planes, trains, and...parachutes?!?

i had an appointment this morning with my little buddy. we were in and out rather quickly and then, as i had promised earlier, we went to play at the train park.

still enamored by trains...

while we were there, we peeked in the windows of the train depot and watched a real train go by.

exploring the depot, peeking in the windows...

old safe sitting outside the depot...

we decided to explore, so we walked down the trail into the woods. we found a half-hollow tree riddled with woodpecker holes. we have a resident woodpecker behind our house, so he thought this was great, seeing how the woodpecker drills holes in the wood to get his food.

the woodpecker's diner

then we set out to see what treasures we could find...

our treasure collection...

we gathered flowers, rattle-y seed pods, and sparkly rocks, as we laughed watching the squirrels play chase. we discovered a tree that had grown around some concrete that had been left at it's base. 

(it's interesting how nature compensates for the things man does, and still grows and thrives.)

chunk of concrete under the tree

on our trek down the paved path through the woods, we also found a hidden swing set. it was such an unexpected surprise, and the little man was thoroughly delighted by the discovery.

"higher, mommy, higher!"

as i stood there swinging him in the middle of the peaceful woods, listening to him laughing and begging "higher, mommy, higher!" it occurred to me that this was THE perfect moment in time. the peace, the joy, the gratitude for the fullness my of life, flooded over me and i was overwhelmed by the moment.

not a worry was on my mind, no grocery or cooking lists were running through my head, i wasn't thinking about bills or lesson plans, and it didn't matter what else was going on in the world. 

THIS was the perfect moment and the perfect place to be. i just stood there soaking it in for as long as i could, swinging my little guy as high as he could stand it, and letting the magic of the moment wash all of my cares away. i wanted to hit the "pause" button and savor every second.

ancient ceiling fan

perfect florida day, not a cloud in sight

i love to imagine old buildings as they were in the past

we meandered back through the woods, played on the playground with some new friends for a little bit, watched a miniscule spider and a tiny strange "crab" looking bug crawl on the playground train, and then headed to the car after a quick detour back to the depot.

old signal light

one last show of independence before leaving

instead of heading straight to the "supermarket", which was our next planned destination, i chose to turn right instead of left. we crossed over the railroad tracks and drove over to the airport where we watched several small planes refueling.

we drove around the corner and saw the big, old military plane next to the museum of military history, and drove on down the road to what seemed like the most unlikely place to a preschooler. i pulled the car off the road and parked on the shoulder.

he had no idea what i was up to, but i just kept telling him "trust me". i knew we would get to see something more spectacular than he realized. we got out of the car and watched one plane land, followed by another taking off. just before we turned toward the car, we noticed several people "falling" in parachutes and that was just as amazing as anything else he had experienced today.

it was such a fun, "go with the flow" day. i just wish i would have had the foresight to plan a picnic so we could have enjoyed it just a wee little bit more! the best part was hearing over and over again from my spontaneous sidekick that this was "the best day i ever had, mommy!"

yeah, you can bet we'll be planning another day like this, but this time we'll go on a morning when the museums are open, pack a picnic to carry into the woods, eat somewhere along the trail...and maybe we'll share some of our tasty morsels with the frolicking squirrels.