Friday’s cool, sunny fall weather had me itching to get outdoors, so I planned to do so Saturday afternoon. I wanted to scout out a place for senior pictures, and I wanted to see if I could walk across the Raccoon River — a nearby state park would be perfect for both goals. It looked very dry from the highway earlier this week. Everyone in my house (plus a friend of my younger son) went. Everything was just like we remembered it from the children’s younger days.
Not much has changed in the kids’ behavior since we started visiting this place in 2000. Here was “N” of GAIN today:
Here he was four years ago, same time of year in 2009:
We didn’t visit in 2008 because the park was underwater (or recovering).
As we approached the trailhead to the river, he mentioned that we forgot our magnets. We used them in 2007 when we collected meteorites:
I am very thankful that we began the habit of spending time outdoors with no goal other than being outside when my kids were young. I heard a list of things to do on the radio the other day, and one included lying on your back and looking up at the clouds — being still and realizing the Lord’s vastness and creativity. I can check that one off for today.