Journey to The Land of the Naked Trees

Yesterday, the kids and I took a walk on Grandpa’s farm. The sun had just set, and it was making a couple of trees at the west end of Grandpa’s farm look pretty awesome.
Sunday night, I took a walk with the kids in my new stroller (double. running. awesomeness.) and I pointed the trees out to the kids.
“Look!” I said, “See how awesome the naked trees look with the sun wehind them?”
*Note: wehind=behind and naked trees=trees with no leaves on them*
*I’m not the only parent who has started talking like their children. Pommiss.*

“Take a picture!” I said, and handed them my phone. That was a disaster because my son couldn’t figure out how to not put his finger over the lens, and my daughter was simultaneously JEALOUS that he got to go first and PETRIFIED that we were going to get killed by an oncoming vehicle.
But we got this, which isn’t terrible.

Yesterday, Grandpa’s trees looked like that. And I gasped. Loudly.
“What?” My daughter asked.
“Come here,” my voice sounded almost panicked, full of energy and excitement, “Come close! Quick!”
My kids both ran to my side. I crouched down on the ground and pointed toward the trees.
“Loooook. Far beyond the field they live -they wander.”
“Who, Mom?” My daughter asked, her eyes fixed on the distant trees.
“The PEOPLE! who LIVE! in the LAND of the NAKED TREES.”
The kids oooooohed.

“They’re small -as big as as bees. They think we are giants. They never come out…”
“Can we go SEE them?” asked my daughter.
“I don’t want to,” my son was fairly shaking, “That sounds scary.”

“We can’t see them,” I went on, “They dress only in clothes that are the colors of the trees they live in. BUT! We can visit them.”
“I want to! I want to!” Lacy jumped up and down.
“Ugghhhhhh,” Trenton whined.

“Tomorrow we will have a journey. Only brave people take journeys,” I said, “Are you BRAVE?”
“YES!” Lacy cried.
“Yeah…” Trent was unsure.
“We will take some food to The Land of the Naked Trees. We will have a picnic. We will share our food with them. Who will help me make blankets?”
“Me! Me!” The kids said.
And so the date was set. Preparations were made. And suddenly my house was abuzz with The Land of the Naked Trees and the Naked Tree People.
The “naked” applies to the trees and not the people, in case you forgot OR your mind is paddling through the gutter.
Also: if you remember: the naked tree people are dressed in tree colors.

This morning, I powered through an electric breaker issue and made WAFFLES, syrup, and two very small “blankets” for the naked tree people.
I threw an old blanket my husband has tried to throw away so very many times into a big basket, topped it with our food and wedged my camera inside and off we went!
To where?

To THERE.
I had a baby carrier in one hand and a basket in the other.
(“I had a terrible time trying to find a suitable basket.” -Can you name the movie? Can you?)

“Are you BRAVE?” I kept asking.
“YEAH! We are BRAVE!” My son would respond, his binoculars hanging from his neck. He was more sure of himself today -and determined to find some naked tree people.

Our cats are brave too.
Just so ya know.

Lacy ran ahead, ran up the small hill near the naked trees and proclaimed (I kid not), “This is the place!”

We laid down the tired blanket, said a prayer of gratitude, and ate our waffles in the Land of the Naked Trees while the cows watched and baby sucked on her own lip.

There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

Ah, kids…

After lunch, we went in search of a possible naked tree person sighting.

Lacy swears she saw one (she’s pointing at it with her stick) and she’s pretty sure she found a naked tree person’s egg as well.
I didn’t find any tree people gems, but I did find gems in my memory card when we came inside. Gems like this:

And the kids made sure to find a small clearing between a few dried up camel thorns… they left some waffles on some blankets.

The blankets were green, of course.
The Naked Tree People would have wanted it that way.

Comments

  1. What a fun little adventure!

  2. Can I say how impressed I am with your gumption? What a clever, fun little adventure–I know how much effort it is to make little trips and adventures like those, and I’m so proud of you for going the extra mile to do these fun things for your children. I know that they will appreciate the memories–and despite everything that you notice going wrong, they’ll just remember the fun parts. You’re such a good mom. I hope the whole being-outnumbered thing is treating you well.
    And I want to see you. that’s it.

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  1. […] couple of years ago, I convinced my kids that very tiny people lived in trees without leaves… or, as Lacy had taken to calling them, “naked trees.” I fabricated a story about […]

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