On my most recent vacation I became re-acquainted with a long lost simple pleasure, feeding the ducks.

Seriously—I have forgotten as an adult how much fun it can be to feed ducks.  We were in a house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and twice a day a family of ducks would swim by the dock and come up on the grass.  Even before we would see them coming, the kids had heard them quacking and would run down to the water with corn in their cups to feed the ducks.

The duck family (happily named The Fluffy Family) got so used to us that they would eat the corn right out of our hands, and sometimes nip a finger. It was heartwarming to see the joy on the kids faces as the ducks came up and ate right from their hands.

It had been a while for me since feeding a duck so once, when they were doing their swim by, I got some corn and headed to the water.  Man it was so much fun!  At one point all 6 babies were eating out of my hand.  They were diving for sinking corn and brushing right by my hands.  I was even lucky enough to have Mamma duck come over and eat from my hand.

Have you ever heard a duck sneeze?  I have and it is funny—she honked!  I swear she honked!  And nothing is cuter than a fuzzy baby duck butt in the air—nothing.

By the end of our trip the ducks grew dramatically and sadly we were down a baby.  The kids were even snorkeling right by the ducks and watching them dive under the water.  And by the time my parents left the house you could not tell who was the mamma and who was the baby.  And all it took was 4 weeks.

So take some time and get re-acquainted with a childhood simple pleasure. You might just feel like a kid again.