The purest of joy can be found with the simplest of things.
Holidays are meant to be spent with the most important persons in life, that is with family. Last week, we almost had a straight week off as the barangay elections, All Saint's Day and All Soul's day were declared a non-working holidays. The husband opted to file a leave of absence for the day in between the holidays to spend time with us, straight. And with that, my kids were the happiest as they could spend time with him. One of their favorite bonding is swimming in the sea.
On the last day of the holiday streak, the kids requested to go for a swimming. Swimming perhaps is the cheapest, most fun way to bond because all we need is a good weather, a calm sea, and a great company. The husband of course couldn't say no to the request of these persistent kids so we accompanied them to have a swim in the sea. The kids know they couldn't go without adult supervision so having the dad on holidays would guarantee that.
We went on tagging along with us one of the kids closest friend who they invited to come with us. Activity like this couldn't be more fun with coolest friend around.
We walked to the beach and with the sunny weather, calm and clear blue sea so tempting, they went on running for a splash! The excitement couldn't be held! This is what being kids is all about. No worries, just pure fun. The hot sun was not a bother! Got no floatation device? They got a large plastic water bottle as floatation. How convenient and economical. They never asked for anything more to make this happen.They could even improvise!
While they were at the sea, I spent my time on the beach holding an umbrella with me because it was past 2 pm and the scorching heat of the sun could burn my skin. Yeah! Aside from sunscreens, the best way to block the sun's rays is by the use of an umbrella. So practical!
The sand was burning hot from being exposed to the sun so I used the towel we brought as layer to avoid direct contact to burning hot sand.
I spent my time watching over the kids too, though I was at ease since the husband was with them swimming. I also took the time to appreciate the beauty around me. The beautiful weather made the nature around me sparkle and shine, the colors around were more vibrant and the clouds looked so fluffy. How fascinating!
And look what the kids found! They brought this to me as they found this rock with interesting features. It's an egg shaped rock naturally smoothened by nature. Upon examining it, this rock with its small size enough to be hand-held, oblate shape and texture would be perfect as panghilod. I guess the younger generations can't relate anymore but before body scrub products were avaible in the market, here's the lowly hilod (a piece of rock) that we used to scrub out dirt, dead skin and grime from our body during bathing. Have you tried the hilod before?
This rock ended up in out bathroom to be used as hilod. For me there is no better body scrub than this traditional hilod. I highly r̶e̶c̶o̶m̶m̶e̶n̶d̶ appreciate this. 😄
The kids had fun in the sun and sea. That's what's important to me. And giving them the opportunity to discover, learn and create by having fun is what childhood means. It is something that I want to provide them. It doesn't have to be expensive. Even the simplest things can create the purest joys.