lesson learned

"Look, I don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive you've got to flap your arms and legs, you've got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you're not alive." Mel Brooks"

I got to spend some time with family this weekend in Whitesburg. My three nieces, Whitney, Brooke and Lexie were getting a little bored on Sunday so I decided to take them out on a little adventure...and give a mama (my sister) a much needed break. So we hopped into the box and went down the road to the lake where I learned to swim.

I wondered how much fun they would have since they didn't actually have bathing suits and wouldn't be able to swim. What was I thinking?! I had clearly forgotten what it was like to be a kid and have the ability to find (or create) some fun where ever you might be.

The girls excitedly took their shoes off ran into the water. They waded into the water and it didn't take long until that got boring. So Lexie was the leader in coming back closer to the shore. She proceeded to jump over these small waves with such joy and excitement. I swear, you would have thought it was Christmas morning. So of course Whitney and Brooke heard and saw how much fun she was having so they came and joined in. I looked down the beach a few minutes later and there were kids all down the beach jumping little baby waves. They clearly set a trend.

Well that got old (and tiring) about 10 minutes later. So their next adventure was finding beautiful little shells and rocks in the water. Here Lexie is showing some of her early finds. They searched for the smallest, biggest, most colorful and distinguished rocks in the lake. Each find was a "Oooh, look at this one!" And they would gather round and admire, then heads back down, scouring for the next find.

Every time I'm with these girls I'm reminded of the simple joys of life and it always instills in me the belief that there is really never an excuse to be bored. I mean really.... aren't there always waves to be jumped and beautiful rocks to be discovered? And I think it's funny and interesting to think about just how much there really is to learn from the little ones of the world.

I hope you all had a joyous weekend. :-)