Livin' the Dream: Hiking in June

Saturday dawned, rather overcast and cloudy, after a night of being up for 3hrs with a screaming 9mon old. Friday I had been gone from 12:45 until 10:30pm visiting my Grammie (who isn't doing very well), and when Timothy fussed at 2am, saw me, then watched me head back to bed, he decided reconnecting with Mommy was MUCH more interesting than sleeping.

All that to say, Josh and I weren't feeling overly excited about our initial plans to go hiking. However, we had a little boy who has been asking to go "hiking, Mommy?" every day this week, and had been promised a Saturday excursion. So, in light of keeping promises, we decided to head out, and were most blessed for our decision by a truly wonderful day.

The delights started not 20min from our house when we were excited to discover a family of foxes playing atop a pile of bales. I (ahem) pulled the tourist moved, stood on top of our van, changed lenses once, and took, oh, 91 pictures of the foxes... :-D

We stopped in Olds to grab a few groceries to supplement our lunch, then I fell asleep shortly out of Olds and slept for a good hour of the remaining 2hr trip.

This was the scenery that met our eyes at our chosen hiking destination... Who says Alberta doesn't have mountains?!! ;-)

Peter also decided to take the opportunity to nap...

We saw tons of deer - poor Peter kept missing them and asking, "More deer, daddy!"

Ahem! That was the sign for the last part of the road we traversed. To quote my husband, "I don't know WHY they don't recommend vehicle travel! I guess if it was wet it might have been hard to get back up that hill..."

And we're off! Josh with his baby and his teddy bear pacifier, and Peter skipping ahead, most excited to be hiking. :-)

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the colour and texture contrasts of moss? I do. :-)

My precious little man. There is NOTHING like a little boy who's just learned to talk!

Jumping down a small incline

Peter "What it Daddy?" Josh, "I think it might be bear droppings..."

We met many streams and one big river along our travels. All were "waher!" and opportunities for a "spash"

Ok, I LOOK like I'm telling him to go fetch here, but really I'm not. What I'm actually saying is, "See this stick, Peter? Watch it... See how fast it's going down the river? That's how fast YOU'D go if you fell in..."

Of course, every pile of rocks is something to be conquered

My baby boy chillin' with my handsome hubby. I do so love that man!

"Look, Peter, ants!"

"Look, Peter, elk turds." "DROPPINGS!" "Sorry, Peter, they're droppings when around ladies, and turds when only guys are out in the woods together."

Sigh. I try. It is moments like these I wonder if I might need a daughter.

We found a little roadside pond and inspected the pond life therein.

Looking down the steep incline to the river below

There is something about the contrast of bright green lichen and dark grey wood that makes my heart happy. To think that God cares enough to create such vivid colours! And to think that some people believe He is happier with them when they wear only drab colours...

Yup, I indoctrinated him well. "Look, Mommy, be-u-tiful moss!"

Of course, so has his father. "Look, mommy, ehk!"

Our happy little man, quite content to bounce along on Daddy's back.

Doesn't this look like a comical dog or something?

"Waher, Mommy!"

"Let's see if I can walk across it without getting caught..."

"Mommy, stuck!"

Josh building a bridge with which to cross a larger stream

Got to relieve that latent ferocity somehow I guess...

My hero-man. Peter was getting tired after 3km, and asked if I could carry him, which I was about to do. Josh intervened and said in no uncertain terms that I was not carrying him, and proceeded to carry both boys for another kilometer.