l e t g o.

the redwood forest, it's where we live. backyard, front yard, side yard, neighborhood. having said that, a revelation that we used to frequent the beach, well, more frequently came to mind recently so i pondered over a cup of tea the decrease. what i discovered is this: planned activity. our beach adventuring turned into "lets go tide pooling," "let's go hunt for sand dollars," "let's go swimming," "let's go build the biggest sand castle known to man," "let's go jump waves," "let's go build with drift wood," "lets go find sea glass." it used to be this: "let's go to the beach!" period [or exclamation point, really] and we'd go to the beach and see what came our way, if anything other than the sea mist on our face and the grain through our fingers. finding a few activity became subconsciously daunting which in turn decreased our beach adventuring. one of my new years resolutions is to make going to the beach a habit. period. no strings attached. just go to the beach. in doing so thus far, no activity planned [of course this would happen] our time spent has been much more fulfilling. so in lieu of dropping activity/expectation on the wayside, i thought i'd bring that home. while on a walk with clover [our golden retriever/belgianshepherd] the other day i saw a spot i thought would be really fun for us to explore a little more in depth, possibilities endless, exploration being key, open to whatever comes our way here in our neighborhood, backyard, the redwoods. the girls were up for the adventure so off we went with clover in tow. the place i spotted was 'eh', bank too high along the creek and creek too deep in that spot for winter water playing, so we moved on and the girls found an area in a closed off campground [ie. no people, no cars, no noise, only us] that was perfect. we made ourselves comfortable immediately, i with the handy dandy crazy creek chair, some knitting needles, and ball of yarn; and the girls already set with their wellies and sense of adventure. they were french chef's for the longest time setting up a whole restaurant and prepping the food for the millions. they sailed fern boats a ton of the time and mostly i don't know what they were doing because they were off in a magical land, each their own and simply being. happy. adventuring. it wasn't until hours later when elli felt a spider crawling up her leg inside her boot that the afternoon started to unravel. spiders to elli, just like ron weasly, are her phobia. after some tears, deep breathing and courage she was able to get her boots back on, and prepare to trudge back. that is when N.I.X was found. a new land they discovered. it's amazing to me how a flooded area with a tree down becomes something so quickly between these three, and how intertwined their imaginations are. it started to get dark, we made our way home and couldn't wait to got back the next day and introduce their good friend to their new land [in which their good friend jumped right in on the play of N.I.X the land of nymphs]. oh what a little letting go of expectation can do, everyone should give it a try and i'd bet freedom and maybe even a little new joy might surface right there at home.

photos from our adventuring can be found over on our flickr site. enjoy!