Happy feet

"A wise mother, upon arriving at their spot, first sends the children off to run wild and play and make as much noise as they want."

~Charlotte Mason (Outdoor Life for Children)

I'm pretty sure that after this weekend's adventures, our kids might be convinced that we're the most fun parents ever. See those muddy feet? There's a smile on the face of the little guy above them. A great big I-haven't-spent-a-moment-indoors-all-weekend smile. And his sister has one to match.

We woke the kids up early on Saturday and headed to Starbucks for a special breakfast. All good adventures should start with chocolate milk and scones (and a shot of espresso for the adults never hurts). I twisted Abby's hair into some french braids, a sure sign that we're about to have the good kind of fun, the kind that requires your hair to stay out of your face, and then we hit the road for our big day. We chased ducks, held worms, wandered through the woods, played in mud, splashed in the lake, and cheered daddy on as he explored his new fishing hobby.

After a picnic lunch, the kids made it pretty clear they were ready for some naps, so we headed home, scrubbed them down in a bubble bath, and tucked them in. A few hours later our adventures continued.

We picked up a pizza for dinner and headed to the creek to wander around in the cold water and catch crawfish, which is quickly becoming a favorite evening activity for our kids. Abby likes to pick them up in her hand and threaten Caleb with them, while Caleb prefers to hover above the bucket we keep them in, yelling "Hi, crabs!" and occasionally throwing rocks at them. So while the kids and I were busy scooping up crawfish, Justin put Abby's glittery fishing pole and our leftover pizza scraps to good use and reeled in a whopper of a trout, which we dropped in a bucket and let the kids pet for a while before releasing back into the wild.

And because we had so much fun on Saturday, we repeated the process after church on Sunday. Only this time, we brought the boat.

All in all, the only time we spent inside our house all weekend was naptime and nighttime. So, yeah, it was pretty much the best weekend ever.