Sawnee Mountain

     

In honor of election day [no preschool], I told Ryan I would think up something fun to do.  And until I was ready to tell Ryan what we were doing, I simply told him we were going on a surprise.  He was so cute asking if we were going outside, was it far away, have we been there before.  So yesterday at breakfast I told him we were going to a moutain for a hike, playground, etc.  He was very excited! 

As we got closer, we could see the mountain [hill really] from a distance and I told Ryan we were climbing that mountain.  And as we were driving towards the parking lot, we went through some beautiful fall trees.  Ryan loved the mountain and then the forest.  As we parked, Ryan exclaimed: "You picked the goodest surprise Mommy!"  What a wonderful feeling!

We began by hiking to the top of the mountain and yes, we made it all the way!  Ryan said later something along the lines of: "we tripped a couple of times, but we still had fun."  Ryan did great walking and Abby spent most of the hike on my shoulders or hip.  When I'd let her down she had no interest in walking; she loved looking at the rocks and leaves on the trail.  At one point I realized she was very intently watching an ant!  love it!  We enjoyed exploring the Indian Seats [huge rocks] at the top, even though the place was swarming with elementary schoolers on a field trip.  So much for a peaceful walk in nature :)  

When we made it back down, we ate a picnic lunch [Ryan ate every bite of food I gave him; hiking makes him hungry apparently!] and then played on the playground.  We enjoyed a short game of hide-and-seek, even though Ryan's hiding spots weren't always so hidden and Abby kept peaking [I was too, but c'mon I'm not really going to close my eyes while my kids run around a public park!].  We also checked out the visitor's center, which wasn't all that exciting, although it was totally worth it to get the picture of Ryan with the antlers!  The only two fun things were a touch table with the antlers, bones, turtle shells, teeth, birdnests, etc and then a bee hive inside a glass viewing thingy. 

It was such a wonderful day and I had a really great time!  I'm so blessed to have the two best, most amazing kids ever :)  I loved watching Ryan and Abby take everything in and enjoy the beautiful day!