A Walk in the Woods

All too often I wake up with a feeling of dread that I haven't done enough for my kids.  What if I'm not hugging them enough?  If I start hugging them more today, they will end up being well balanced, loving adults with happy memories from their youth.  Yes, today I hug my children more often.  

These type of conversations happen nightly in my head.  One night I decide to hug them more.  The next night I decide we aren't reading enough chapter books.  The next night I decide my kids just haven't had enough positive experiences with animals.  

Last night I woke up feeling like my kids just don't get enough woods.  As in forest.  My kids should love the woodland areas.  How/what can I do to provide them with more foresty experiences?  

This is what I think about during 3 am feedings.  

And so today I had to provide a woodland experience for my kids.  What did we do?  Took a walk through the Churchgrove woods.  That's about as daring as I get when Daddy is playing softball.  I wasn't even daring enough to do it by myself.  I called a cousin to help me.  

Step 1:  Strap Wrenn to me.  

We biked the two blocks to the Churchgrove.  Kinda.  Durham was pushed in his bike thingie.  I'm pretty sure Ainsley was peddling on her own at this point, but we've really relaxed with the second child.  Durham is two and a half.  At this age Ainsley was potty trained, peddling her own bike, using utensils, climbing the rock wall in the back yard.  I suppose I should be teaching Durham to do these things right now as well, but I'm no longer in a hurry for them to grow up.  That will come.

 We arrive at the entrance to the path and the kids are off!  I had planned on letting them just run loose, but my cousin the thinker reminded me of poison ivy.  Ugh.  She's such a realist.  Perhaps we should keep them to the path then.

Go, my children!  Explore!  But stay on the path and don't touch any leaves.  

 We were bitten by hundreds of mosquitos.  We got woodchips stuck in our shoes.  Durham saw a volcano.  (It was a tree stump, but he called it a volcano.)  It was woodsy amazingness.

The expression of childhood wonder.  

 Ainsley, of course, wanted to hold Durham's hand and lead him through as if she was in charge.  She's quite the little bossypants leader.

We looked for fairies, wondered at the age of trees, found evidence of native American activity.  You know, just your average walk in the woods.

And it all ended with a few exhilarating moments on the swings.

And then we went home and ate smore dip.  Because what we lack in outdoorsy-ness, we make up for in baking.

Fo sho.