Visiting With an Old Friend

We went and picked up one of my friends whom I have been friends with since high school and have been having from traipsing all over the county finding ways to wear her out. Not that being around my four children is not tiring. :) It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to take her to our favorite hiking spot. It is not too strenuous and the kids really enjoy it. Plus it has beautiful views. We had such a blast just taking pictures and exploring the trail. It has been great spending time with such a great friend, I have not laughed so hard in forever! I told her she missed her calling and that she should have been a comedian. Here are some of the pictures from our hike.

Below is a picture of Rene with my children standing under the famous stone bridge that starts our hike on our favorite trail. I was not close enough so the picture is not the best. I am not used to her camera.



Below are some of the first views you can enjoy from the trail. They are so much more beautiful in person, pictures just do not capture it all.





Then my two little girls decided to pick some flowers and Rene put them in their hair and took this picture. They look so sweet! Notice the baby doll. They both actually had baby dolls they brought on the hike only my 3yr old kept giving her baby to me to hold onto. :)




Then my son decided to take these huge leaves and turn them into a mask. I thought it was very creative and I snapped this picture. He looks like a masked villain!



Then he hid behind a tree to scare us. We were on to him though and snapped this picture just as he jumped out to scare us. The movement made it a bit blurry but you can still see the mischievous smile he has.


We made it through the wooded part of the trail and arrived at the open meadows. The grass has grown so tall already! Rene snapped this picture of my 7yr old running down the trail. I just have flashbacks of Little House and the Prairie when I look at these next few pictures. That and flashbacks of my childhood growing up on my grandparents farm and walking around in the fields before we mowed them. Good memories!


They all spotted a monarch butterfly and went over to inspect it. The butterflies were out in abundance which made my daughters very happy. One even landed on top of my 3yr olds head. I wish I would have been able to snap that picture in time but it flew off before I could.



When we got further into the meadow we decided to sit down and take a break. The tall grass was beckoning to the kids to just jump in and play. The girls jumped in and decided to play house. They made rooms in the tall grass and played with their baby dolls in the "houses" they made. My son loved to get in the tall grass and pretend to be a fierce animal. He crawled around and scared the girls for a bit and then just lounged around with the tall grass surrounding him making him invisible to everyone. The clouds were very pretty and he liked to watch them while laying there. Here is a picture of the girls in their grass house. They had not built all the rooms yet. This was the very start of their game.

And her is my 3yr in her play house. Here baby had her own room and she had another. They had such fun doing this.


Well even though we had a lot of fun we still did not make it to the top of this trail. I had to promise the kids we would come back soon to conquer the trail and once we get to the top I will post those pictures. Their are so many different trails to go on that I believe we could take all summer and still not make it through all of them. We also need to go to some of the waterfalls in the area as they are beautiful this time of year. So we are having a blast and plan on enjoying the rest Rene's visit. I am sure she will be in need of a "vacation" when this vacation is over. :)