This week my little Atticus turned five years old.  That gives me a little pain in my stomach as I write this.  I remember being sad when he turned three, and have felt a mix of disbelief, joy, and sorrow on every one of my children’s birthdays.

Atticus is the little white haired, comic relief of our family.  He bounces and somersaults his way through life and teeters between being one of  the “boys” and one of the “babies”.  He can socialize with anybody and within a few minutes can make friends with someone, no matter what their age.  He is a master negotiator and can easily solve problems with peers, typically getting his way without the other party knowing they gave in.   He is a worker.  He loves to be doing things with his hands.  He would be happy to be building or working on projects (especially if machinery is involved) all day long.  Watching him makes me exhausted.  He is a lot like my dad, whom he is so fond of.

My father was transferred to Tampa last year and has been living there temporarily to do his job.  He gets home frequently but his time here is quickly filled with obligations of every kind.  We don’t see him as much as we used to and this makes me sad, particularly for Atti.  So, for Atti’s fifth birthday present we decided to give him a weekend to visit his Papa.  Last year Atti’s special gift was a day with Papa working in the shop.  You can read that post here.  It’s hard to believe an entire year has passed! This year my mom and I took him down to Florida for the weekend where he got to be an only child for a few days and spend some fun time with my dad.  We decided to skip the craziness of Disneyworld and instead visited Busch Gardens, the beach, and a day at a local state park where the boys went canoeing.  It was the best trip and here are a few of my favorite pictures from it, from my mom and I.

 This trip was as much of a gift for me as it was for Atticus.  Watching my son grow and sharing some of those experiences with my parents is a treasure.

XO~Kate