Stopping to enjoy the rain

We recently took the children to the 'Enchanted Maze' at Arthurs Seat. The weather prediction was a few showers so along with the picnic lunch i packed an umbrella, for 'just in case' .. in hindsight, it's a shame i didn't think to pack 7 or 8 umbrellas, as it didn't shower a few times, it poured from the moment we got there, until the moment we left. The 'stresser' in me wouldn't normally allow the children out in the rain, but we had planned this day and a little (or a lot) or rain wasn't going to stop us enjoying it. I think the beauty about being a child, is that things like rain excite you, especially when your parents are actually letting you play in that rain, not only are they letting you, but they are ENCOURAGING you to do so. And i think the beauty in being a parent, is that when you see your children enjoying something so much, you cant help but slow down a little and enjoy it yourself too.

There was soooooo, so much to do and see in these gardens, there were the small mazes, the huge mazes, the enchanted gardens and then there were all the small things, like a beach hut at the end of a pier, a sand pit, a bridge here and there ..

From the minute we got there, after the children got used to the fact that we were indeed getting out of the car in the rain and we would indeed be walking and exploring in that rain, they were in such a rush. I reminded Heath a trillion times that we had all day and he didn't need to run, if we walked slowly we would see more. After a while he got the hang of it and started pointing out all the different things he could see.

Roxiee .. well, she was just Roxiee. She was just excited that this place had puddles which she could splash in and send people running in the opposite direction when she did so.
Not only did it have puddles, but it also had mud .. lots of mud. I really don't think she payed attention to much at all aside from the rain, the puddles, the mud and the pure joy in doing something we wouldn't normally do. And THIS is what i loved so much about our day in the rain, it was fun. And for the most part, i wasn't overly stressed about the fact that we were all dripping wet and freezing cold, i was able to enjoy this time and know that the cold/wet wasn't going to cause any of us to die an early death, and therefor it wasn't important.