Ice Cream, Come Get Your Ice Cream!!

We found an amazing picnic spot up in Payson, Arizona. The weather was amazing since it had been raining recently, which is also why the rivers are so muddy. We actually found a ton of little crawdads (some of them weren’t so little).  Lydia loved finding them, she couldn’t quite say “crawdad” so it ended up sounding like “kraken!” 

There was also a butterfly which was dying so it flew really slow. Lydia really wanted to catch it so I helped her but it only stayed in her hand for a few seconds before fluttering off. She was very upset that she couldn’t keep it so we had a good talk about impermanence and how we have lots of beautiful moments in life, just like the butterfly, but we only get to keep them in our memories.  Its a hard concept to try and teach to a three year old, but a good life lesson. 

We found a cool hollowed-out tree that we tried to use to distract her from the saddness of the butterfly. It worked for about 3 minutes, but after this we were about ready to head home so there were new tears about leaving the picnic spot. 

Luckily there’s not much a good nap can’t fix, and after about an hour nap in the car and a nice bath once we got home she was her happy self again and ready to play! She got all of these things (the little ottoman, the garbage bag, and the napkins) and moved them around until she was very pleased with herself. (I could hardly believe I caught this picture! The pure contentment on her face is priceless!) After this she went behind the little ottoman and said in her most professional voice, “Rice-cream, who wants some Rice-cream?”  After such a cute presentation we had to play along. When you went to her Ice Cream shop she would ask you what flavor you wanted, if you wanted it in a cup or a cone, and how many scoops you wanted. Then before you got your ice cream you got complimentary stickers. She’s certainly the cutest little Ice Cream lady we’ve ever seen!

It was an incredibly fun day, we love how creative and curious she is at this stage, and we love all our new adventures we share together.