On Sunday morning, we seemed to have one of those rare, planets aligning moments where all four of us…well five of us, including Asta…woke up filled with energy and in pretty ebullient moods. The weather was beautiful, and Erin suggested we take a nice hike before it got too hot.
So we got our act together and headed out the door. We have a nice easy trail that runs right next to our neighborhood. There are some nice views along the way and it’s frankly crazy that we don’t use it more often, really.
The kids enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, and we made it at least 10 minutes before either one of them asked to be picked up or asked when we’d be back home.
But there were enough points of interest along the way to keep them going. There is a little underpass right by a creek, and there is a nice set of murals, as well.
We walked over to a wooden bridge, which Henry was fascinated by.
There was also a nice little nature station warning us about coyotes and rattlesnakes.
Fortunately we didn’t see any of those. The biggest issue was trying to teach Henry about right of way when bikers would zoom by.
We walked a couple of miles and had a great hike, getting home just as it was starting to get uncomfortably hot outside. So that was a nice bit of timing. To cool off, we had some homemade popsicles that Erin and and the kids had made. Basically frozen smoothies, so they actually have nutritional value, too! Pretty different from the ones I had growing up, which I’m pretty sure were just frozen red dye.
I was thinking back to earlier days of this blog, and I remember at the start of quarantine, lo those hundred or so days ago, we would be taking at least short walks most every day. Things have gotten so busy that we’ve gotten a little off track with that, but this was a great reminder that it’s an important thing to keep on the priority list. Particularly when there are so many things we can’t do as family right now, those moments are extra special.
After we got home, we FaceTimed with Grandma and Pop-Pop and wound up having them over for an impromptu dinner. They had been traveling and we hadn’t seen them in a few weeks, so it was nice having them over and the kids were thrilled.
A storm had kind of rolled through and while we didn’t get hit, we got a nice cool off so it was really pleasant to sit outside. I made some barramundi (see recipe here) and we had a great chat and dinner.
Another weekend on the books. As always, it went too fast, but I do feel like this time around we were able to take things a little slower and smell the roses, anyway.
