(Just a note, that I was on a blogging rampage. So, after this blog are about 4 or so more. Feel free to read at your leisure.)
We had never been to this park. This hidden gem. My brothers had talked about. But it has taken us over a year to get there. And I am so glad we did.
It was a beautiful day today. It has, admittedly, been perfect for about a week now. So, this weekend we decided to take advantage of it. We loaded up the backpacks, the lunches, and the girls in the van and headed out. Not far on our way, we had a last minute thought to invite Landen to join us. Madison wanted a friend to go along with her. And we thought it would be more enjoyable as well if she had someone to motivate her to keeping hiking. So, as we drove, we called my brother to see if Landen was free to come along. We arrived at his house minutes after talking, and Landen joined the fun.
After a quick detour to Lowe’s and a brief moment to eat a snack, we hit the trail running. Okay, Landen and Madison hit the trail running. Jeremy and I were walking, and Ellie was living large in the backpack. It was refreshing.
We started spying the trail markers – colored dots on trees. The kids would take turns finding them. When they spied one, they ran over and tagged or hugged the tree. It was a great game that lasted for the entire hike.
The kids enjoyed climbing on fallen tree trunks…
…and hanging from them!
Ellie even enjoyed hiking for awhile,
Although she was easily deterred from the idea every time she stumbled over a tree root and would want back in the backpack.
We did one trail, came back to the pavilion for lunch, and did one other section of a trail. At that point it was time to go home because we were wore out, but still happy!
This evening, we went to a birthday party for a neighbor down the street. He was turning one. His mom is the one I mentioned that makes really good cakes. She also makes really good empanadas. And she throws a really fun party. There were about 10 kids there, a bounce house, adults, lots of delicious food, a gigantic cake, and a piƱata. Madison said it was a fun time. I agree.
And before bed, but after praying, Madison let me know that God was probably going to bed too. Jesus would be up. But they would both be at church tomorrow. I said that if God needed to sleep, I am sure that He would be going to bed. But I agreed that both God and Jesus would be at church tomorrow. I love seeing God through her eyes.