15/48 Walks - Reconnect

Earlier this week, I went on one of my favorite walks yet.

A walk with a great friend I had not seen in 10 years. One who moved very near to me a few months back, that is now leaving again.

She had not even gotten the chance to meet my kids yet.

We were always active with each other on the Facebook, little messages here and there.

I am regretting the time I spent in the periphery of my friends life. She struggled silently, for months, and I had no idea. Now she is leaving the area again. Probably for good.

I am beyond grateful that even amidst the stress of packing, and parenting, and relationship struggles she made the time to meet up so we could at least catch up before we said goodbye.

We had tossed the idea of going to see a movie. Maybe The Fault in Our Stars or Maleficent.
That meant I would need childcare because my 2 year old will not even sit through a kid's movie. Let alone a dialogue heavy grown up movie, or a possibly scaryish one. I really wanted my son to meet my friend and her kids though...

Then I thought- Movies are super expensive. She is moving. She doesn't have a job lined up yet,  she will be paying for 5 tickets + we won't be able to chat and catch up in a movie.

So I asked if she wanted to go on a hike instead, since it is way cheaper and will give us more time to chat.
Thankfully, she accepted.

We had such an awesome time. Our kids immediately hit it off.

I am totally kicking myself for not doing this sooner. We both just thought we would have more time.

In total there were 9 of us (including my husband and her daughter's boyfriend) wandering through the woods together. When we arrived at the Sound the kids dispersed with a little encouragement and we were able to sit quietly and talked until the sunset. A total luxury when there are small children afoot.

It was an intense talk that yanked on my heart strings. It also reinforced the respect I have for this friend's inner strength, compassion, and selflessness. She is a golden soul and I am so grateful to have these new memories to put in our lifelong memory bank.

On to the photos;

Post All the Walks!!!

 I am still walking, and posting the photos of my walks on the Instagram!

Instead of taking far too long to individually post every walk that I am behind in posting here (and possibly getting discouraged/distracted and leaving to doubletap on Instagram for my whole break)- Here are my walks up to this point :

Fort Columbia- Spontaneous Detour Walk

9/48walks

Fort Stevens walk 10/48walks

Beach Walk! Seaside, OR     11/48walks  

Downtown Seaside walk (and food!)12/48walks

 Mother's day hike 13/48walks

And finally- My anniversary sunset walk ended here. 14/48walks

Are we friends on instagram yet? If not, we should be! Find me @_lourab_ 

6/ #48Walks : Yay, Sun!

For the 6th of my 48 Walks we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day. We drove down south to the Millersylvania State Park. I love this park because it is so close by and child friendly. 

You will need a Discover Pass to visit this park.

I also love that there are many different options on what to do once you get to the park. There are trails, camping, swimming, fishing, and during the warmer months there are boat/kayak/paddle boat rentals.

This walk was actually taken the last day of February.

I still don't have a word, or a phrase for what I am figuratively walking towards. Maybe it should be clarity? 

I'm not really worried about it. It will come in good time.

Right now I am just so enjoying the last of our Winter woods, and anticipating Springtime. 

Now on to the magic.

5/#48Walks : The Walk That Went Awry

My little guy is really, really into stories right now. He LOVES when people tell him stories. He likes to read, and we do every night, but what he is really into right now is the off-the-cuff stories that people tell upon request.

After hearing "you tell me a story?" About 30 times in one day, naturally you start just telling the stories about the day.

Our story of this walk was "Once upon a time, there was a cute little boy who set off on a mission to make it to the end of a loooooong walk to see if he could see some seals in the water. But, this little boy threw one of his shoes into the ocean and his Momma had to carry him all the way back to the start. The end."

This was our first real hike in about 10 days. After being shut up indoors due to unsafe windy conditions and that work thing I was elated to hear that sun was in the forecast. I finished my chores at a frenetic pace so we could just enjoy the afternoon out at one of our favorite spots.
I didn't bother checking tide tables. I just chased the sun.
We walked the mile to the boardwalk and arrived to find that it was lowtide, so we only got to see the strange wasteland that is usually hidden underwater. It is strange, but still beautiful, in a chaotic way.

Then, while I was distracted (by photo ops?), my son apparently threw his shoe off the boardwalk. I looked back to find one white little sock poking out from his pantleg. Then looked over the edge to see a tiny, lonely shoe.  Lost forever.

At this time I just started laughing like a crazy person. Just wondering what this little person could have been thinking. Age 2 is my favorite.
Maybe it got stuck under the railing and fell in?
Maybe, but the story I got was that he threw it.
He was pretty upset to learn we could not retrieve it.
I just picked him up and we walked together all the way back to the car.

And the whole time he was either telling or requesting the story of the little boy who threw his shoe into the ocean. The end.

Now, onto the pictures