Enjoying the Outdoors

Spring Break was really tough for me. I tried hard not to but every morning I found myself thinking, "Oh, today we would have been in Charleston!" or "Today we would be touring Gone With the Wind sites in Atlanta!" It about broke me heart. Everything we did during Spring Break definitely paled in comparison to what we would have been doing had we been able to go on our road trip but I did try to make it a fun week for the kids. We did the usual - movies, staying up late, playing outside - but one of the things we enjoyed doing most as a family was hiking at Gunpowder Falls. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Noah loved posing for pictures!

I even got Xander a few times as well.

The boys were so excited to find this log to climb.

I have pretty cute kids!

It's even more fun to jump off the log!

To scare off mountain lions, all one needs to do is hit two sticks against each other. We learned this trick from an old Indian guide. Mountain lions are ferocious; "they'll eat cha, ya know!" (Ha ha, love The Parent Trap.) Noah took it very seriously.

Of course, the kids LOVE the water so we spent some time throwing rocks and trying to keep Noah from going for a swim.

Being silly!

Love these three!

And then we came to The Log. Xander hurried on up with Noah slowly following. This one proved much too high for Savannah's liking and she stayed below with us.

The boys quickly made their way up and then came to the realization that they had no idea how to get down. Backing up was a little too scary and the jump was daunting!

So, we took a few pictures and then did our best to help them get off. No pictures of the jumps because both hands of both parents were needed.

My cute girl hates when I take pictures of her but I got her to consent to one or two.

On the way back David challenged Savannah and Xander to a race which didn't end well when Savannah tripped and fell, scraping up her knee. Noah poked along behind, gathering stick after stick after stick. He came home with quite a pile!

All that walking and climbing and jumping and stick collecting can really wear a kid out!