Yesterday We Lived

Yesterday was warm. And so sunny.

I've been needing warmth and sun pretty badly.

I was determined that we not waste a second of such a perfect, glorious day.

So as soon as we finished breakfast Olive, Silas and I took a long walk around Lake Mac.

And then we played at the park until we were all starving for lunch.

And then while Silas napped, I taught Olive about hopscotch all afternoon.

And then Matt took off from work a little early and we did this...

This picture does not do the view from Laketown Beach's dune any justice.

Nor does it allow you to see just how many stairs there are to climb up and then down over the dune to the beach.

(But rest assured - it's a lot. It feels like at least 9,000. Especially when you're carrying your kids the whole time. Yes, we did that because we're crazy, but not as crazy as we were the time we carried them up after a big snowstorm and all those stairs were coated with ice.)

All the work is totally worth the payoff - the view. It is hands down my favorite place in Holland, and I'm pretty sure it's the most amazing view of Lake Michigan in the city. You feel like you're on top the planet, and it's exhilarating. 

Yesterday felt like we really lived every second, and I went to bed wishing every day could feel like that.  

I think the secret of it is in just doing. Just go. Get out of the house, get out of the comfort zone. Turn off the phone, turn off the computer. Don't be afraid to go somewhere unfamiliar. Tackle a challenge that you're pretty sure you can't do, and then relish the thrill of proving to yourself you can.

Maybe that sounds random and ridiculous (it probably is, I'm tired) but those are things that are becoming more and more important to me.