Trees are super fun son.  There is something about them that has always amazed me.  Your mama and I really started to notice their beauty more recently, maybe its just us getting older.  So here it is our first message, climb a tree son.

This particular tree is one just down the road from where we live.  It truly is amazing.  A tree can tell a million stories when you think of how old they are. This one has been braced so it’s obviously experienced some tough times – just like we all do.  And just like this tree, sometimes we need a little help to ‘keep it together’.

Already we’ve had some fun adventures walking down to this tree and playing around it.  We’ve pretended that Shrek lives here and so we go hunting and try to find him. One side is his bedroom, another side is his kitchen.  When your cousins have come down for holidays you’ve all had fun climbing this tree.  Oh the tales of adventures it could tell I’m sure.

When I was young I can remember the challenge of climbing a tree.  I didn’t need to get to the top (although that was always awesome!)  I just wanted to do something that I could tell was hard.  That’s something I’ve noticed with life, and the challenges that present themselves and how challenging yourself can really help you grow.

Often in life, people will tell you ‘don’t climb that tree, you might hurt yourself’.  But to be honest son, if you want to give it a go, then go ahead and do it.  Yes you might hurt yourself, but you might just need to readjust your path and take another route.  Nothing worth doing in life ever comes easy my boy.

Mama and I are climbing a new tree now.  Standing up, looking at the journey ahead of our whānau (family).  It’s exciting buddy!

Papa