The first stop was the playground. The kids had a ball playing freeze-tag and going up the slide. There are two types of parents at the play ground. Ones who insist that the slide is only for going down. Any other use of the slide is dangerous and non-conformist and could be a step toward teen delinquency. And then there's me, "Go ahead. Go up the slide. Give it a try. Use those feet and those legs and do something unconventional. You might not even be able to do it, but give it a shot. Just make sure that there's no one below you. Or at least make sure that the person below you can take the hit when you crash back into them." I'm one of those kind of parents. I think that kids learn a lot about social situations when they have to figure it out for themselves instead of having Mom orchestrate everything for them all the time. "Go ahead. Go up!"
The kids had a lot of fun and got thirsty, so each got a bottle of water to refresh themselves and rehydrate for our hike. Pioneers Park has a fantastic statue of a Native American sending smoke signals that has been at the park since 1935. It is currently in restoration mode. It's on the top of a big hill and we hiked up to get a closer look. I was very excited that my kids were getting an education on this bright and shiny Spring Break day. They were learning about sculpture, Native American and Nebraskan history, and Grant (being the one who can read) picked up a couple of new words that some jerk decided to carve into the back of the statue.
As we hiked back down from the statue, we made note of some of the cool stones that were around the statue. I couldn't remember the name of the type of rock and wished my dad was with us, because he for sure would know. (One of the reasons why it is so much cooler to "explore" with Grandpa). Grant decided he wanted to sample some of the stone so he poured out the water from his water bottle and scraped up some of the stone and put it in. A specimen for later analysis. He called it his "Bottle of Amazing."
The next task was to keep our eyes out for more things to put into the "Bottle of Amazing." Things that we just thought were really cool that could fit into a water bottle. We hiked around the statue looking for something small and interesting. We found a couple of used lollipop sticks. A cigarette butt (not so amazing). Pinecones galore. And then we headed to the pond. Algae is perfect to put into our Bottles of Amazing. The challenge was how to get it into the bottle without getting our new shiny shoes from Target(Mia) all covered in mud. ($14 right out the window.)
As we were leaving the park, mud-encrusted shoes, algae all over our hands, dirt in our hair, we held our Bottles of Amazing proud in our hands. Discoveries made on a sunny day in March. Things captured in a bottle that, for a moment in time, we wanted to know more about. Things we found amazing.
What would you put in your Bottle of Amazing? Look around. What would you like to capture and know more about? What would you like to investigate and keep close to you? Things in life that we might not usually notice because of how busy we get with work and bills and errands and life. Keep in mind, you might get your shoes dirty and the things you put in there may have to be pretty small. Unless of course, you have a really big bottle.
Duuuude! I wanna hike at YOUR park! I recently picked up ancient limestone fragments, near where dinosaur tracks were discovered after a flood. I sent them to my goddaughter in MN.
ReplyDeleteAnytime I pick up a penny, I note the year. I recall a good memory from that year, and with whom I made that memory. Someone told me long ago, "a thought of love of someone is a prayer."
Time spent outdoors with your kids (and grand kids) is priceless. I wish I had done more. I wish I could do more.
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