My plan was simple. Morning seat work, lunch, afternoon lessons and one on one times, read aloud, chores, dinner, done. A pretty typical day.

But around lunch time the sun shown bright, and the Michigan version of spring temperatures flirted with the 70’s making ‘The Plan’ seem less than desirable. I could tell we all felt the need to be IN the sunshine, not just gazing longingly at it from our windows, so we tossed said plan with our lunch remains and loaded up the van.

In our homeschool I love the idea of every now and then dropping everything and going on some sort of learning related, spontaneous adventure. Picture Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit running breathless from his hobbit hole shouting, “I’m going on an adventure!” (Seriously, I say this very line with a deplorable British accent that my kids secretly love, pretty much every time we do this).

But Bilbo Baggins had it right when he said, “It’s a dangerous business going out your door. You step onto the road and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Today our adventure was a nearby bird sanctuary we love to visit. Every Earth Day they offer free admission, an added bonus to the sunshine and warm temps. For an hour or two we could stroll the grounds, feed the ducks and geese, do read aloud beneath the boughs of a weeping willow, and visit their resident owls and hawks. It was the perfect plan for a springtime adventure. 

Until it wasn’t.

When we arrived the gates were locked and the sanctuary was closed. (ON EARTH DAY?!)

I gripped the steering wheel and crumpled in my seat.

Why didn’t I double check their hours?

We could be at home doing school.

We just drove 30 minutes and screwed up naptime for nothing.

The thoughts marched through my brain like militant ants at a picnic.

Hope cast her deadpan, squinty eyed, look of judgement at me as she said the quintessential teenage phrase, “Mom Fail.”

Mom Fail indeed. 

“I need to use the bathroom,” Blessing pipped up from the back seat. “Like, really, really bad.”

Perfect. The ant thoughts kept marching.

I had no idea where to go or what to do next. Backing up the van I headed for the only bathroom I knew was somewhat near by.

Five to ten minutes later we pulled into the parking lot of another favorite place. The Kellogg Manor House & Gardens located on the shores of stunning Gull Lake. This English Tudor style mini mansion looks like it belongs in a fairytale, and its sprawling grounds and winding stone staircase lead visitors down to a garden by the lakeshore that is idyllic and perfect for sitting in the sun, watercolor paints, nature journaling, and reading aloud. 

We’ve come to the manor and gardens many times to do just that, so even though it wasn’t Plan A, everyone was happy. 

Everyone except me. While I tried very hard not to show it on the outside, inwardly I felt discombobulated and super grumpy. 

After all, we could be home doing school. The littles could be getting naps. We could have gotten stuff done. Yet here we were. Wasting time. I couldn’t even read the book I brought because all Red wanted to do was fuss, squirm, or grab tiny bits of nature and stuff them in his mouth. 

It all just felt wrong, and I didn’t know what to do to make things feel right again. So we sat in the sun, and put Red’s toes in the lake, and said, “Well, it’s still better than math…”

Needing to get back for supper time, we piled back into the van and headed home.

And as I drove, Pete the Cat popped into my mind.

Lately, Chosen’s favorite book has been Pete’s White Shoes. A story, in which, Pete the Cat walks his brand new, white shoes into all kinds a mayhem like piles of berries and murky mud puddles turning his white shoes red, blue, and then brown.

“But did Pete cry? Goodness no! He kept walking along and signing his song”

I’m Pete the Cat; I suddenly realized! And in the mud puddle of our misadventure I was having a less than Pete-like attitude. 

Uh-oh. With eyes on me, I also suddenly realized I had an example to set and a blue cat, of all things, to live up to.

As a homeschooling family, we get to indulge in all kinds of adventures. Some of them thought out and planned. And some, like today, completely spontaneous. Either way they almost never turn out as I picture them. 

Sometimes our adventures turn out way better than I imagined (like when the manor house docent let us inside on a chilly fall morning and turned on the fireplace in the great room so we could read the last chapter of The Secret Garden curled up beside the fire…oh the loveliness!).

And sometimes bird sanctuaries are closed on Earth Day. 

As Pete the Cat (and Bilbo Baggins) will tell you, either way, it’s all good. 

So while I was tempted to see our misadventure as a frustrating waste of time and grump around the rest of the day, I knew that doing so would set the wrong example and send my girls + Red the wrong message. 

I had to keep a song in my heart, trust that nothing was wasted, and look forward to trying again another day. 

This is what I want them to do when life goes a little, or a lot, sideways. And it’s 100% what I should do too. 

We put Red’s 10 month old toes in the lake! We watched his face as he felt sand on his feet and the lapping tongue of the water lick his skin for the very first time.

Our goal, all along, was learning together while enjoying the outdoors.

Mission accomplished.