the last day of "summer"

we have been trying to make it through a few of the kids 'must-dos' for summer and on this last day of summer vacation, we chose a hike on a trail the littles and i did last year but that the bigs (and dad) have never been to yet.

so relaxing! well, once we got past the first ten minutes when no one wanted to be there. then we all had a great time.

what do you see where you look at the wood in these pictures?

the kids saw a giraffe head - an all grandparent favorite animal - so we snapped some pictures.

this tree was so cool because the trunk was completely hollow - and the tree was still alive and baring fruit!

mason collected some acorns and arranged them in order to make it easier for squirrels to find them. he was disappointed to see that the acorns were untouched when we walked back on our way back to the car.

how cool is this close cluster of 4 different looking trees?

the boys and i were the only ones brave enough to step off of the trail for this tee-pee/lean-to structure.

we stopped by new (to us) location of one of the kids favorite donuts shops - peace, love and little donuts. this location makes the donuts to order! it was pretty cool to have each donut made right to our specifications - the kids really enjoyed watching - and they were ooey-gooey delicious!

we had some friends who we invited to join us for our hike and couldn't join us, text about a park meet up in the afternoon. the kids had so much fun running around and "hunting squirrels." the park was hopping today! i think everyone was out for one last trip before school starts tomorrow.

such a perfect way to end our laid back summer. love.