the unplanned pays

Over spring break, we didn't go on vacation. We didn't visit the zoo or the science museum or even go to the park but we did something WAY better! At first we were bummed that for most of spring break it rained. We desperately need the rain as we have been in a drought for over a year and so we couldn't complain but it was still kind of a bummer that it had to arrive while the kids were out of school. So, the first day of spring break the boys and I tried to make the best of the weather and instead of enjoying the great outdoors we built a fort in their room using their bunk bed and a ton of blankets!! We were really having alot of fun!!

 

Then our day got SO much better when Jill called and asked if we wanted to come over and play!! YES!! We love playing with Seth and Gray and, of course, I love visiting my friend Jill. Thankfully I decided to put the boys in their rain boots and we headed over to play. For the first hour or so the boys played video games, watched cartoons and just played with toys in the house. Then Seth and Ashtyn came into the room and asked if they could go outside and play in the rain!? Jill looked at me with that "what do you think?" look in her eye and I said "I don't care!" The boys were so excited! My boys were prepared with their rain boots but we hadn't worn jackets and since it was a bit chilly outside they had to borrow stuff out of Jill's coat closet! Maddox ended up with a jean jacket but Ash had to wear an OU wind breaker that was probably three sizes too big! Ha! But nobody cared...they just wanted to get outside and have fun! At first, Jill and I just stayed inside and watched from the window...but it didn't take long before we too were outside trying our best to keep our cameras dry under the house awning or patio roof and take pictures and videos while we laughed hysterically!!

The boys eventually found this mud puddle in the far corner of Seth's yard and spent quite some time jumping up and down in it getting really muddy!!

 

Then they found something even better!! Along the opposite side of Seth's yard the rain had completely filled a low point near the fence with a huge puddle of water! It was muddy towards the bottom but it was mostly just shin deep, cold, rain water! All four boys spent a majority of their time outside running through this huge puddle, chasing each other through it, splashing and even falling down face first into the chilly water!! Poor Gray had it the worst though, I think. For Ash and Maddox the water was shin deep, for Seth it was ankle deep...but for Gray it was knee deep and when he tried to run full speed through the puddle he would just fall over! When they got done playing Gray's rain boots were literally FULL of water!

 

Oops! There he goes again! Poor Gray!!

I think the boys would have stayed outside all day if we had let them but it was honestly pretty cold outside and we were just picturing our boys all waking up sick the next day and not able to enjoy anything else over their spring break so we eventually made them come in and dry off. We had to borrow towels from Jill just to get home and then, once we got home, we went straight to the bath!

We may not have had any huge, elaborate plans laid out for spring break but it turned out to be one of the most memorable ones to date simply because of this one day. Sure, the memories made by spending a ton of money at a theme park or memories made by vacationing at the beach are wonderful but this type of memory...the impromptu, unplanned, spontaneous moments that you truly CAN'T plan, are often the best! I'll never forget this day with my boys and I'll never forget all the giggles with my friend Jill. I once heard a quote that said "Life happens in your interruptions" and I think this day is the definition of that statement.