When we first moved to the country, it was the backyard woods and creek that spoke to us the most.  It was a hidden paradise right in our backyard.  Dreams of walking through the trees covered with a canopy of leaves, splashing and fishing in the quietly moving water, spending lazy afternoons on a blanket reading as the birds chirp nearby, and exploring in the creek filled our heads.  It’s the stuff that classic storybooks are made of.

Now that we’ve lived here for almost two years, we don’t walk through the woods or lay on blankets beside the creek nearly as often as I thought we would.  I guess because real life doesn’t look much like a classic storybook.

But every once in awhile, I manage to get into the woods and down by the creek with my loves.  Today, that looked like eating hot dogs on a blanket and reading aloud from The Bronze Bow (I seriously am beginning to question if we will ever finish this book, but we only have 9 chapters to go so I’m holding out hope.)  The water rolled peacefully over the rocks, the breeze blew gently, the sun shown brightly, and the birds sang their sweet songs from the treetops.

It seemed just like one of those classic storybook moments right out of On The Banks of Plum Creek.  Until it got too hot and we were all covered in sweat.  We laughed about how hot it was and then marched back up the ridiculously steep path through the woods to cool off in the air conditioned house.  Modern amenities are certainly a gift, but I know we’ll all remember this afternoon of enjoying our hidden paradise together with fondness.