Tiny People Expedition, Citronelle, AL.

Our little expeditions are blossoming.

There's something about picking a random place or direction and just going that just makes you feel..... Free.

The boys are growing at warp speed. It seems like everyday there is something new. Something learned. Something exciting. Sometimes I sit back and think to myself, "I have three kids!" Like some type of revelation that JUST hit me. Not only do I have three kids, but I am the mother to a 6 year old. SIX! Where did that come from?!

I became a mother six years ago.

These little trips we take.... They aren't extravagant. They aren't filled with twisty, brightly colored, metal play structures. They aren't adorned with elaborate toys. They are us. They are us surrounded by new experiences, sunshine, and fresh air.

They are a chance to be together with the freedom to be ourselves.

Our lives are structured 99% of the time. Be here at this time, have this person there at that time. It gets monotonous. It gets monotonous quickly. Especially since my husband is gone to work the majority of the week. The week wears me down quickly nowadays. Chalk it up to the littlest monster who doesn't sleep all that well or the fact that once everything is finally done in the evenings I often collapse for a minute of sleep before the alarm clock is screaming for me to start the day.

Between school and work, baths and dinner... It often seems that there is no time before the beds are calling my little monsters (which, usually sounds an awfully lot like a sleepy tantrum).

These adventures give me some of that precious time back. They give me time with them. Time to watch them growing and changing, which seems to be happening faster and faster. These adventures give me time to hear the crazy jokes and the completely random outbursts. They give me time to hear the non-age appropriate banter. Sometimes their witty comebacks catch me off guard. I often wonder how old their souls are, because 6 and 2 and a half... they are not.

They're getting so big.



Sometimes it seems difficult to squeeze these adventures in.

Then I start thinking about how quickly they have gotten to where they are and how quickly they will decide that adventures with mom aren't as fun as video games with their friends. Or, lord help me, dates with their girlfriends.

For now, I will make time. We will drive aimlessly snacking on junk food from a gas station, and dance on a stage in the middle of a bunch of pine trees, and watch fish swimming below a rickety pier, and laugh at jokes that make absolutely no sense.

Because soon they won't be little boys.