This week my mom and brother are visiting us, so we are trying to find adventures we can go on together. Normally, I don’t venture down to the river with the girls by myself because it’s tough to hold onto them when they all want to explore different things. But today we tackled it well three kids to three adults. A one to one ratio was really nice! Scott had to work so he couldn’t come this time, but we brought him a milkshake later on, so that made him happy.
Exploring our environment and learning about where we live is so invigorating. We live very close to the river, and love to go sit on the pier near the marshy waters and watch the water as the fish jump and the dolphins and pelicans hunt them. Today we didn’t see any dolphins, but the pelicans flew around in search of their lunch and we got to watch them for a while, as we felt the warm breeze on our faces and smelled the marsh in the air.
Willow has always been the climber and she was drawn instantly to the rocks with Chloe right behind her. I remember climbing rocks as a kid. When we visited my grandparents we would climb these huge rocks across the street from their house—rocks way taller than I was. I loved it! I would imagine all kinds of wonderful adventures I was having. I picture my kids doing this too. Boy can they imagine! I love hearing them play together or alone, making their toys talk to each other or get into mischief. Today the older girls both got to climb the rocks, jumping, laughing, and working really hard!
My brother even did some climbing today to retrieve a really cool conch shell that had fossilized. It sparkled in the sunlight and when he brought it back we saw that it had geodes forming on it. So cool! (thanks, Bro!)
This was such a fun day, although quite exhausting, and a good reminder of how simple (and free!) it can be to enjoy yourself and the ones you love. Nothing expensive is necessary to achieve this. Just being a part of the natural environment around us is quite enough and very satisfying! I am thankful that my girls are being raised to appreciate this gift and that they remind me of it every day.
