Long (Healthy) Days Out With the Kids

Today was a typical Sunday for me and my crew (that would be me, the hubby, baby Mia and Daniel). It's somewhat of a process...
A production, actually.

I make everyone breakfast, we all get dressed, and rush out the door to attend church.

Sounds easy, right?

Wrong. Not easy.

You see, church is in New York City, which - on a good day - can take anywhere between 40-60 minutes to get to, then you mustn't forget to tack on another 10 minutes to look for parking. It is a looong day, to say the least.

Most of my Jersey friends think we are crazy commuting into the city on Sundays with a one year old and a five year old. Not to mention, the ridiculously expensive tolls and gas, traffic, and pain-in-the-booty-lack-thereof-parking.

But, we do it for so many reasons. We love our church. We love our family. Our church is family. You feel right at home as you walk in and are greeted with smiles, hugs, and kisses. And yes, sometimes I barely hear the preaching while I'm busy being a mom, but I still feel a sense of peace knowing we are in God's temple.

The commute has now become a part of our family tradition. And although we don't make it in every Sunday, when we do, I become very obsessive about packing the kid's a cooler. I can not go to church without it, and I've made this a part of our new tradition for the benefit of their health.

In our little green cooler, I typically pack drinks, snacks, and lunch.

Here is what we packed today:

1. Raw milk for Mia's bottle
2. Fruitables juice boxes in Tropical Orange
3. Diced up apples (Don't forget to squeeze a 1/2 lemon over top, so that they don't turn brown.)
4. Pasta made with home-made sauce of pureed squash, butter, and milk. You can find the recipe, in my recipes section. (To keep food warm, I always use a Foogo thermos, which you can find almost anywhere. We purchased ours from diapers.com.
5. Wheat crackers

So although our little tradition is a production, I feel good knowing there are ways to keep long days a little healthier just by adding a few new additions, like our little green cooler!

xoxo, Mari

Live Marvelously.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. 

(Aristotle)

There are certain memories from my childhood that are a blur and yet others are so crystal clear its as though I just lived that moment.

The scenic picture above was from a vacation hubby and I took to Puerto Rico in 2006. Two years pre-babies. If you've ever been to Puerto Rico, you'll know that to get across town, you typically have to travel across at least one of many winding or hilly roads. It's along these roads that you can look to your left or your right and see scenery like this. 

Although Puerto Rico has become much more commercialized over the past two decades, I vividly remember my stays there as a kid. I would spend my summer vacations in a small town called Trujillo Alto, with my grandmother Abuelita or my aunt and uncle, Titi Lucy and Tio Manuel. My sneakers and jeans would quickly find a home underneath the bed and get replaced with much more convenient flip flops and cotton shorts. 

I remember life was simpler then. I would spend my days with my cousins climbing trees, hunting down mangoes, or racing to the river behind Tio Manuel's property. Sometimes we would sneak into my neighboring uncle's property and feed the pigs on his farm. We had fun. We lived. I also remember never playing video games or watching TV. Nature surrounded us and everything we did. 

On some days, Tio and Titi would make arrangements to take us to a nearby stream to swim for the day. I remember how cool and refreshing the water was. How the large, slippery rocks would transform into our water slides. Or sometimes we would go to the local beach and spend the day building sand castles, resting from the moments we were skipping through the clear, blue ocean waves. On special days, Tio would take me to the nearby brook to bottle water for the next few days. We would wait our turn under the almond tree. As we waited, Tio would crack the fallen almonds with a rock and we would share our treat.

In Puerto Rico, I lived differently. Closer to nature. Life was simple but balanced. Time didn't exist. We let the sun and the daylight lead our days activities. It was peaceful. Marvelous. It was through these moments as a child that I learned to appreciate nature. Live with nature. 

My hope is that somehow my children will get to live and love nature in our busy hustle bustle New Jersey life. That somehow, we can sift through the commercialism and find nature. That we take the time to visit a NJ farm. Get around to plant our garden. Or organize ourselves enough to go on hikes on a nearby trail. My goal is that we take the time to be in nature. Live with nature... and live marvelously.