Sunday Sanctuary

I think I've mentioned before how much we love Sundays, and especially that we don't have to get up in the morning for church (since we meet in the evening). Today was another one of those days. We have this canoe that has been hanging in our garage since we bought our house. Kevin and his brother bought it together I don't know how long ago. We've been so preoccupied the last few years with buying and fixing up our house, then we had Elinore,... Well, suddenly Kevin decided he wanted to take it out, so today we did. Elinore has a life jacket now, and she's old enough to obey me if I tell her to "sit down". It was a little difficult getting it in and out of the garage. It is fairly heavy and I am not very tall. We decided not to go too far, so we just went to Windmill Island (about 5 min from our house). It was crazy. We were right in the middle of Holland, but we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. It was so still and quiet, warm sun but a cool breeze. We saw so much wildlife! Herons, egrets, a turtle, fish, ducks, sandpipers, a muskrat, and even some cormorants (birds that dive and actually swim underwater). We saw wildflowers, wild raspberries, cattails, and even tiny wild grapes! It was so much fun, and Elinore was SO good. She just sat in the middle of the canoe, ate her snack, and talked about what she saw.

We're hoping we can get out again next weekend before the weather cools off too much. We'll definitely have to do this more often. There are so many watery places to explore!!