Mother Nature + This Mother's Nature

If you don't know me and you read this blog, you might think I'm an outdoorsy girl.  If you know me and you read this blog, you know that isn't true.  I could never get totally comfortable with the outdoors.  It's always too hot, cold, wet, dirty, muddy, messy.  Don't get me wrong, there are things about it I find enjoyable, beautiful, and majestic, but that was on the rare occasion and usually had to do with being in exotic places.

But being a mama to these two boys means you have to get down and dirty.  They want to dig, break, climb, poke, run, jump, smell, and touch it all.  I'll admit it was a difficult time at first, when it was just BB.  I told him not to touch things all the time.  I steered him away from these types of activities because I couldn't take it.  As time went on his desire for nature wore on me and when DD came along and I realized again how much he liked to be outdoors as well, the strong force of those united two made me change my ways.  Now I find ways to get them outside to see and touch dirty smelly things.  Not only that.  I love it.  I love seeing things through their eyes and I've given myself over to that kind of curiosity and passion for discovery.

So on the first day of 2011, our little family made our way to Great Falls, the Virginia side.  (Remember our previous outing to Great Falls in Maryland?)  We climbed vines, jumped on rocks, broke bark off trees, found a stick that looks like a bone, broke ice (again) with our hammers and mallets, saw a family of deer race by, hid inside a tree, played with antlers, and touched feathers.  This is very much my nature.