Surf Lifesaving

It is Sunday and I awoke to gale force winds, thunder, and sheets of rain.  It being still dark, I was not eager to jump out of bed anyway, but the thunder kept me deep under the covers.  Felt like a true tropical storm.  Despite the winds, finding sleep here to be much deeper and intense than anytime in SPokane I can recall.  Maybe it is the mental fatigue from work and life, but I fall into bed and don't rise for at least 7 if not 8 hrs later.  Lots of dreams too!  Feels good to sleep like this, to really let the body rest.
Hours later now and with a few cups of tea under my belt, the sun is attempting a showing, the laundry is hanging outside, and Maggie has remained the Go Fish queen yet again!  Darn it, can't seem to dethrone her!
Up early for Sunday to get boys to the local aquatic center for their swim practice for the surf lifeguarding class they are now taking.  (Thanks, Mom, for signing us up for something we don't know anything about or want to do!!)  Yesterday they learned all about waves, tides and such, today they had to try to swim 400 m in under 9" (they will be expected to do this in 3 weeks for their test; my guys finished just over the 9" mark.  Guess we will be doing some swimming coming up here.  Lovely aquatic center so I'm thrilled about going!!)  and will spend some time this afternoon in the ocean swimming and learning rescue techniques.  Next weekend is first aid class.  When all is said and done, assuming they pass the test, they will be jr. patrollers, and can patrol the beach with more experienced guards.  This is a big deal around here and in NZ.  Surf clubs are the center of life in this community in the summer, great gathering place for families, the kids compete in beach related events, patrol, and there is even a group for Maggie to join on Sundays.  I'm still not completely sure what is all entails, but sounds like a good way to meet some folks.  The boys were not thrilled about taking this class, Jack not able to see any benefit, he just wants to learn to surf.  They both are so eager to head out and spend all afternoon boogey boarding and playing in the surf, and it really does seem like benign waters, compared to SF Bay that I grew up swimming in.  But this class will make me feel better about them going out on their own.
Maggie, Lina and I explored some local hot pools here in town yesterday.  We took two other kids along that belong to Dawn Picken, previous news anchorwoman from Spokane, who is also living here now.  There are 13 hot pools in the near by area, all developed at least somewhat, and Fernland, where we went was small, quiet and lovely.  Very relaxing for a rainy day.  Then we hit the local park to burn off some excess energy.

Realized yesterday that I haven't stopped and sat down much or at all since we arrived.  Lina had to remind me of this as well.  Not really a new concept for me, but today deserves some down time.  If nothing else, writing seems to force me to stop and reflect a bit, and thus justifying this blog a bit more!!
Now that we are here and most of the to-dos are done for the moment, hard to recall all those years and months and hours planning to be here.  Does feel like I jumped off a small cliff holding on to these kids and just prayed for a soft landing.  And I'd say we landed very well, still brushing ourselves off a bit, and now just waiting for life to unfold.  Already a year seems like a very short period of time.