making moments

last friday we took a trip to a local nature center. 

we have never gone during the week before, and i was a little worried about there being a lot of kids there on school tours...BUT we were the only ones!! the kids could run and explore everything they wanted to inside of the building and not have to worry. 

we saw bats. snakes. turtles and baby sturgeon. oh, and baby mice or rats...i didn't get close enough to see. BLECH! i seriously almost puked. the girls were all excited. dustin was as well. i stayed far enough away to not see them so much.

then we decided to walk through the trails outside.

it was a beautiful fall day. and all five kids walked and explored. and when someone got tired the stroller was available for relief. 

there is a "fun trail" for kids to explore things...balance beams. tire crawls. rope walks. etc.


as we walked and explored through the woods my emotions were all bejumbled. (yes, i made that word up)

i was filled with joy at watching them explore things. picking up leaves and exploring the moss. looking down into the caves. ((they were covered and locked, but we could see in through a guarded hole)) finding big walking sticks. poking sticks. twigs.

i was filled with their innocence as the explored things as the children they are.

i was filled with a bit of "sadness" knowing moments like these will not last forever.

i was filled with sheer happiness at the sound of their giggles. the sight of their excitement. at the everything.

i snapped as many pictures as i could with my mind's eye.

these are the moments i want to always remember. that i want them to remember.

the moments filled with exploration. innocence. joy. happiness. the moments that really do outweigh the not fun ones. the moments that we'll look back at with fond memories and joy.

the moments i'll be talking about forever.

that i'll be telling their kids about.

because these moments will all too soon, be out of my reach and they'll be making moments with their own kids.