This weekend we spent at Whistler ... truly our happy place as a family! We hike and bike literally all day along, mixed in with some hot tub breaks! This time we did have to modify a bit as I'm 34 weeks pregnant and Jase is still on restriction when it comes to being active! Jase and I did a lot of walking and we did a little less hiking than normal ... but we still had a BLAST (and I was still sore at the end of the days, which I'm normally not) ... and we had blue skies and SUNSHINE all weekend long ... what a GIFT!
On one of our adventures ... riding up on the Gandola ... I was struck by something! One of my beautiful daugthers put her arms around me and put her head on me and stayed there for several minutes. I honestly had to hold back my tears ...
Now in case you have never been to Whistler ... picture the most stunning mountains every where you look ...
This was part of my 25 minute ride up the mountain ... surrounding by God's creation ... being cuddled by one of God's miraclous creations!
The thing that struck me was that I don't think even last summer that I got as long of a spontaneous self-initiated snuggle from this particular jewel. When this jewel came home about 5 1/2 years ago at the age of almost 3 she did not even know how to give a hug ... nor was she comfortable with it (on any level). You might wonder how a little child would not know HOW to give a hug, but when you spent the first three years receiving very limited physical affection that is one of the results. And in case you are wondering I am not known for over-exaggerating things, it is just not the way I'm wired. Attachment with this particular jewel has been HARD to say the least during ohhhhhh probably the first 2.5-3 years. Attachment was a process, and part of that process was physical affection ... amongst MANY other things!
The other thing that I noticed about this jewel this weekend was she not only would initiate holding my hand, but ALSO her dad's. This might have been the first summer for that as well, where she initiated it WITH HER DAD, naturally, spontaneously and seamlessly. She adores her dad and is very close with him, but has had a stronger attachment with me (which I think has come because I've spent so much more time with her than dad as he works more than I do).
These moments were GIFTS this weekend, amongst many other GIFTS ... because we were at Whistler (our happy place AND we think the happiest place on earth). The breathtaking views of the many lakes with the mountains in background, the wild flowers growing in so many different spots, the snow peaked mountains, the being up so high that the kids actually played in the snow, watching the kids bike and bike (especially Ella our 1 hand wonder girl who just recently learned how to ride without her training wheels ... I think I will post on her more later and what she achieved this weekend), watching the kids ride the bike part for 1.5 hours, the giggles, the laughs, the tired jewels at the end of the day, the picnic that we enjoyed on top of Blackcomb mountain ... I could go on and on! This weekend was a GIFT, literally every moment spent together as a family playing, and just BEING!!! We LOVED it!
THANK YOU JESUS for the miracles you do through the attachment process and JOURNEY!
THANK YOU JESUS for the gift of being able to be outdoors in your splendid creation!
THANK YOU JESUS for so many special memories from being a family AT Whistler!
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