It’s gonna be tough to put my Lost Planet experience into words….so pardon my ineptitude. I splurged on ‘summer’s end’ and decided to hitch a ride with 2 fabulous women, 2 fabulous 2 year olds, and a red mini van (fabulous in that it was our trusty locomotion) en route to The Lost Planet. We drove 2 long days with 3 toddlers and 3 moms from our dairlyland mecca – and arrived with nary a complaint. The kids were awesome on the drive. Blue and I flew back home so that we could greet Waffles off the plane from Honduras (see previous post!). 5 days of splurge. That’s what it was.
S called both the drive and the visit “superneurospastasticaly amazing!” I wholeheartedly agree! The Lost Planet is a magical place in all ways. Yet, somehow Mindy, Baldwin, and Dew Drop manage to outshine the amazing beauty of their space with their own amazing luminescence. I can’t even find a way to articulate the “kick assness” of this family.
You want to see it in pictures? Feast your eyes on THESE!
(Daily walk to the river – dogs and kids alternately leading the way – look closely and you’ll see a cooler in the bottom of the stroller – there is NOTHING like a cold one on a hot Virginia day in the river)
(Goats!)
(Hammock time on the porch with super dog “Mojo”)
(Playdough party time with a full house!)
(Bathtime with T – yes, this is an outdoor claw foot tub -so COOL!)
(Dew Drop used the soccer ball to take some liberties with touching Blue a little more than he usually tolerated – way to go DD!)
(Go ahead and TRY and get all the kids in one place – and Free Tibet while you’re at it!)
(G is a super story teller! She’s practically a tight rope walker too….)
I could post a gazillion pictures. Maybe I’ll put up some more images of their gorgeous handbuilt house, or the amazing views from the yard, or a video of our rousing round of “Happy Birthday” for S. Maybe I’ll feature some of Mindy and Baldwin’s creative style and lovely art, or maybe I’ll post 1/2 dozen little video clips of kids feeding chickens, Blue and Baldwin harvesting in the garden, and Baldwin playing his ukulele and singing his memorable rendition of “Run to the Potty” with a room full (I counted 6!) of 2 year olds. Maybe I’ll write about the amazing gathering of moms plus Baldwin 🙂 , the 6 toddlers and a 4 year old play day, or the delicious fresh egg breakfasts we ate every morning. I could add details about how Blueberry LOVED the chickens and spent endless hours collecting the ‘inedible” tomatoes to feed them. He even cradled his own egg side by side with Dew Drop and safely delivered the egg to Nanni’s egg carton. There was the day we all spent on the porch in various states of relaxing in the hammocks. I might be tempted to tell the truth and share how much trouble Blue had going to bed at night, and how over many nights 2-3 hours of bedtime effort deflated my energy and created both frustration and insight. I probably would include some gushy details about how much I love Mindy and admire her gentle and nurturing voice in all that she does, and I’d have to add how Baldwin matches her grace and gentleness with his own unending energy and delightful tenderness. There is more to say and a lot of ways to say it….
For the moment I’m going to just soak it all in one more time and anticipate a return. Because believe me , The Lost Planet and I are just getting to know each other!
Under The Acacia Tree 