Hemlock Bluffs Hike

Today we celebrated another week of good behavior from Reed. The reward he had chosen to work for was going on a "real" hike. Lucky for all of us the weather was PERFECT and we were able to enjoy a family hike together at Hemlock Bluffs.

In order to be a "real" hike we needed the following:

1. Backpacks: This was probably the most important part of the activity. The boys were so excited to pack up their unnecessarily large bags with a lunch, paper, pens, and of course Max's blue monkey "Bluey".
2. A hiking stick: Reed insisted on finding the largest hiking stick possible. He hung onto it for the whole trip and was disappointed when we couldn't bring it home in the car. Instead we found a special spot along the end of the trail to hide it until next time.
3. We had to collect things.
4. It had to not be a hike in our backyard.

Despite the look on Max's face here, they were both anxious to head out on the trail we had selected from the map.




About 3 minutes into the hike Max started with his heavy sighs saying, "huhhhh....this is a long trail....this is a long trail...this is a long trail." He continued this mantra for most of our hike, but really did have a good time and never asked to be carried.


Striking a "funky" hiking pose. I really do not know where Reed gets his moves.


I loved Max's enthusiasm for everything we saw along the way---especially squirrels (or squirrellurs as he calls them) even though we see them in the backyard everyday.


Reed was beaming the whole time. More than once he said, "I'm so glad I got all the smiley faces I needed to go on this hike." We were too.


Towards the end of our hike we stopped at the observation deck for Reed to draw a few of the things that we saw along the way.


What's a hike without trail mix to snack on along the way? I think Max missed the concept of trail mix though and spent his time sorting the pieces into piles... and giving all the raisins to me.


Ruby enjoyed the fresh air and was a trooper for most of the hike.


Goodbye Hemlock Bluffs...we will visit again soon.