Nature Hike

We enjoyed a warm Veterans Day morning at the nature preserve near our house.  It is one of my favorite places to go with the kids.  We call our walks in the preserve "nature hikes"...less intense than a hike, slightly more intense than a walk, but with a lot of nature involved!

Byron is an excellent hiker... he runs most of the way.

This bridge across the "waterfall" is a favorite spot for the kids (but is makes me a little nervous...see Byron about to fall off the edge across the way...).

New trail markers were recently placed along our favorite trails, and the kids loved pointing them out (and touching them if they could reach).  Even Meredith would get excited and say "Circle!  Circle!"

Tree bouncing

 Gwen and the "lichen log"

Meredith had great difficulty staying on the trail.  To her defense it was one big blanket of leaves, but she'd just keep walking straight ahead, even when faced with sticks, logs, and thickly growing plants.

Gwen and Byron liked these fallen trees.  First Byron took a stick he was carrying and stuck it in every little hole he could find in the tree trunk.  He said "I'm charging my battery."  Then Gwen and Byron played "foxes" for quite awhile.  They were baby foxes, and Byron must have said "Our mom and dad are dead" about twenty times.  (Recently they've been playing a lot of orphan make believe.)  Finally I agreed to let the baby foxes live in our house for the winter, and the nature hike continued. 

Gwen and Byron "recharging" their batteries.