A Giant Adventure…

Wow!  We have had a busy few weeks.  I was going to show what we did this weekend, but I still have to figure out how to get my pictures off of my new phone.  Not sure if I have the right cable to connect to the computer, so I might have to email myself the pics that I was going to share with you from our trip to town.  Technology…

So instead we are going to take a blast back to the very, very recent past…  Sunday, March 6, 2011…

The weather had been cold, damp, and dreary.  The weather forecast was promising for this day though.  Sunny and mid to upper 40’s says the weather man.  Braden has been wanting to go on a picnic and take a picnic basket.  Why not?  We haven’t been to Southern IL for a while.  Let’s get up and go in the morning.  4:30 pm, decision made. 

6:30 am, Morning comes, we look out the window.  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.  Pack a picnic lunch, grab some coats, camera ready, head out the door.  Load up kiddos, load up dog, load up us.  Roll on down the drive.  The boys have no clue where we are going, just that we must be going to have a picnic.  Fun! 

Driving along, we look out the window.  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.  We arrive at our destination.  Lunch now, or hike first?  It is still cold, lets hike first.  Everyone will be ready to eat by the time we get done.  Everyone is rearing to go at this point.  It is still cold, bundle up boys!  Coats, gloves, hats… A hiking we will go!

TanMan and I headed up the rear of the pack.  The bigger guys and Nova darted on ahead.  There were rocks to climb, clues to find, adventure awaiting.

 

There is always time to take a moment and share a cool find with your brothers, or take the more adventurous route to see what lies ahead of us.

And when you reach the top, take another moment to hang out with your buddies.

As we trudge on, I look around.  Still cloudy, still cold.  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.  I certainly hope…

Whoa!  Look at this!  Can we move it.  Riley recruits his strapping little brothers to help him out, and they didn’t budge it one little bit!  But, they sure gave it a go.  I think it might take a bit more to get that log further off the trail.  Maybe that is why it is still there.  ;)

   

Someone was getting tired, and cold, and had worn out little legs.  Daddy saved the day and carried him the rest of the way.  A catch twenty two though…  This led to getting colder than everyone else.  Those muscles weren’t getting used, made for a cold little man by the end of our little one mile hike.  We trudged on.

Giant City State Park near Carbondale, IL is such an awesome area!  We love to come hiking and camping here.  So lucky to have this spot so close to home.  We can be here within an hour.  So many areas to explore close to home…  We have vowed to do these kinds of trips more this year.  It is awesome to watch the expressions from the boys while they explore.  Even when it is cold. 

I looked away from my camera…  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.

   

 

 

After stopping at the “alligator rock” near the end of the trail, we continued on down the last stretch of trail and finished up our hike. 

Everyone was cold.  And hungry.  And cold.  And thirsty.  And cold.  (oh, did I already mention that?!?!?!)  Time for our picnic on this sunny, bit warmer day.  Darn it, the weather man lied!  You shouldn’t lie ya know?  Anyway…  We now had tears, maybe wails, from TanMan (he was cold, and he does not like to be cold, and he lets his unhappiness be known very loudly!) We had other cold, hungry boys.  But a picnic we shall still have!  TanMan and I gathered our rations from the picnic basket and hopped in the van with the heat cranked as we sent the others on their way.  They headed to the pavilion to have a picnic, at the picnic tables, with the picnic basket.  Hardcore folks. Hardcore.  Little bit of cold is not stopping this crew!  They shivered and scarfed their food down and then came back to pile into the nice, cozy, warm van to finish their picnic.  We stopped in the little visitor center at the park, grabbed a geocache, and finished thawing out a bit before we headed home.

But that is not all, folks.  Oh, no…

I was still looking around…  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.

It was at home!!!!!!  Who knew!!!  That sun and little bit of warmth was waiting for us in our own backyard!  So we took advantage and got a teeny bit of yard work done.

Goodbye little dogwood tree.  I will miss you so.  You just could not endure the drought from last summer.  Goodbye little pine tree.  You also did not fare well…

Of course this job meant getting the old Case out, and getting the old Case out means rides for boys, and that makes everyone forget being cold.  We will have another picnic and hike on another warmer day soon.  Ross always says that good things come to those who wait, so we will just have to wait a little longer.

You know what I love about my guys?  That no matter what the conditions might be, they trudge on and are such troopers.  Despite my repeated reminder of how cold it was, everyone had a blast!!!!!!!!!  These guys are the greatest in the world!  I am glad that the four of them are mine!

Looking forward to spring days and  more adventures for 2011!