Fall Hike

I love summer.  I really do.  Warm days, warm evenings.  Camping - friends over for late dinners outside.  No school.  But fall is starting to win me over.  There's something magical about the light, about leaves tumbling their way down the stark blue sky. It's breathtaking.  And of course, school's in session.  That's a nice part I have to admit. 

Starting last Friday we officially started "hiking Fridays".  Since the kids don't have school I thought it would be a great way to get outside - reguardless of the weather.  We initiated our Fridays in Sedona with my mom last week.  Sedona, as many of you know, is stunning, even when it's pouring down rain.  And I mean pouring.  We took Stanley, my mom and the kids and we got sooooo wet.  Sam though, outdoor boy, didn't want to stop.  He had so much fun hiking with Stanley and jumping through the puddles.  It was fun...in a wet sort of way.  The best part was lunch at a restaurant and a late afternoon pie stop. 

Since Stanley is now a city dog, he requires daily walks, which I'm sure he's liking.  So instead of doing this on my own, I bring him to school to pick up the kids and then we all take him for a walk after school.  The other day we went up Acker Park, all the way to the top.  En route both Perrin and Sam made comments about how beautiful it was (even though it was brown and not so pretty in my opinion).  They loved taking Stan for a walk, Stan loved it and I liked getting everyone outside and active. 

This past Friday we decided to go down the street where I have mountain biked in the past to take our hike.  The kids started out strong but about 20 minutes into it they started to whimper.  So at a small hill we decided to go exploring off trail and headed down to a ravine.  Much to our surprise and delight, we found a shelter someone had created around a set of boulders and a small pond where there was still some water left from the recent rains.  The kids were so excited and played there for probably an hour.  Perrin made a nature collection of all sorts of leaves, grasses and pinecones that she could find.  Meanwhile, Sam made a contraption for catching something over the pond. I'm not quite sure what it was supposed to be, but he was quite pleased with his creation.  Stanley of course was happy to run around unhindered while I just sat and admired the beauty around me.  It was so much fun and I'm looking forward to next Friday.  Balin comes home this Tuesday after being gone for almost 4 weeks.  I'm sure he'll be excited to participate in Friday hikes.