Did You See That Shooting Star?

. . . way way back when we still lived in St. Louis, we had a huge back yard outside of town. When a meteor shower was due to take place I would wake up the kiddos and we would cuddle with sleeping bags in the back part of the yard. We would put out our blankets and grab our pillows. We would all lie down and cuddle together to stay warm while we looked at the stars. The older four all remember. They still talk about how much fun it was. They thought I was such a cool mom because we did this. Imagine lying on the cold ground with your kiddos cuddled up to you, just looking up. You feel like every shooting star is a gift from God (and it is). I treasure most the precious conversations that take place when you have nothing else to do but look at the sky.

My older ones wanted the younger ones to share some of these wonderful memories. We made plans to venture out in 42 degree weather at 3:00A.M. We made 3 gallons of hot chocolate and packed up the blankets. We headed out with everyone except Dad and Jumba. We planned to go to a park close by but they had added parking lot lights.

No friends were around so we drove around trying to find a good spot. We did see another family parked on the side of a dark patch in the road. About 40 minutes after we ventured out we finally agreed on a spot. We unpacked the hot chocolate and laid out the blankets.

I found myself telling the kids to be quiet over and over again. They giggled and laughed the entire time. I was reminded that laughing doesn't keep the stars away. Poor Bagel. She was so tired and very overwhelmed with everything. In the end I am not sure she saw any shooting stars. The rest of us did. It really give a boast to you when you see a star shoot across the sky.

We arrived back home at about 4:30 in the morning. We are all exhausted. I hate being so tired but I love having the new memories to share with the kiddos and the joy in looking forward to doing it again.
We all want to travel more now. We talked about how pretty the stars must be away from all the lights. We hope to see them one day soon. I love all my little stars.