Adventure is Out There!!!

We all seem to have different ideas of the word "Adventure."

Last Monday the kids and I went for a VDG adventure and when the kid's school called to find out where they were I told them, "We're having an adventure."

The dear woman (whom I truly think is a kind woman) said,  "A-what?!"

"Adventure." I assured her, "We are on an adventure."

"Okay," she said slowly and like maybe there was a chance I was just a little wacky.

"They'll be back tomorrow. Thanks for calling." I said.

Part of me is incredibly curious what she thought our adventure was.    I mean, did she suddenly envision the Swiss Family Robinson?  Or maybe she thought we were skydiving (my brother did, Saturday, in fact).  As much fun as I have thinking about our family on the adventure she had (perhaps) in her mind, the fact of the matter is that life, to me, is an adventure.

I talked to my school teacher cousin and she said, "M, that may have been what you were doing, but you never say that--you always say something like, "They're okay. They'll be back in school tomorrow."

I just wanted to let her know, in some way, that we were learning together as a family on an outing at a place called the water lab, no less.  That has to sound educational (though it is a little water park).  My kids watched birds play and they learned the life cycle of a lady bug.  Plus, they were once again assured that their mother loves them dearly.  That all counts for an adventure, right?!

When I was growing up my parents would sometimes take us out of school, and we would drive all around Idaho and sometimes other states, for the day and we would get into the woods or on a mountain and my dad would take  us on an adventure, starting a story on the way, pretending we were living it as we went along.  It was delightful.  We would stop at many of the historical sites--you know the signs along the road telling you what happened there or the geological significance of the place.  We lovingly called them "hysterical sites."

My dad would stop every now and then and we would hike into the unknown and my dad and sometimes my grandpa would point out the good or edible plants and tell us to avoid all the poisonous ones.  We saw all sorts of wildlife including rattle snakes. I learned an incredible appreciation for Southeast Idaho and the surrounding areas like Yellowstone Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  There were so many opportunities for learning and my parents wanted me to love all of it.

That's my goal of this summer, though instead of writing about it so much, I plan on making small movies of our adventures in and around NYC.  If you're reading this and interested in joining us or hearing about a certain place in NYC, let me know and we'll add it to our list of places to visit.  I'm really excited about this!