Sunday August 16th, 2020

The exercise:

Write about a: misadventure.

Because it's still an adventure!

(On the drive to the campsite we were briefly stuck in a ditch. I did a dumb, don't ask. Several kind passersby helped us get out of said ditch. I suspect it will be the main story of the trip for the boys for quite some time.)

Wednesday March 18th, 2015

The exercise:

Write about: the adventure.

Because Max is very much into declaring things like 'It's an adventure day!' these days. Also: whenever we're on a playground and there is a steering wheel to be found, he will spin it and say 'We're going on an adventure day!'

Speaking of playgrounds, we took Max and Natalie to our favorite local park this afternoon. It was a ridiculously nice day for this time of year - if I'd been just a little more confident in the temperatures away from our deck I would have been in t-shirt and shorts. As is, I grabbed a sweater (which was left in the car the whole time) and went with t-shirt and jeans.

The kids enjoyed climbing and swinging and the usual assortment of fun, but of course we ended up on the beach throwing rocks into the lake:

I had a good time too, running into a few parents and children we know. But the period when Kat was off buying groceries and I was left in charge of two toddlers was... challenging.

Mine:

In the end, it was Daniel who asked the question that officially marked our outing as an adventure.

We'd left home shortly after sunrise that morning, venturing out into the woods that bordered the southern edge of our town. Our bags were stuffed full of food and water - we weren't idiots, despite all other indications - and a cloudless sky looked down on us.

The trails we followed had been beaten flat by countless animals, both large and small, predators and prey. It wasn't long before the trees blocked the nearest houses from sight. That was my favorite part of all our treks, that sense that we were the only three people on the planet.

We didn't talk much. I don't know about the others, but I honestly felt like I had nothing useful to say. I'd rather listen to the birds and the wind playing with the leaves. So that's what I did. But, eventually, Daniel broke the silence. Someone had to, sooner or later, and it might as well be to confirm the day's activities were absolutely, without question, an adventure.

"Where are we?"