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.
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.