Journey Through The Snow

So last month, like I promised we would do, Andi and I took the kids to the park to have an adventure with the snow. To our surprise though, we stumbled upon a bunch of ducks. Growing up near fast-flowing creeks in a town far, far away from duck ponds and everything else, I have honestly never seen ducks during the winter. There happened to be a goose too though, sneaking around and trying to be a duck! He seemed to blend in pretty well. And the kids enjoyed seeing the ducks. Too bad we didn't bring any bread though for the ducks to feed off of.

There were a lot more ducks than there are pictured here... There were probably a good hundred more behind me, quacking away.

Bee, staring off into the distance. She's awfully brave when it comes to the ducks. Her brother doesn't try to pet them like she does. In fact, he stays away from a lot of "dangerous" situations. Sometimes, I'm glad that he does... because sometimes I'm afraid of Bee getting bit by a duck or hurting herself in some other way! But I have to let them explore, right? So I just bite my lip and let her do her thing...

By the way, in case you're wondering, I don't like to go near ducks... or big white farm geese. I've heard too many stories of them being mean. So the zoom is my best friend here!

After we spent a little time near the creek there in the park with the ducks, the kids decided that they wanted to go to the playground. Which was a good half a mile away. Through the snow. I'm sure we could've used the pathways to get there, but we thought this would be a good opportunity to teach them a lesson about perseverance and working to get things that you want--that not everything is easy! I know some are thinking that they're too young for this... but to be honest, they were very proud of themselves.

Matschi only fell down once. Bee... well, she fell down a lot. Probably because her legs are a bit shorter than her brother's. He made it to the playground just fine, but it took Bee quite a bit of time. We had to keep encouraging her, and even when Matschi and I had reached the playground, he turned around and started shouting at her that she could do it, that she didn't have much farther to go. All that from a four-year-old boy!

And in the end, Bee pushed herself. She was very determined to finish and get to where her brother was. I must say that after all of this... they try whenever they do things now instead of complaining that they can't. Which is very good. We want them to think that they can do anything no matter what!