Our Mama + Daughter Adventure [feat. Eddy & Scout]

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When I saw that Eddy & Scout was having an adventure contest, my fingers couldn’t type fast enough.  They wanted me to dress my 7 year old up in one of their beautiful dresses and take her on an adventure, while capturing the moments with my camera.  I don’t know about you, but it sounds like the best contest ever.

I checked with Iyla and wasn’t surprised that within five seconds she was running into the other room, telling her sisters about it.  When we got chosen, she lost her mind.  She spent the next week asking me when her dress was going to get here and when the adventure would begin.  We tried to come up with some ideas for our special Mama + Daughter adventure while we waited.  Honestly, it was the only way to pass the time while she waited for what seemed like an eternity in kid years.

And then the package finally arrived.  Iyla was in love.  She tried on the dress immediately and pranced around the house like she was on cloud 9.  The dress has just the right amount of girly for her and is so comfy she refused to take it off.  I literally had to bribe her to get her to remove it.

When our adventure day finally arrived, my oldest daughter braided Iyla’s hair and we were off to one of our favorite places, the wildlife preserve.  Iyla is fascinated by photography (I have no idea where she gets that from), so we thought it would be fun for her to photograph wildlife while I photographed her.  And so our adventure began.

We found this awesome spot where people can look through giant binoculars at the wetlands.  I love that Iyla always goes for the bigger ones, even if she has to stand on her tippy toes.  She’s always reaching for the stars.  I couldn’t stop giggling because she could only look directly up at the sky but she didn’t seem to mind.  I’m sure her amazing imagination was at work!

Next, we took a walk along the trail to her favorite spot.  There is a tiki hut and two rocking chairs where you can sit and admire nature.  It’s super relaxing and absolutely gorgeous.  Occasionally you can see birds, frogs and fish and although there is a sign warning about alligators, we’ve never seen one in this particular spot (thank goodness).

We decided to keep walking. This particular preserve has a long trail that my girls love.  Although there were so many people there that day, Iyla and I found time to talk about life and it felt as though most of the time, it was just me and her.  There is this one area where the railings were never built or maybe had fallen down during a storm and she used to be terrified to walk down there.  This time, she asked if we could check it out and she promised that she wouldn’t be afraid.  This was an adventure after all….

We found so many beautiful trees on the trail. This particular one really interested us because of it’s bark.  I love her fascination with nature and science.  I often wonder if she’s going to grow up to be a scientist or do something that involves animals.  I know that whatever she does, she’s going to change the world.  Her heart is huge and she’s always thinking of ways to make the world a better place.

On our way back to the front, we ran into an older man who showed us a picture he had taken of a woodpecker and then told us that they had spotted 2 alligators out by the dock and encouraged us to go check it out.  Iyla had never seen an alligator up close so she was excited at the chance to finally catch a glimpse. We even found a spot with a bunch of red canoes which was awesome because the Eddy & Scout logo has a canoe on it!  Do you believe in fate?

Unfortunately, though we looked in the spots that the man had recommended, we didn’t get to see an alligator that day, but I would rather stare at her all day anyway.  She is pretty cute, after all.  We got lots of compliments on her dress.   One lady even mentioned that her granddaughter would love it.  Of course we had to share the name of the shop.

Next, it was across the street to the nature trails.  While Iyla wasn’t a big fan of the area since there are always sounds coming from the bushes, she loved walking the trail.  She was grateful for the long sleeves too because the mosquitos out there are wild!  We found lots of spots to stop so that she could take pictures and I was right behind her, taking pictures of her enjoying her adventure.

Our last spot was this amazing area that reminded me of a deserted island.  We had just watched Moana and Iyla was in love with this spot because she could pretend that she was Moana, just for a moment.  It is such a calm and serene spot that we wound up staying there for quite a while, just talking and hanging out.

Hearing her tell me how grateful she was for our day together made me understand that we won this contest, no matter what the outcome is.  I am super grateful that Eddy & Scout gave us the opportunity to get dressed up, get away from technology and enjoy time together, not to mention the amazing pictures that I now have so that we can look back and remember how special this day was to the both of us. It’s an adventure we’ll never forget.

I encourage you to check out Eddy & Scout.  Eddy & Scout offers kids clothing sizes from 3m-8y designed for adventure, comfort (sensory friendly), and growth (extendable inseams). All of their items are proudly and ethically made in the USA! What’s better than that?!  If you check out their story, you’ll find that when they started this business, they refused the idea of outsourcing overseas in the pursuit of “cheap labor”.  As a parent, the owner, Holly, could not imagine her own child being forced to work in a factory instead of enjoying the adventure of childhood, and could not risk being a party to maltreatment of any other human, child or adult.  Because of this, Eddy & Scout manufactures locally in their studio in Orange County, California and maintain a strong relationship with each of their sewers, ensuring that they are being paid a fair and living wage, as well as enjoying the rights of U.S. labor law.  I applaud them for this!

Ready to shop? Visit eddyandscout.com and use code IYLA (that’s an i, not an l) to save!   I know you’ll love the clothing as much as we do! Make sure to follow them on instagram @eddyandscout for deals, giveaways, new releases and more!

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