fact that I kept referring to it and the little pink shoe attached to the diaper bag as 'Rachel'.  I teared up as we walked off to go find the trail we were planning to hike.

 

But at the beginning of the trail....  God reminded me again....

She's not as far away as she feels.

 

I love walking in the back of our crew and watching Matt help the kids along the path.  As they grow and become more independent, I smile watching them overcome big rocks and intimidating hills.  But all of us know that Matt's hand is never far away should we need it - and much like Isaiah who seems to be following quite closely in Daddy's footsteps, Matt isn't afraid of much.  Or at least we never know it if he is.

Asa took his first hike on Mama's back.  This boy is awesome. (if I do say so myself)

 

When you go to this park, you pay for the day and can come and go as you wish.  Last year we talked about going back to Mt Battie at night to watch the sunset, but I was so pregnant that by the time night time came, I couldn't get myself to go anywhere.  So, this year we made it.  We all wore our PJ's and we brought a half gallon of ice cream and some chocolate dipped cones.  There's something about PJ's on a cool summer night that is extra cozy.

Notice the "ice cream spatulas" that Matt bought cause it was less expensive than a scoop.  We made them work, but he will not live that one down!  We also found out this night that Sam is in fact NOT allergic to almonds - He was half way through his cone when we realized they were in the ice cream Matt bought. (phew!) 

 

WoooHooo... the sun is setting and this ice cream is yummy!

Me and my sweet girl on top of the tower...  isn't she so pretty?  She's getting so big it's hard to believe.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed showing this place to Asa.  And he was super cuddly :o)

 

 

And as we watched the sun set from the mountain top, we knew this was a special gift as we ooh'd and awe'd over the beautiful colors in God's pallet (and I fussed with my camera trying to capture them, which we determined is impossible - the human eye is too amazing to truly copy - these photos do not do this scene justice!)  In this picture, it appears like we are near the edge of the water, but we are actually hundreds of feet above it and that is a cliff! We finished off the ice cream, licked the spatulas clean and headed home to bedtime for the kids and cribbage for me & Matt :o) 

 

 

 

Oh, and P.S. - There were close to 350 people who viewd the last post in 24 hours :o)  People are funny, but predictable.