All in a day's hike

6/24/2016

I woke up the other day with the idea that it would be a great day to wear the boys out on a hike. Not to miss an opportunity to visit with a friend, I invited my neighbor and her 5 kids along too, yep, that made 8 kids heading out for a hike in the woods, it was sure to be an adventure. (by the way, if you have been around here long you know I have 5 children also, 2 of mine were away at camp so that will help you solve the math problem).

We are blessed to not only live in a mostly rural area but to also have at our disposal an array of metroparks and nature centers with amazing hiking trails. I figured we would head out on a simple 1 mile hike and that as we meandered along and checked out nature it would be perfect to wear out my 2 year old and 4 year old before naptime. Best laid plans...

We started off and the children were all so excited that they quickly ran down the well marked trail. Amidst hoots and hollars it was all we could do to catch streaks of our children as they raced to and fro. Before you know it they took off down the yellow trail, not the blue. That meant an almost 2 mile hike instead of the planned 1 mile trail. But they were all having so much fun and racing each other that even the 2 year old seemed on fire for the finish. I should have known better.

Our first stop was wading at the creek, a favorite spot of my children. Of course my oldest son had to find the crawdad that inevitably pinched his finger, despite mom's warnings of such fiascos.

We stayed for awhile, probably our first mistake. For some reason after the wading adventures the kids racing pace slowed to a crawl, well, at least my 2 y/o's pace did. We then began happening on lots and lots of mud on the trail, several slips and slides later and we were all going to have to strip before getting into the car again.

The adventure continued with the kids finding snails, little known fact we learned...snails like to perch on stinging nettles, ever get ahold of one of those? Yep, each of kids did to. OUCH.

We moms were still trying to enjoy our time to chat, despite my 2 year olds whining protests now about hurting feet. This of course led to piggy back rides because of course since we were taking a short 1 mile walk, mom didn't bring a stroller. While trying to make the best of it we rounded the corner only to be confronted with the older crew of kids putting the bottoms of their shoes up towards the brush on the side of the path. Weird occurance? Apparently not when there is a coiled black rat snake just hanging out on the path waiting to strike. I so wish I was kidding.

Luckily no one was bitten, despite a few Nike strikes we were all unscathed. Finally, to the last stop, the pond to feed the fish. What's that? The crackers mom brought were all consumed by the whining toddler? Well at least there were a few crumbs.