Salt Springs State Park

On Sunday, Jason took Nick and I to Salt Springs State Park in PA. It's not that far from where we live, maybe a 30 minute drive... if that. It's a cute little state park with lots of hiking. They have hiking trails, as well as the creek with some waterfalls that you can climb.

We decided to go on a hiking trail first to see penny rock. I know! How perfect?! Unfortunately Jason forgot to mention that there was such a rock until we were in the middle of our hike. We found the rock and I was amazed in the pennies!!



I'm not sure what made them curl up like that, unless the people hammer them in. Jason and I said that we'll have to go back soon and bring a penny and a little hammer.




After we were done with the hiking trail, it took us to the top of the creek where the waterfalls start. So instead of climbing up the waterfalls, we climbed them down. It was so beautiful!! There were even little dragonflies flying around.



From penny rock to the dragonflies, this whole trip I thought of Aurora. I thought about how we could have taken her on the hiking trail and carried her down the waterfalls. We could have let her play in the water. I would have took so many pictures.

I can't wait to go back.

August 19th - Day of Hope

I was away on vacation and I am now finally getting the chance to write about August 19th - Day of Hope.



Last year, the day of hope made memory boxes to take to hospitals. Sometimes you are not prepared when you enter the hospital to hear that your child had died.. and sometimes you are unaware that your healthy baby that was just born, has died. These memory boxes hold small tokens that express that you are not alone.

This year, I could not find a thing about the memory boxes. However, I still made a memory box in honor of August 19th - Day of Hope.



I was so happy with the card I made, it's very simple... but the paper had dragonflies!!!





I hope this box never makes it into the hands of a person. But the reality is, that it will. I then hope, that this box will give someone comfort in knowing that they are not alone.

Penny #38

Thank you for the penny today as we were leaving and on our way home from vacation. That makes one from you on our way up, and back. I'm taking it as a sign you were there with us the whole time. I love you sweetheart.

I would also like to thank you for that dragonfly that landed on dads head today! It reminded me of the day I fell in love with dragonflies.

The Dragonfly

I read somewhere online, a story about a dragonfly and a waterbug. I feel bad that i cannot remember where I found it, but I fell in love with the story. You can find the story here, but if you didn't want to read the whole story i'll tell you what it's about.

ETA: Thank you Betsy! I now remember I saw the dragonfly story at your blog. :)

There was a colony of waterbugs, and everyone now and then they noticed that some of the waterbugs were climbing out of the water and never coming back. One day one of the waterbugs felt the need to climb out, and when he did he turned into a beautiful dragonfly. Although he wanted to go back and tell his waterbug friends all about it, he found out that he couldn't return. Not only could he not go into the water, but his waterbug friends wouldn't recognize him anymore. The dragonfly said he'd see his friends again someday, and tell them all about it then.

The person I had first heard the story from told it so much better, and i fell in love with it. I had read it awhile ago, but didn't really think of it until today. While at my in-laws, for a Fathers Day BBQ, a little dragonfly was fluttering around. It landed on Jason twice, and then flew off and wasn't seen again.

So that, along with the penny.
Which i just realized i had said that Aurora needs to hit him in the face with it, like with grandma.... wow.

Thank you for today Aurora. How can you not take those as signs? How can you not?