Annika has been begging me to go investigate it since the first time we saw it from a distance. The weather was finally nice enough to get the bikes out and soak up some Vitamin D. Today was the day I relented from my anxiety of having to walk them down a road with no sidewalk where cars regularly barrel down on their way to wherever at the other end of the road. It was a nice day for it.
So 20 minutes or so after leaving our apartment, we approach this thing.
Annika calls it an alien spaceship.
For the life of me, I honestly have no idea and am just as curious as she is to investigate it.
She tries to peek in on her tip toes.
So I never actually thought it was an alien spaceship, but I had no idea it would be so deep and full of graffiti, most likely from the teenagers that live in the surrounding apartments. I appreciated that they had the foresight and pride enough to represent the 812 area code, though I don't exactly share their enthusiasm or sense of humor. The bottom of the round cement structure is about the perfect size for 3-5 teenagers to comfortably sit around and smoke secret cigarettes, or that other thing Indiana is famous for.
These are thoughts that I don't share with my adorably innocent girls as they tell me all about what they think it is an why it is there. Annika goes into great detail describing the different functions of the parts of the "alien spaceship" and how it got there. She wonders out loud why they left it there and when they'll come back for it. They take a break to play follow-the-leader for a while, though I'm fairly sure that Annika doesn't actually want Mayzie to be following her. She imitates everything her older sister does, and the flattery is lost on Annika right now.
Mayzie becomes more interested in throwing things in the lake.
Annika keeps trying to climb the structure and to identify graffiti that she no 4 year old girl should actually be able to identity. She calls it a rocket; use your imagination.
Mayzie doesn't ride her bike all the way back, but that's fine with me. At least she doesn't make me carry her. We stop to play at the playground in our apartment complex and the girls are being all kinds of adorable together. Annika catches Mayzie at the end of the slide and then Mayzie tells her, "Your turn."
It was one of those afternoons that you want to pause. You want to freeze it in your memory like so many simply beautiful days strung together in normality and everyday goodness of life with small children. It was not perfect, but I don't want perfect. I want love filled afternoons with my girls who are so very huggable and lovely to each other right now. They play together well, and I know that won't always be the case. I see it coming. I hear the conflict of MINE coming and the escalation of tempers becoming more regular. But for this afternoon, we were just three girls investigating a possible alien spaceship landing at the lake near our apartment.
