Even though I am still enjoying my new job, and I am very happy to be employed doing something I love, there are some weeks I feel I am simply waiting for the weekend. Ever since Tuesday (which is Monday the start of the work and school week for us), my son has been telling me he can’t wait for the weekend. This is because we have big plans to celebrate both my youngest and oldest sons’ birthdays on Roi-Namur. Their birthdays are only two weeks apart, so it just made since because we don’t get to go to Roi very often anymore, and this way, we could all celebrate as a family together. Of course, the boys each have their own separate parties with their friends, but I try to make their time with us extra special around this very important occasion, and on all holidays, vacations, and weekends together to be honest.
In the past, we have set up Geo Caches for each other, where we hunt for our gifts using the GPS and a golf cart to cruise around the island, and the boys loved it! This time we are attempting to create a treasure map and bury their presents to find. Hopefully, the rainy weather we’ve been having lately won’t get in the way. So far all I have is ideas gleaned from the internet on how to create a treasure map that looks 100 years old from everyday household materials as well as tips on how to conduct a treasure hunt for kids, and I don’t know if we’ll use any of that info or not, but the point for me is to create memories and traditions with my kids more than focusing on the actual “treasure” they receive on their birthdays.
I don’t remember what I dressed up for on Halloween when I was a kid, and there are very few birthday or Christmas presents that stand out, but what I do remember are the ways we celebrated special occasions together as a family. Already, my children look forward each year to making Jack-O-Lanterns and roasting the pumpkin seeds from inside, and they look forward to snorkeling and camping trips on Roi, and geo-caching wherever we can discover one. They love to leave reindeer food out and cookies and milk for Santa at Christmas time, and they know that the littlest kids get to hand out the presents from the tree, and we open them youngest to oldest one at a time, so we can all enjoy what was given and received. None of these things are about the material goods of the holidays, but about the fun things we do together, and the traditions we create and pass on to our families generation after generation. Roasting marshmallows and telling stories by the “Friday Night Fire,” which is a tradition of my boyfriend’s family back in Oregon
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