This afternoon I had to drive to town to buy a few essentials: cheese and biscuits, wine and coke. Andy and I are off to our parish’s trivia event tonight, and we need to take along a few things to nibble while we exercise our brains trying to answer the questions.
I wanted to make the most of the 40 minute car journey to town and back, so I decided to turn the routine shopping trip into an adventure.
“Who’d like to come to town for afternoon tea? I’ll buy frozen fruit spiders.” Now frozen fruit spiders are a rare treat so all the girls wanted to come along.
We’ve just returned home. Gemma-Rose came to give me a hug and thank me for an enjoyable afternoon. “I like going on adventures, Mum.” A simple unexpected trip to buy frozen fruit spiders ranks as an adventure in my youngest daughter’s eyes. “Do you remember when we used to go on Wednesday adventures every week?” she asked.
We haven’t been on regular adventures for some time. Have we been too busy, or have I been too lazy, not wanting to go anywhere? It is so easy to let go of good ideas and slip back into ordinariness. Do you ever make resolutions that disappear without you realising?
Now I think adventures shouldn’t be a burden. Simple trips close to home can be just as much fun as complicated, time-consuming, expensive outings. The kids just like going somewhere. They’re really not very demanding.
“How about we go running at the lake early one morning next week? We could take our breakfast with us and eat it afterwards.” This would make a change. We usually run down the bush tracks at the end of our road.
“We could take a portable breakfast,” said Gemma-Rose. “Portable… I do like that word!”
By this time Sophie had joined us and she said, “Do you remember you promised to take us on a bush walk before barbequing sausages for lunch? We haven’t done that yet.”
Yes, the day we planned that adventure, a wild wind blew up and I had promised to take the girls ‘another day’.
Only 5 minutes’ drive away there is a track that falls steeply through the bush, ending at a cave. It’s an easy walk down and a strenuous climb back. But the promise of sausages will keep us all moving along. Back at the car park, there are gas barbeques. A few sausages bought at the village store will make a delicious feast. A cheap and simple outing, an enjoyable adventure.
Now my mind is busy thinking of other possibilities.The adventures don’t have to be particularly educational. I have found that some of our best learning experiences come from just being together, doing simple things with lots of time for talking about whatever crops up. Maybe a trip to the playground, scooting around the lake, walking to the park with our lunch, cycling along the tracks, taking our cameras or drawing equipment and going somewhere interesting, eating ice cream anywhere… Yes, I think we will resume our regular adventures.
Tonight’s trivia night will be an adventure for Andy and I. We’ve never been to one before. Will we be a useful addition to our team? A teacher and a homeschooling mother… Wouldn’t it be funny if we can’t answer any of the questions? Whatever happens we can still eat the cheese and biscuits and sip wine. It should be a good night, an adventurous night.
Adventures… do you go on adventures too?
Adventures. That is what we do. We are hardly ever at home. Lately though I have been feeling like a bit time at home would be nice. Some time to just relax. Some time to actually sit on the couch. When is the last time I sat on our couch? Probably when he had the evaluation visit from the OT and I had to sit down and answer questions.
I hear stories of our homeschooling friends sitting down to watch movies. More than one even. Now my son is not into screens and movies at all and more than one movie sounds too much for me. But maybe one? I would definitely love sitting down to read. I LOVE reading and it would be nice to sit down with a cup of tea or hot carob to read in peace…..Hmmm…Now I do not want this to be my every single day routine. But for me, this would be a nice change. One I need to plan into our week. I guess just us our friends plan their outings and adventures, I could plan a day at home. It sounds nice.
Now there is only one more thing I really want to know. What in the world are frozen fruit spiders?
Calla,
I’d forgotten about this post! It was good to reread it and remember our adventure days. At the moment, we have to slip our adventures into the odd moments of free time in between my girls’ work shifts and their other commitments. We still stop by the lake or go for a bush walk or have a picnic or go on a photo shoot as often as we can, but we no longer have lots of long free empty days to fill with adventures. I miss those days!
It sounds like you go on lots of adventures!
A frozen fruit spider is a frozen fruit drink with a scoop of ice cream added to it!