Adventure. Here. Now.

Everything in life is more of an adventure with kids.

After our pre-lit tree failed to light all but one of its strands of lights, I decided it was time to move on. I started thinking about how we had live trees growing up in the Hill household. When I was first out of college, I bought a small artificial tree because it seemed like a good plan while living alone in an apartment. Each year, I just put it up and then upgraded to a larger, pre-lit fake tree. It seemed convenient.

But what's the holiday season without a little adventure?

So Greg and I decided to go cut down our own life tree from his mom's property. Cate called it a "tree hunt" on our way across the Kentucky-Tennessee line Saturday afternoon. We weren't alone in our hunt, either. Uncle Charles and Aunt Angela; cousins Elijah, Ethne and Evelyn; and friends Nathan, Sarah, Davey and Atticus were with us. Gran-Gran and baby cousin Kieran were inside.

"We're going on a {tree} hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared."

Cate approved.

Greg was proud.

The guys loaded both our tree and the Goodriches' tree into Greg's pick-up truck bed. Good to go, back toward Murray. Until we realized we lost our friends' tree somewhere between a curve and a stop sign on State Line Road. So we retraced our tracks ...

And after I took a picture, I helped Greg load the tree back in the truck. He did stop one other time to readjust it and weigh it down. Finally, it was more secure.

Onward ...

Then we saw a deer. Greg slowed down, but he still clipped the deer with the passenger-side front bumper of his truck.

It's only 14.4 miles between our house and my mother-in-law's house. It took longer than usual last night, but we laughed often and talked about how we felt so blessed. It had been a good day; it is a good life.

And for the first time in a decade, I have a live Christmas tree. It's fat and unshaped ... and I love it. And I believe a new tradition is born.
_______
There also was the father-daughter conversation earlier today during the MSU vs. Dayton basketball game that had me laughing ...

While watching Isaiah Canaan drive to the basket surrounded by defenders during a fast break, Greg yelled, "Give it up, son."

Then 4-year-old Cate piped in, "Daddy, who is your son out there?"

"Well, I call anyone who I'm coaching 'son,' even though I'm not really coaching anyone out there." Then Greg turned to me: "She thinks she has a lot of brothers out there."
_______
Ben loves his bath, but tonight he and I both were in for a surprise ...

While playing in the water, 2-year-old Ben started yelling, "Rock! Rock! Rock!"

And then I noticed the brown "rocks" floating around the tub weren't actually rocks ...
________
What stories do you have from your weekend? I hope your days were filled with adventure, surprises and laughter.
________
Want more? Subscribe to get "Insights" in your inbox. Or follow me on Twitter.