Earlier this week I took a trip to the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. I was having a stressfull week and needed some serenity in my life, even for a momemt. The kids were clearly going stir crazy because it's been too cold to play outside, and lets face it, I don't really like to go outside in the winter anyway. So I decided that we should go somewhere without a time limit, without rules, and without any cares. So what better place than my favorite place, Saugatuck Dunes. I know what you are thinking, how can that be peaceful if you have to drag 2 small kids along, when one can hardly walk in his snowsuit? Call me crazy, but I even took the dog along and invited my sister with her 2 small children as well. We had 4 kids under the age of 4 with us and a dog. I was very proud of myself for even remembering to bring my camera along.
So when we got there we took some group shots, and right when I was going to ask my sister to take a picture of me with my kids...the batteries fell out of the camera! UGH! No worries, I pulled out my phone and took pics with that...until the battery died!!! Are you kidding??? Luckily my sister had her phone and we got some really cute ones! Anyway, we started our hike down the trails and had a blast.
We found cute places to take pictures and just purely had fun in the stillness of the forest. After we turned around we noticed that Blake had dropped his pacifier somewhere and contemplated turning around to find it. We figured with everything else that had already gone wrong, what's one more thing, right? We decided not to turn around but to keep our eyes open for it on our way back.
You know, it's funny...even through everything that went wrong and could've ruined the trip, I never once felt angry about it. Of course I was upset at first, but I was so happy to be with the people that I love in the place that I love, that NOTHING mattered to me at that point.
We walked, took short breaks, walked some more, played with sticks, tried to climb trees...you name it, it was purely a GREAT time. The trees were beautiful, the air was crisp, and the silence was amazing! You couldn't help but be in a good mood. The kids were troopers too. Nobody whined, cried, or threw fits. It was exactly what everyone needed. Drake too! He LOVES going to the dunes and I just love seeing him so happy.
We even ended up finding Blakes pacifier on the way back. Someone found it and set it on top of one of the trail marking posts. I'd say, for being the middle of the day, right about the time when everyone should have been taking naps, we had some pretty happy kids
I think all in all, every one had a great time! The kids played hard and we went quite a ways.
Needless to say, it didn't take long for them to crash on the way home!
My goal for this year is to remember all of these little things that make my heart smile
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