family walk

we love having a public walking trail running right past our house.  it makes it so easy to go out for a walk after dinner and the kids love exploring the streams, wildlife and trees.  it is also less stressful to be away from traffic.  (the sidewalks i the neighborhood are not continuous yet).

tonight we took the path that runs up behind the high school.  we are close enough to the high school that we can hear outdoor sports and band practice.  we could tell something was going on there so we thought that we would go check it out. 

there is a tree on the trail that get decorated regularly.  at first we thought that it was just a one time thing with some christmas ornaments.  plus, the decorations were only on the back side of the tree where they could only be seen from the trail, not the neighborhood.  then there were easter eggs tied up in the branches.  and then tonight there were stuffed animals.  i have dubbed it the 'mystery tree' because we aren't sure who does it or what the appeal to decorating the back side of one tree on a public trail.  we will be interested to see what is next...

madelyn rode her scooter on the trail (against our advice) and had to abandon it about halfway to the high school because she wasn't satisfied with how slowly she was going on the gravel.  we told her that she could choose to leave it but she was risking that it might not be there when we got back.  she was concerned but was willing to take the risk.

once we got to the high school we found a lacross match in progress.  we sat and watched the very end of the match (about 5 or 10 minutes).  i had never seen a lacross match and it was a nice evening for being outside.  the kids seemed to enjoy it too.  unfortunately, the home team lost.  we took a short cut through the back of the field to pick up the trail close to where madelyn had left her scooter.

maddux was the one who rode it most of the way home though!  when daddy tried to take him off and give it back to madelyn, maddux would not let go! (i think matt was mainly trying to carry it up a steep part that was too muddy to push maddux up.)  it was actually kind of funny because maddux held on to those handlebars for dear life.  even to the point where his feet were not on the ground.  there was nothing matt could do to get him off except pry his fingers off one at a time.

we stopped by the playground for a few minutes before the sun went all the way down.  to our surprise, the covers were off the swimming pools!!  we are all very excited for the pools to open and mason wanted to go swimming right then and there.  they hadn't filled them up with fresh water yet and we still have a few more weeks before we can go swimming.  so excited for this great sign of summer!!

the kids have already asked to walk back to the high school to see another game.  i think next year we will take a look at the home schedules and try to take in a few different sports.  we just love the trail!  love.