For our “forced family fun” on Sunday we decided to go snowshoeing!

Why on earth would we have to force our sons to have fun? They are all teenagers. All you parents of teens are nodding. Those who are still confused, you need more teens in your lives! 

Teens are wonderful! They are lovably grumpy, keep you honest by always pointing out your faulty logic, and fill your life with hilarity and eye-rolls as they are both incredibly funny and deeply horrified whenever you yourself attempt to be funny. Seriously, we need more teens. They keep things interesting!

However, they also require much convincing. 

Teenage boy–“Why would we want to go snowshoeing?”

Mother of teenage boy–“Because we want to do something as a family and this will provide exercise, fresh air, and time together.”

Teenage boy–“We don’t want to be with our family. Fresh air is poisonous. All snowshoeing will provide is blisters.”

Mother of teenage boy–“That, too. Fresh air, time with your family, and blisters. Yay! Now put your boots on.”

That is just a small sampling of the kind of lively dialogue one can expect from their exasperated teen. See? Teens really are the best! Our camp intern accompanied us without complaint … then again, we didn’t force her to join us. But as I have said before, teen boys would stare at screens until they started growing mold, so step one to a fine family outing is dragging them outside against their will! Don’t worry, it is well worth your effort.

You do have to make concessions for a well-argued point. Two of the boys didn’t snow-shoe but wore boots instead. They sited extreme calf pain as the reason. Since the “being together” part was most important for us, we acquiesced. 

Well, after snowshoeing the trail myself, I see exactly what they mean now about the calf pain! Also, I got a blister. 

But watching my sons and husband have an impromptu snowball fight, priceless!

Scruffy looks so surprised that his sons would dare throw a snowball at dear old dad.

The key key phrase there, “his sons.” 

Yes, he has taught them well!

Oooh, mid-air snowball!

Brennan takes cover behind Princess Leia Freyja. She is unconcerned about snow of all varieties whether it is on the ground or flying through the air. Newfies just love the cool temperatures!

Scruff  also taught his boys how to help a person who has fallen into a snowbank. Why, sit on them of course!

Princess Leia Freyja interrupts Brennan’s “help” by giving Scruffy revitalizing kisses and slobbers.

Ah, yes. Mercy at last.

Now, it wasn’t the snowball fight, Scruff getting stuck, or even my blister that caused us to go back. Poor Princess Leia Freyja started limping due to an old shoulder injury. So we took our delightfully sarcastic teens back home and gave our pup a rest.

A beautiful winter day together, even if it was forced fun!

The post Snowshoeing appeared first on KristenJoyWilks.com.

Also from 12-4-2018

So … what have my three sons been up to lately? Obviously, from the above picture, they have been saving the world from a Pandemic which spreads and mutates very rapidly and pretty much leaves the population of earth as mindless zombies, but other than that we have experienced a remarkable increase in peskiness.

Let me explain … no no, there is no time, let me sum up.–Princess Bride

Do those two teenage faces seem a little bit … suspicious to you? How about that snowball gripped in a thirteen-year-old paw and ready for launching in a motherly direction? Well, not even my youngest has escaped this new wave of increased peskiness.

That is not exactly the face of innocence.

I blame it on this man! No, not the dog, that scruffy-looking Nerfherder standing behind her. Yes, that’s the one, the one that I married. The very one who told our sons the story of how he offered to carry me across the Icicle river when we were on a date so long ago … and then dropped me in the water in the middle. So so, hilarious!

There he is again, that improbable man. Yes, he informed me that to say he was impossible was a statement of all knowing finality that might not be true. So, improbable he is!

When they were little, my sons told me that I was beautiful and asked me to marry them and were terribly disappointed to discover that I was already taken. I recall those little boys with the sparkly eyes watching me put on makeup, and I look at my sons now and see that the wonder has been replaced with a massive dose of peskiness.

I have heard it said that as these little boys who loved their Momma grow into young men, they look to their father to see how to treat the women in their lives. Apparently, what they have seen is that true love hides behind a tree, or car, or charmingly snow-garnished bush with a snowball in hand. Sigh, and so now I don’t only have to worry about their father and whether or not his is crouching behind the propane tank with a running water hose, now I have to worry about four of them!

And so my pictures include eyes peering from behind tree branches,

quickly averted faces,

and many many blurry images of flying snowballs.

At least I can photograph the snowball preparation.

And sometimes the dog holds still for pictures.

But our family hike did occur on a lovely day.

And we did come home with a Christmas tree that my strong sons carried on their own, between battles.

And the dog certainly enjoyed the fresh snow.

This change is baffling, but I would take a pesky son with glittering eyes hiding behind a tree over a sullen one who never met my gaze any day. It doesn’t seem like it when I’m late for church (and yes, we are working on teaching them that there is a time and a place … agreement on when and where is a different story) but this barrage of snowballs and Nerf darts is the face of love. It is just so different from the little faces that gazed up into mine to propose, who gripped my hand on dark nights, asked me to kiss their owies and pray for their pet bugs. Yes, the mom and son relationship certainly evolves, but there are lovely things along every part of they way, if you keep your eye open to see them … or perhaps just squint that eye open to take a peek at the aforementioned beauty … you never know when a lovingly-thrown snowball might be on its way!

The post Increase in Peskiness appeared first on KristenJoyWilks.com.