January 31st

Tuesday was a rare, gorgeous January day. It got up to 60 degrees and although a bit windy, it was a perfect day to be outside. After Meredith, Charlie and I picked up the boys we went to French Park to take a hike. Unfortunately, wanting to be detached from everything and just hang out with the kids and nature, I didn't bring my camera. Or even my phone, which I have been taking more pictures with than the camera.

So...what I didn't photograph:

Charlie walking up an asphalt hill with his wet jeans rolled to just below his knees, barefoot and holding Louie's hand. Louie's other hand is being held by Meredith as they trekked up the hill to our van. Benny was just behind them, though he was facing me because he assigned himself the duty of watching for oncoming cars.

It was warm, but certainly no responsible mother would let their child walk barefoot in January! After picking up the boys I realized that I left the bag of boots in the kitchen. We left the school, hurried back home and I grabbed the bag...not realizing that Charlie had knocked it over earlier and one of Ben's boots fell out. The honest soul that he is let us know that when we were at the park and I was scrambling around looking for the boot's partner.

Of course Benny was upset, but he agreed to be careful in his gym shoes while on the trail. He was obviously bummed because they are used to walking through the creek. He wasn't the one I had to worry about. We were three-fourths of the way through and Charlie misjudged the depth of the water and the ice-cold creek crept over his boot, soaking his legs and getting his socks wet. Crying ensued and our outing was over.

Charlie was sobbing hysterically and Lou and Ben were not happy that their hike was cut short, but all-in-all they were good sports about leaving the park. They knew that it stinks to be soaking wet and cold. We have since made plans to start our own "hiking club" complete with notebooks to keep track of what trails we take at different parks, what we find and what happens on our adventures. I'm excited about this.