Or in this case, the half-daycation.
I think it is good to remember that little outings, if planned well, can have the feel of a good vacation. For me, that boils down to three things: a picnic outside, lots of exploring and ice cream. We recently took a half-daycation that missed the ice cream, but was still stellar and reminded me that we don’t have to leave for days and days (it’s hard to leave animals that need milking and feeding!) to enjoy the summer ahead.
I tell Rory often that I am happiest when eating a picnic outside. No matter the meal, it turns gourmet for me when sitting outside.
This night pictured Rory introduced us to the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area, a pithy little name for essentially a state park that has no campsites. It is in Jordan, Minnesota and proved to be a great place for a picnic and a hike. We saw four other people the whole time we were at this 5,000-acre park.
We are in desperate need of rain in Minnesota so we were able to hike all around the floodplain. It is sobering to see the soil so dry…in May!
We hiked out to the river and found sand. SAND! SAND! My kids went bananas and started digging a big hole and I remembered how very simply life really is.
We had some special family conversations and then had family worship looking out at the river. We sang Blessed Assurance and then tried to think of all the scripture we know that is about water.
And then we hiked back to the car, feeling refreshed and grateful for such a special family time.
1 comment
Gosh, haven’t seen an entry for a while. So good to have pictures of your daycation. Simple is so special. I told Herrick Kimball of The Deliberate Agrarian blog, and now Heavenstretch blog, and he bought your book, Durable Trades. Great to hear from you, Becca. California is in need of rain, also. Fire season started in March, and large-scale fuel reduction has been going on since the Carr fire in 2018. My husband is building another house on the mountain to rent to our church’s adult school students (big enough for 2 people) for this fall’s semester, and I’m always busy growing in my minibeds (Herrick Kimball’s invention)and row garden (even throughout the winter). Our winters are so mild it’s easy to grow cool crops. Being somewhat preparedness-minded, I’m putting up recipes of soups, and bone broths, and winter crops, like spinach and new potatoes, even onions. I’ve purchased a new dehydrator and done plenty of drying, and jerky-making. Now I have a Foodsaver vacuum seal machine and accessories to dry-can dry goods on the way. First time for me to grow dry beans this year for dry-canning. And all this at nearly 65 yrs old. The Lord is so marvelous, good, and gracious!