I've been getting the boys outside as much as possible lately. After spending much of the past few months inside, and ending winter with all of us getting sick at different times, we are ready for the fresh air & adventure. My current favorite place to take them is a local park with a nice wooded trail. It goes near water, but shallow & not too concerning, and eventually ends up in a big field. I love that the boys (read: Sully) can run around and I don't have to worry about them getting hit by a car.
On Monday, Sullivan and I picked Keats up from school and there was a sense of adventure in the air. Keaton's school is near the urban growth boundary so farms are just past the school. We headed that way, in the hopes of seeing some horses & goats, and maybe seeing what type of properties were for sale out there. We ended up at a 4H center. This place is technically closed to the public (groups can schedule hikes & tours & that sort of thing) and is used as an outdoor school and overnight camps for school-age kids.
This place is gorgeous! No pics to show but there are trees everywhere you look and you are almost never covered by a tree above. There are ponds & creeks, some ducks, lots of squirrels. And silence!
I was hoping to pick up literature on what is offered, just for future reference, and said so when an employee asked if he could help me. I said I just wanted to know what kind of thing went on out there. He offered us a tour of the property and we gladly accepted. We were shown all the buildings, taken inside the ones that were open, and given a history of the man who donated the property. This man was a rock hound and built rocks into various areas of the buildings. A huge fireplace was made entirely of petrified wood; a window about twenty feet high was made with agates; thunder eggs lined the walls. There were various retaining walls and benches throughout the property that were also made with rocks. It was really a surprise to see how much work went into this private area that is usually pretty empty.
We walked the wooded paths and saw the various lakes & water, and our tour guide pointed out the names of trees, shrubs, and flowers. The pond was covered with what looked like algae and when I mentioned that it looked like a swamp, the guide told me that if you get really close you will see tiny leaves rather than algae...apparently the green stuff is called Duck Weed. I never knew. I always assumed if it looked like algae, it must be algae. ;o)
So, this took about thirty minutes. We showed up unannounced and the man was so nice to walk us around and he was very patient with the boys (read: Sullivan) when they ran off.
He walks us to the van and I tell the boys to say thank you & goodbye. They do. Sully is especially enthusiastic when he says thanks and the guide was appreciative to hear it. Then Sully says, "Bye bye leaky diapers!"
Seriously.
The good thing is that there is no way this man, who doesn't have kids of his own, would have any idea what Sullivan just said to him. The bad thing is that I DID! Grrrr. Keaton started laughing and was about to clarify what exactly Sully said and I just gave him my best MadMom look and said "Stop." They didn't say it again, and I just thanked the man over & over. When I got in the car I laid into the boys. What a nice thing for the man to do for us and we thank him by basically saying he wets his pants, or resembles someone who does.
Oh well. It was a little funny. But I'm not telling my boys I think so!
Here are a few pictures from a park adventure hike last week. A lot of the shots I have with Keaton have other kids in them as well so I don't feel like I can post the pics here, without permission. If there faces weren't in it I wouldn't mind. So mostly here is Sully on a hike.
I think he may have been pouting in this last shot...
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