Adventure Awaits

In our family, we love adventure. It seems like we have created a family culture that loves finding adventure in small things and even finding creative ways to make the small adventures large. When Erica and I got married and started talking about our family culture one thing we agreed upon was that neither of us had a desire to create or sustain big family events that needed to be constantly outdone in order for the kids to have fun. Some families are able to pull this off as a family culture and that is completely awesome. For us, we knew that it wasn’t sustainable. Here are some of the fun adventures we have been doing as well as some upcoming adventure.

Walks in the Neighborhood

Erica and the kids are resuming their regular walking schedule now that the weather is “cooling off” around here. Jonah LOVES going on walks. He looks around and takes in the environment. I’m not sure we really know what he’s watching, but we know he logging observation of everything in our neighborhood. He is particularly good at spotting dogs from a great distance and then excitedly points and shouts “DAW, DAW” and then imitates them by saying “WOOF, WOOF.” It brings great joy to us to see him get so excited about seeing a dog. Nicole gets in on the action too knowing that he gets excited.

Trip to PetSmart

Knowing Jonah’s excitement for dogs, we recently ran some errands to Target and a nearby dollar store. At the end of the strip mall, there is a PetSmart so when Nicole and mommy went shopping at the dollar store, Jonah and I went to PetSmart. He was SO excited to see all the dogs. He pointed, woofed and smiled at every aisle as we saw many different kinds of dogs. Shortly after, Nicole and mommy showed up so that we could show Nicole what a Guinea Pig looked like. They had been reading a book that had a Guniea Pig reference so we were able to show her. Of course, while we were there we looked at the noisy birds and the pretty pink fish. What excitement for a little girl to see that God created a fish in her FAVORITE COLOR!

Nicole and Jonah trying out a chair at Home Goods while mommy shopped for a picture frame.

Finding a New Park

A friend posted a photo of his favorite running park on social media and it looked like something from a land far away. It was a wide boardwalk through a tall forest and it looked so peaceful. We looked it up and discovered that it was less than a half-hour from our house. On a recent day off we packed up the kids and the stroller and went to this park to take a nice long walk. What a beautiful find. Nicole walked for over a mile of it (she sure was tired later in the day) and Jonah took in so much surrounding that he too was tired. Of course, we saw our fair share of dogs and birds so the adventure carried into that fun morning adventure. 

Nicole and Jonah checking out the weeds they pulled from the cracks of the driveway.

Discovering the Ocean

One thing that we forget about our home in Texas is that we are just a few hours from the ocean. We have been talking for a while about taking the kids to see the ocean and we have finally set our date. In a few weeks, we will take off for Galveston right after church and spend the night at a Holiday Inn right next to the ocean. Nicole is especially looking forward to this short trip. Erica and Nicole have purchased beach toys (shovel and buckets) to make a sandcastle. They have also checked out a book from the library about the ocean. Nicole is excited to swim and dig for crabs, lobsters, and seashells. We are excited to join them in their fun.

We love adventures in our family. They may be small but we can make them big. They are simple but we can add so much dimension to them. I’m thankful that both of us love creating simple adventures for our family. I’m sure that someday all these tiny little adventures will create memories that will loom large as they reflect on their youth.