Wet Wednesday

For our second weekly Wednesday Afternoon Adventure I decided to do something a little more mellow than last week. I was exhausted from bakfietsy-ing the kids to and from school (more on that soon) and taking them out to lunch (Zeb was overtired and Jaz had to poop--never fun in public), and was actually pretty close to deeming the Wednesday Afternoon Adventure plan the "shortest-lasting tradition ever," but the boys made me rally. I decided we'd stick to something flat and where my involvement could potentially be limited to sitting down and watching. The place I decided upon, "Amethyst Brook" in Amherst, was the perfect choice. There are all sorts of fun paths through the woods and bridges over the brook. I envisioned games of pooh-sticks and nature treasure hunts. Things didn't go exactly as I'd imagined they might.

The trails were lovely and inviting, and the kids were running ahead in no time. Lukas managed to run right into a big pile of dog poo pretty much right away, which was unfortunate, but he also managed to not totally fall apart about it (despite the fact that he was wearing new shoes), which was great (although I still had to spend about 10 minutes trying to scrape the poo off his shoe). We then came to the first bridge, which was just as glorious in the kids' eyes as I hoped it would be. They didn't stay on the bridge for long, though. The water was even more exciting than the bridge.


Things then quickly went from dry to wet. Despite the relatively mild weather (I was wishing for a sweatshirt), and the freezing water temperature, there was just no keeping the kids out of the river.

What began as a careful investigation, quickly escalated to three soaking wet boys. Zeb was the first to fall in. Then Luke and Jaz took their shoes off so they could "go a little deeper."


Before I knew it, they were up to their knees. And then Luke fell in. And then he asked, "since I'm already wet, is it okay if I get wet?" and both he and Jaz ended up on their bellies in the middle of the river, playing some sort of surfing game.

Once everyone was sufficiently numb, we left the water and checked out the nearby attraction of a fallen tree before heading for home.

As we walked out to the car, I had to drop the 3 pairs of wet and muddy shoes, and the 3 pairs of wet and muddy socks, and Zeben's wet and muddy pants on the ground so that I could take a couple pictures of my Adventuresome Trio in the most amazing pre-sunset lighting.

I did not, however, decide to capture the moments that followed once we reached the car and I had to buckle 3 wet and muddy (and hungry and tired) kids into their car seats and take them to Whole Foods because we were entirely out of food and needed to buy dinner (and because, of course, whenever I have 3 wet, muddy, hungry, tired, partially pantsless and shoeless kids with me, I think "wouldn't this be a great time to go grocery shopping?"). Zeben cried and screamed the entire time we were in the store, and Luke and Jaz whined about all the things I wouldn't let them buy (breakfast pastries were at the top of the list), and I somehow managed to buy $18.00 worth of mashed potatoes from the hot bar (which made ME cry once I realized it in the car), and all in all I did not feel especially lovely about our second attempt at this new Wednesday tradition.

But I'm not giving up yet. Because I like traditions. And because I need a chance to do it all over again in a much more prepared state (with towels and 3 changes of clothes and dinner ready and waiting at home). And because I like having an Adventuresome Trio. Even when they make me carry their muddy shoes.