Hike! 2...3...4...5...6....Up the Hill!

We've been wanting to do something as a family all summer. Yellowstone? Maybe. If we could remember to pack food the night before and leave early to make the drive up there. The local "lake"? Nah. It's always crowded in the summer. But about 20 minutes away is a gorgeous little hiking spot called "Cress Creek". So off we took last Saturday, lunch in hand, and drove up in the hills a bit.

Look at that view! Cress Creek got the name because the water is naturally warmed and as it flows down the side of the mountain/hill, it congregates in little pools allowing watercress to grow. I suppose you could harvest it, but we didn't let the kids. Nature isn't as clean as it used to be, which is a shame because it would have been fantastic on my sandwhich!

We got there and had our lunch before starting our climb. I strapped Daniel on my back, partly because his little legs are pretty short to hike up, and partly because I was curious to see how much harder my body had to work over 30 lbs ago. No wonder I was always tired! These pictures were taken at the top of our climb, which was not quite the top of the trail. But we had some tired little boys, with tired little legs by this point, and so chose to head back. The whole hike took us a little over an hour, with a nervous mommy on some of the downhill parts!

But it was fun and I'm glad we were able to go and enjoy some time as a family.