Non-manufactured fun

My husband is kind of amazing.  Well....so is my dad....who took many of the following pictures one weekend in which my parents were visiting.  But Craig pretty much gives me a good dose of reality when I need one.  I was sitting on our bed one night last week, feeling a little bit guilty.  Guilty because while it had been a beautiful fall and while we were outdoors constantly, we had yet to go to an apple orchard or pumpkin patch type of place and pay money and let the kids run like crazy for a few hours.  We ALWAYS do this in the fall.  I love it, the kids love it.  It is great family fun.  

But we haven't gotten there this fall.  Instead we have been busy exploring our state parks, spending a lot of time right in our own backyard (or in the state park 10 minutes away from our backyard)

We have been playing on the path, stopping when needed, climbing when desired, sliding on our bottoms down dirt for fun.

Staring at the landscape that has turned red, orange, yellow and brown.

Climbing new peaks in the same county park we usually go to and stopping and staring at this for awhile.

Trying our hand at swinging from nature made vines....

And exploring new state parks

Finding new ledges to stand on and make silly poses on.

We have hiked miles this month, skipped rocks, seen hundreds of beautiful trees, tried some mountain biking, taken night walks with flashlights and glow sticks, jumped in leaf piles, slid down dirt hills, climbed back up them, giggled, talked, were silent, ran, walked, and were carried through it all.  I literally enjoyed every single adventure we went on while we were out adventuring.  Then, I would come home and after the kids went down I would go online and see all the different attractions in the area and I would start feeling guilty.....guilty for allowing my children to miss out on a piece of childhood, as if going to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard is what makes childhood magical for children.

Craig looked at me after I was done expressing my concern for depriving our children of a true childhood by not taking them to an orchard.  My husband, who has never looked at pinterest, read a blog besides mine or check facebook more than 2 times a month gave me a little much needed perspective.  "Sarah, we had plenty of non-manufactured fun this year, we don't need to plan a family fun time....it has just happened a lot this month....it looks a little different but it is no less fun."  Why oh why do I feel like I need to MAKE things magical for my kids.  Isn't childhood magical enough.  Isn't just spending time with our childhood good enough any more, listening to them, walking with me, letting them play on their own for hours and just being in the next room.  When I let myself compare my life to others I always come up short but when I disconnect from online and step away and give God thanks for how He has made me and my family....I overflow with peace and contentedness.

So we will probably be going to an orchard or pumpkin patch next year.  We usually do and we always walk away enjoying ourselves and the family fun we had that day.  Our October this year was spent a little differently though and looking back on it I would not change it at all.  We had some great adventures, wonderful hikes, lots of family time and a lot of non-manufactured fun.