A Little Bit of Adventure

I started out today wanting adventure. We've been couped up inside for the past couple of weeks rearranging rooms again and I was dying to be outside, to explore, to find something new and to experience nature. The rooms are finally functional and mostly organized, it was the start of a new week and I was ready to do something exciting or atleast different than cleaning, sorting and moving furniture.

First off, not all the kids were as enthusiastic about adventure as I was. Some would've been content to just stay home and others wanted to be out, but not necessarily outside. After much debate and discussion we decided to go to a very touristy area of the beach that we rarely go to and have never really explored. It offered something different, some shopping areas and still, the great outdoors......so of course, it started raining. On to plan B. We settled for wandering around Toys r Us to get some Christmas ideas. Not exactly a wild outdoor adventure, but it would have to do.

We explored Toys r Us for awhile and did find some really cool stuff and lots of Christmas inspiration. My middle daughter had me take pictures of all the things she liked. There were a lot. She also found a really cute bug playground that she bought with her allowance.

My son found an accordion that he wandered around playing and I enjoyed finding a selection of non-plastic toys that don't light up, talk or play music that I might like for the baby. Nothing against plastic toys with batteries but do they ALL have to be?

After Toys r Us and a quick rest to feed the baby and eat some sandwiches we had packed, the sun finally came back out. Instead of going home, we decided to turn another way and see what we ran into. So, we were getting mildly adventurous. We stopped at a park we hadn't been to in a long time. The kids climbed a rock "castle" that they like, while I watched some raccoons and took a few pictures.

We took a very short-lived nature walk through some trails. Since not everyone was happy to be there, it wasn't quite as spectacular as I was hoping for, but it was still fun.

We thought this log looked like an alligator......

 Exploring the mangroves

On the ground, all around the mangroves were little crab holes. We'd see them move out of the corner of our eyes but as soon as we'd look they were gone.

 HIDDEN PICTURE

He blends in really well but if you look in the very center of the picture, you'll see a little brown crab

After that, we headed to the pet store to purchase another replacement mouse for my daughter, her only requirement for the day. Then, with a little mouse carrier buckled into the backseat of our van, we headed home. It was not the amazing outdoor adventure I had envisioned. There was some rain and grumpiness and arguing, but it was still a nice day, filled with many good moments.