Recently our little family joined my side of the family on a nice week long vacation.

To try and accommodate everyone in the family we ended up heading to the Finger Lakes.

(Side note, if you’ve never been out that way I highly recommend taking a trip some day. It is really quite lovely.)

But in the weeks leading up the this vacation I started to worry about what we would do all week with our crazy active two year old.

Don’t get me wrong, as I said before the Finger Lakes are just beautiful. And if you’re into drinking wine (or beer. Or really anything containing alcohol…), you probably need to take a trip out there someday.

But it’s hardly kosher to allow a two year old a glass of wine. This isn’t France after all.

And aside from miles and miles of winery’s (heh) there aren’t necessarily a ton of activities that are super two year old friendly.

So I started to get a little nervous that we would have an exceptionally bored Mini all week. I mean, you can only color in your new “color book” so many times…

But as we settled into our home away from home on the steepest hill I’ve ever experienced in my life (seriously, I probably lost 10 pounds just walking up and down…), I found myself a little humbled.

Because for all my worry, and research, and concerns, my dear Mini was completely and totally content to spend her entire week throwing rocks into the water. Or just down the hill.

Really wherever we’d let her throw them.

Now don’t get me wrong, we still made time for many adventures, including visiting some goats:

Boat riding:

And walking through some very pretty waterfalls:

But if we hadn’t done any of that, I think throwing rocks would have consumed our entire week with absolutely no complaints from the Mini.

And I was struck with the contrast.

Here I was trying to ensure that we’d have plenty of “entertainment” for the week – trying to make sure it was a super special and unforgettable time.

And here my daughter was getting the most joy you’ve ever seen out of throwing rocks.

Rocks.

That’s it.

She found joy in rocks.

And it caused me pause.

Because I can get so caught up in trying to make every moment unique that I miss the simple joys that life has to offer.

Like throwing rocks.

I can distract myself from what is really important (just having time together as a family) in my effort to strive for “perfect” parenting.

But really all the perfection we needed was to take in the simplicity around us.

So there you have it. Humbled by, and quite thankful for, a rock.

Who’d a thunk it?