My whole life, I’ve always loved exploring and going on adventures. Even if I wasn’t taking a big trip somewhere exotic, I still found a lot of joy wandering around new places. Spontaneous trips are my absolute favorite, and I get such a thrill waking up one day without any specific plans and suddenly deciding to get in the car and take a road trip somewhere.
When I became a mom a little less than 6 years ago, this didn’t change. It took me a little while to get used to travelling with a baby, but I would still just hop in the car with my little guy and go explore somewhere new, or hop on a plane and visit family and friends who lived far away. However, this past year a lot of things have changed that have made it really hard to me to be spontaneous: My oldest son started Kindergarten last fall, and my daughter started preschool. Plus, my husband started back to grad school while still working a full time job. A little over a year ago we had another sweet baby, Oliver, making it even harder to take last minute trips. And the biggest change of all, we moved from Orlando Florida to literally a mountain in Tennessee.
(Haha I just love how crazy the boys’ hair looks blowing in the wind in this picture!)
But since I still crave exploring new places and having unplanned adventures, the kids and I have started to find little excursions close to home. We love spending time outside, going for walks, and especially looking for animals and colors in nature. One of our favorite activities (especially in the peak of spring) is to search outside to see how many different colors and shades we can find in nature.
This spring, I ordered some new colorful shoes for the two kids and me, and we’ve enjoyed wearing them on our adventures. Of course Lyla always makes sure that her shoes match her outfit. Benjamin and Lyla love that they have matching shoes. Benjamin got the Navy Polo by Ralph Lauren Olan EZ Sneakers, and Lyla got the same pair in pink.
Of course we have to come home and take pictures of our leaves on a white background!
I just LOVE my new Sperry Topsiders. They are so surprisingly comfortable, and look so beautiful in my favorite color Turquoise.
…and of course we love to make things with the colorful leaves we find, like this lion. You can get creative and make all sorts of different leafy animals. I think the shape of the maple leaf works great for the lion’s mane, but you could also arrange a lot of smaller leaves in a circle to create a mane.
How to Make a Leafy Lion:
Step 1: Prepare your leaves. Plan where you’re going to put them.
Step 2: Start gluing your grass and leaves to the paper. Start with the legs, then add the body, then add the mane, then last the face.
Step 3: Use a sharpie or crayons to add a face, or any other embellishments to your little creations.
You can also check out the #ohsofamous gallery to get fun style inspiration and to share your own fun Famous Footwear finds!
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Sounds like fun! I love going on adventures with my kids They are fun to spend me with and matching shoes are the best!
Love the leaf lion. Cuteness!
These are adorable! My daughter would love to make these. I need to show her 🙂