![\"Mom2MomGratitude\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/larakrupicka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mom2MomGratitude-148x150.jpg?resize=148%2C150\")
Sunlight radiated off a nearby hill. Below us a small lake rippled in the gentle breeze. My daughter and I ate our lunches at a shady picnic table, watching archers arrange targets in the range across the parking lot. It gave us just enough time to observe the local protocol before pulling her bow and arrows from the trunk to give it a go.<\/p>\n
We spent a little over an hour at the archery range that Saturday, but it remains one of my favorite memories from the past year. Just my youngest and I, testing our skills with her new compound bow.![\"Archery\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/larakrupicka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/EArchery1-300x288.jpg?resize=300%2C288\")
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If it hadn\u2019t been for a shared bucket list wish – try out archery – we wouldn\u2019t have been at the range that day. She wouldn\u2019t have gotten that bow set for her birthday. We would have overlooked the free archery class offered at the state park where we camped this summer.<\/p>\n
Instead, bucket list in mind, we gave it a shot. She signed up for the class and found out she has a knack for shooting. And the rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n
I am so grateful. I\u2019m grateful her bucket list alerted her to watch for opportunities. I\u2019m grateful for how trying a new sport broadened her interests.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m also grateful for how it taught her to think differently about herself \u2013 to think in terms of possibility. I might be able to get really good at this.<\/i><\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for how my children are growing in their ability to leap at fresh experiences (without whining). I\u2019m thankful for how we are learning together, spurring each other on, and forging the identity we want our family to have.<\/p>\n
Not every day in our life involves a \u201cbucket list\u201d experience. In fact, there are others I know who engage in many more adventures than we do. Yet I am so thankful for adventures spread out and adventures found in \u201csmall\u201d circumstances \u2013 like a bow for a birthday gift.<\/p>\n
I have seen how the excitement doesn\u2019t wear off at our slower pace. The thrill is always there.<\/p>\n
Some days that\u2019s<\/em> what adventure looks like in a bucket list family.<\/p>\n And I am so grateful. I never know what surprise is waiting for us around the next bend. Or what new shared hobby we’ll discover. Or how we’ll be changed.<\/p>\n Remember, leave a comment to be entered in the Mom to Mom Gratitude Giveaway<\/a>. Likewise, if you Tweet this post<\/a> or share it on Facebook<\/a>, you’ll be entered. While you\u2019re at it, consider subscribing to this blog<\/a> if you haven\u2019t already so you don\u2019t miss any of the upcoming guest posts by my fellow mom writers. And join my monthly newsletter list<\/a> for regular encouragement and inspiration to find the adventure in everyday bucket list living. (Again, each of those actions scores you another entry in the drawing!)<\/p>\n Don’t forget on Wednesday to join me over at Christa Melynk Hines’ blog<\/a>. And on Thursday I’m a guest at Heidi Smith Luedtke’s blog <\/a>(or sneak over there now – I think it’s live already).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunlight radiated off a nearby hill. Below us a small lake rippled in the gentle breeze. My daughter and I ate our lunches at a shady picnic table, watching archers arrange targets in the range across the parking lot. It gave us just enough time to observe the local protocol before pulling her bow and…<\/p>\nSo tell me this: what does adventure look like in your family? How does that make you grateful?<\/h4>\n