She's A Hoot: a little Sunday morning adventure

We woke up this morning and the sun was shining and we decided that we had better seize the day and spend some time outside.

We were looking for some "adventure"... of course the word "adventure" means different things to people who have two small kids in tow. But I think we did pretty well. :-)

We are so fortunate to live in a place where we have such easy access to so many neat outdoor activities, and today we were looking for something easy and spontaneous and close to home where our girls could run around, soak up some sun, and explore a little bit in the great outdoors.

We decided that we would venture out to Grimes Point/Hidden Cave and enjoy a little hike. It has several "easy" hiking trails and is only 15 minutes from home, so it was just the kind of "adventure" we were looking for.

When we got there, I realized that I had forgotten to put the SD card back in my camera. Am I the only one who does that ALL.THE. TIME?!?! So I took all of these pictures with my phone. I was bummed at first, but they didn't turn out too bad actually.

The kids had fun hiking around, looking at the petroglyphs at Grimes Point and exploring the rocks looking for lizards and the like.

The petroglyphs are really cool. No one knows what they mean, though. Hoot was going to try to figure it out anyway.

There are these little signs everywhere explaining the different things around, telling the story of the ancient people that once lived here. Carly kept telling us that they said, "BE NICE!" on them. Who are we to tell the kid that she can't read yet?

When we went around to the Hidden Cave part of the site, we decided to take the hike around the Hidden Cave Loop. It is around a mile and pretty rocky and steep - especially if you are only three.

But my Hoot is a trooper. She hiked every step of the way and we didn't have to carry her at all. She never whined, she never complained - she just pressed on. I'm so proud of her!! (She even peed outside, which on the way there she told us she would never do because "I'm not a dog. People pee INSIDE." But when you gotta go, you gotta go - and she squatted behind a rock and went - and then happily exclaimed, "Dad! I did it! I peed outside like a dog!" LOL)

Bug rode on her Daddy's shoulders like the queen, pointing out rocks and grass and birds.

It's so nice to just spend sometime together, doing something out of the ordinary. It seems like you can really feed your kids' curiosity when you are outside. You can really explore, talk, get to know each other in ways that aren't possible at home or even in your own backyard.

(She was pointing out a "troll" that "lives in this cave". She was kind of mad that we didn't see it. LOL)

My poor little Bug was so worn out that Garrett had to pack a sleeping kid for at least of third of the way. Poor little thing just couldn't keep her eyes open for another second.