An adventurous hermit?

I woke up this morning with terribly sore groin muscles. TMI? Well it's true. And I couldn't figure out why. I racked my brain for the cause (what did I do yesterday??) and just couldn't come up with anything.

And then I sat on the quad our friends lent us. And the sore muscles all made sense. Ouch. 

I couldn't figure out whether to title this post "I want to be a hermit" or "I love adventure". I figured I'd go with a combo. 

Our family went for a quad ride together yesterday. We just did some exploring around our place, places further than little legs can walk (ahem...I'm talking about the kids here) and where the truck won't go. We love to do stuff like that together. I definitely wouldn't say we're extreme adventurers...but for doing it all with a 3 and 1 year old, we hold our own :) First we did a circle around our yard. Over some bumps...ooh yeah!  Then we headed away from the yard. The path we were following was pretty solidly gravelled. Then the gravel thinned out and the trail turned to sand. Then the grass took over. Before we knew it, there were trees on both sides of us (I feel so at home when surrounded by trees!) and as we were enjoying the trees above us, the solid ground under us turned to water. Gulp. (This is where the sore muscles came from! I was hanging onto Nathan pretty hard as we hit the water/mud and apparently I pulled something!) Stuck. Mud. It's not our quad. Hmm. Oops. Well, thankfully it was a relatively small quad. I was the responsible mom and kept the kids dry on the quad (right!) while Nathan took his shoes and socks off and stood knee deep in water/sludge/sewer (as Levi called it) to haul us out. Done and done. Catastrophe averted. Not stuck out in the bush, miles from anywhere, with two young kids today. 

We continued on - back the way we came - and when the road ended and electric fence came, we abandoned ship and headed out on foot. I find it so much fun to wander and explore and see what there is to see. Growing up I often wandered in the bush on our farm just to explore. We found a "secret" pool of water surrounded by trees! As we wandered (with a lone cow standing by the water that we saw at the last minute, thankfully not a bull...or at least not one that felt like protecting its water hole) We saw the lake from the top of the non-populated side of the water. We saw lots of wild grass and Saskatoon bushes and trees and wild, raw nature. It was absolutely breathtaking. And all I could think the entire time was "I want to live here."  I know we live not 3 miles from there, but I was seeing a cozy little cabin built right into the hill, with just wild grasses and shrubs for my front yard. 

From most places on our adventure, we could see no signs of civilization. No roads, no buildings, no power lines. Just the natural beauty of the incredible land where we live. 

When we first moved to the country, a big draw for me was the feeling of isolation. Of being completely alone out here. I love that. And when we were out on the hills near our place, that feeling of silence and solitude was even stronger. I'm in love. I'm pretty sure I was meant to be a hermit. How many people can say that the more alone they feel, the more "right" it feels?? I certainly have a social side and I get lonely from time to time, especially when I see friends having fun without me...but I think I could be pretty happy living on the side of a hill with nobody to talk to for days on end. :)

I hope I can give our kids both a sense of adventure and a deep sense of peace that comes from being alone with their creator. What wonderful gifts they are!