Sunday, September 28, 2008

Free Family Fun

Friday afternoon I met my friend Heather and her little girl Kaley at a park in Madison. The park is at the top of Stoneway Trail in Madison, and has several hiking trails that branch off and meander around the top of this little mountain. Friday we pretty much stayed at the park, but I began to wonder if my kids are old enough to start doing a little hiking. We walked in on a trail for about 5 minutes, and the kids were just taking it all in. They loved seeing all the nature, and we were going slowly and I was trying to point everything out to them.
I told Jon about it, and Saturday morning we decided to head up as a family and take a little hike. We had pretty low expectations--not knowing how much the kids would tolerate. We just wanted to see how they would do. We love to camp and fish and hike--anything outdoors--and are so excited that both of our kiddos are getting to the age to participate in that kind of stuff with us!!! It was a beautiful day--started off with cool brisk weather and warmed up. The sun was out and we really had a great time out in God's nature!
Jordan wanted help walking down this little trail to the park. Sweet Lawson was there to lend a hand.

There weren't any picnic tables, so we sat on the playscape to eat our picnic.

Jordan on the bouncing horse. I love the expression on her face--she was being so silly!

Lawson and Jon looking at a Daddy Long Legs and his web.


Practicing. This is a good sized little rock that's at the playground. My kids played on it forever...they kept calling it their mountain! Lawson's practicing his rock climbing!


Jordan walking around. She looks so big to me in this picture!


We found two little lizards skittering around on a fallen log. Jon took this picture, then tried to catch one for Lawson to see. He almost got him, but the little guy scurried into his little hole!


This is Jordan's face and expression when she found a huge spider web and turned to tell Jon! This makes me laugh!



Okay, fine...you got me...I think this kid is pretty cute! I can't stop taking pictures of her! :)


We were hiking on this cute little trail. Jordan took off in the lead and ran ahead for a little while, but then Lawson announced he wanted to be the "line leader" so he ran up front to lead the way!


Climbing up this pretty big rock to get all the way up to daddy. I must say that I was impressed that my 2 and 3 year-old kids got up this by themselves!!!


We made it!!!!


Close-up...


Down a rocky trail... Kinda steep, huh?

They did so great...we hiked for about 35 minutes, and they only complained about being tired for the last 5-10 or so. Jordan got a little lift on Daddy's shoulders, and Lawson wanted to sit on this rock and take a rest. When Jordan was climbing up her last little rocky trail before the end, she kept whispering to herself "My heart goes bum-bum, my heart goes bum-bum, my heart goes bum-bum..." SO CUTE! :)


Despite the fact that a couple times a year I am plagued by poison-something--oak, ivy, sumac...I have no idea--I don't know what any of those plants look like. I know you can look them up online, but I can never recognize them in real life--you know, when it matters...


I was totally paranoid the whole time we were walking around, sure that every plant that grows in the wild must have some itch inducing oil on it!!! I saw this plant and it is red and has 5 leaves...someone tell me--did I spot one??? :()



We got back to the park after a completely enjoyable little family hike! I am so excited--the kids did great, and I really think they loved it! I think this is just the beginning of another family hobby for us to all do together. This is when our trail came back to the park. We took a little swing to rest and cool off...then headed home for NAPTIME!!! :)

1 comment:

Jamey said...

What a great day! Did Jordan get any more bug bites?

They are so grown up to do all that climbing!