Sedona.

On my mind a lot lately is that I want my kids to have more of an outdoorsy childhood. Living in a city/subarb/whatever makes it hard to roam around, explore, climb trees, and get dirty. I worry if sending Brayden on his bike down the street in our neighborhood by himself to go to piano lessons is safe at all, and go to the park or ride bikes around without a parent is just a no. I hate that its that way but also I feel like you can't be too careful in this world, so better safe than sorry. My kids are sort of acustomed to being inside a lot (mostly when its scorching) and they are becoming total 'city kids' and I don't love it. Anyway, its been on my mind a lot and I came across this quote and it was too perfect not to share: 

"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets, and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education." -Luther Burbank

So with that, I committed to finding and creating more adventures for these boys. More time in nature. More memories that don't involve material things. I knew it would be hard for Jer to get away from his new job, so we put the kids to bed and I started prepping for a day trip to Sedona. We woke them up at 5:30 am and told them to load up in the car and told them we were going somewhere really fun, somewhere they've never been, and somewhere every person needs to visit. We got there by 8 am and went straight to Slide Rock. I read online that if you don't get there right at opening, the parking lot fills and then you're out of luck. Well we were the first and only people there. But it was nice to claim a good spot. When I felt the water, I was a little worried we would just be spectators that day. It was frigid. But, thank heavens for Brayden, he is so good to be up for anything and he went right up to the big slide and went right down. I love that he is so adventurous. And I'm really grateful he is. I thought about how boring it would have been without him there. Kosty and I were perfectly content to sit and watch in the sun. Jer went down a couple times, but Brayden went down over and over. Jer took Kosty down to the swimming hole and did a cliff jump. Kosty wanted to get in and swim so badly but he was afraid of how cold it was. I was shocked when he jumped in. But the look on his face was hilarious and so sad, it took his breath away. Brayden was not letting me get out of there without at least one slide ride. It took me 20 minutes to psych myself into sitting down at the top. Something about freezing water touching your bum/mid section....its painful. The water I compared to if you fell through a frozen lake... but I couldn't disappoint Brayden and he was at the bottom cheering me on. I screamed most of the way down and tried to fling myself out half way through. I was 100% more calm and graceful during labor. But I did it. And Brayden was happy. Phew. 

We had a picnic lunch on the rocks and then headed to Oak Creek Canyon where we spent the rest of the afternoon. It was the most beautiful hike. It was the perfect weather, and the sound of the creek running through was the perfect touch. Kosty found a caterpillar and let him crawl up and down his arms & hands throughout the hike. We also saw a huge slimy slug. I was so happy they got to have that experience, since we just don't have cool creatures like that around here. After the hike, we went into town and had dinner. The waiter was trying to sell the kids on their famous root beer and pitched it with, "its on tap, just like beer for kids!" Brayden was so not happy with that comment.  He filled out the comment card and wrote, "Beer for kids? ugh." HA. Of course, he didn't turn it in because he would never want to hurt feelings. After dinner, we walked around town and went to the fudge shop, where I remember going every time my mom took us to Sedona as kids. It was the perfect day trip, and the kids were so grateful. Brayden hugged me profusely and thanked me over and over even through the next day. He said it was one of his best days ever. I have to agree.