Night Hike

So it seems like this family activity was a really long time ago. A month or so ago, Max was running and ended up really far into the forest and came upon a beautiful little oasis that was perfect to take our family to. There was a large tree across the creek and tons of rocks and creek access to for our boys to play in until night fell. We started our hike at our favorite park, Max really wasn't sure how long of a hike it would be and he since he was running and had gotten lost a couple times, so we just ventured out and hoped for the best. 

Charlie had to throw a couple boulders into the creek before we started.

And my pictures all ended up blurry but whatever...we made memories!

 And we are off on our hike. There were some steep edges so Max ended up carrying Miles for most of it. 

We finally made it after trekking through  some mud and steep hills. It ended up being closer than Max thought. It was on a less traveled trail between our favorite park and our favorite forest. A new perfect little sanctuary.

 

The boys were prepared with  their water shoes so we just let them loose. And they went for it.

 After we were all wet and muddy and mosquito bitten we decided to head back before it got much darker. We even had this nice little balancing section on our hike back.

And there you have it, an excellent Summer (Spring) family outing.

MUD RUN

About a month ago Max and I participated in a Survivor Mud Run! Lisa stood in the heat while being 9 months pregnant and took tons of photos for us. Thank you Lisa!

We did this run with our friends Richard, Marissa, and Joe and our family (also friends, haha) Brent, Mitch, and Justin.

It was such a fun outing without kids, the weather was perfect and we were getting exercise.

This is us..before we got all muddy!
After running through the first set of mud puddles I realized we were going to have to run the rest of the race with mud and rocks in our shoes, I guess that's the kind of thing that people think is fun.
There were different obstacles like climbing over shipping containers, going over a large tire pile, going up and over bleachers, going over dirt mounds and through mud puddles, going under netting through a mud puddle and lots more mud puddles. There was one obstacle where we had to crawl through a long tube and come out in a mud puddle, I almost opted out of it because it gave me a little anxiety just thinking about going through the tube. I decided to try it and I was pleased that I could fully crawl through it (instead of Army crawling) Max met me at the end and offered my his hand like a gentlemen, somehow I just flopped out into the mud landing on my knees. There must have been a large rock or something really hard that my knee hit because it hurt so bad when I landed. My knee ended up throbbing and bleeding all down my leg, so then I of course, worried about all the diseases that could be in the water. Luckily we were somewhat near the end of the race.

Lisa was at the final mud puddle. 


With the gash on my knee and blood dripping down my leg, I opted out of going through the last mud puddle.

And as I walked off the course, I was booed...What the heck? It kind of made me mad. 


Thank you Marissa for giving them the stink eye. Also, see all the blood...

 

I stood with Lisa and watched everyone getting all muddy, I really didn't feel like I was missing much. These photos aren't really in order but there you go...

And Max and Richard are down....

 

 

And that's my classy husband, throwing a mud clump at Marissa...haha!

 

  So they finally got out of the mud pit and did the final monkey bars and I crossed the finish line with them.

Max went to talk to the paramedic about fixing my knee, while they were cleaning me up, Max and Richard ran back to find Joe, Brent, Mitch, and Justin. 

There was more wrestling and Max and Richard tried to pull Joe down into the mud. And then there were also some group photos. 

 

And there you have it. We rinsed off as much as we could before heading home.  It was a fun event that I don't think I will ever do again, and Max is already signed up for a Spartan Race which is a much longer and more intense version of this one.

And here is Lisa, the amazing photographer, in all her 9 month pregnant glory, and we are so glad baby Emmett is here now!

Father Son/Mother Son dates

A couple weeks ago, Max got to take Charlie on his very first Father and Sons Camping trip. He decided to only take Charlie this time since he was needed to help with a group of the Young Men going as well and it may be a little too much with both boys. Charlie was SO excited for his camping trip. He made a countdown chain and we talked about it daily for 3 weeks before the trip. While Max and Charlie were going to be away I decided to make a special date with Miles and me. 

Once we sent Charlie and Max off with packed lunches (special love notes included), camping gear, and warm clothes, Miles and I got in the car to go swimming. It seems that I rarely get one-on-one time with Miles so it was extra special. My pictures are random since, you know, you can't really take photos in the pool, but here he is getting ready.

We swam for a couple hours. He hasn't done a ton of swimming in his life but he did great and was pretty brave. He loved doing humpty dumpty off the wall and he loved going down the water slide. He even climbed the stairs a million times without asking me to carry him. It's crazy how much easier it feels to have just one kid now. haha. It was so fun to have this time with Miles and to have great conversations with that little chatty boy.

  

After bedtime had already past, we decided to go get dressed and go home. It was fun to let him set the pace. He went down the hall and made sure he sat on every single one of those benches.

He went to bed easily after all the excitement. He slept-in decently since his big brother didn't wake him up. After we were awake, fed, and dressed we made our way to the farmer's market to explore and get some Kettle Corn. We of course had to play at the park and watch the fountains. It was too cold to play in them.

And then we sat on the bench and ate some Kettle corn together.

Right as we got home, Max called and said they were on their way home.

Charlie and Max had a wonderful time. they ran around, played in dirt, ate s'mores and slept in bunk beds in a train car. Max took a couple pictures but I haven't had the chance to pull them off his phone and I'm pretty sure the only picture of Charlie is his back so I'm not too worried!

And hooray for one-on-one dates. Charlie has a date planned for him and me to go to Red Lobster sometime soon. Can't wait!