Wilderness Excursion

For some times now I've been meaning to hike some trails at the Barfield Park. And when I say hike I mean HIKE!
I had never ventured to those trails before cause I was never sure where the trailheads started and never really felt pulled enough to stop at the Wilderness Station and ask. After stepping out for my weather test of the morning I thought it would be a perfect day for The Trails. We have had rain for, I swear, about 3 weeks but not this morning. This morning the sun was shining and the air was crisp. Fall is coming and man does it feel great!
We pull up to the playground area and I notice a small path leading up through the woods. Alright, we'll start here! Unload the kids, bike, stroller, snacks & camera and off we go. As soon as we are through the first veil of trees we start an uphill trek. The path curves and winds and I can't find the level ground I'm hoping for. Round & Round and Up we go. I am now at a 90 degree angle trying to push this stroller with Logan on my heels struggling to push his bike. He wants to stop and go back to put his back up but there is NO WAY I'm turning back now! We've covered such little ground but gone soooo far! Poor kid. This has turned into a lesson in endurance.

We FINALLY reach the top of Mnt. Summit and I do a small victory dance full of whoop whoops and take that's. Just a little one...no one is around for pete's sake! Theses are serious nature trails. None of this I'll take a little stroll down the greenway. We were up and down and around almost the whole time. Logan didn't even want to ride his bike. Plus I'm pretty sure I saw a No Bikes Allowed sign somewhere along the way. I'm guessing it's just for nature walks/runners.

After our victorious defeat B & I were taking in the scenes. Our moment was distured when I heard a Whomp! And then an Ahhh...HEY!! Logan had been collecting whole acorns from the ground and was apparently spotted by a squirrel trying to prepare for winter. Yeah, he threw an acorn at Logan's head. We dropped the acorns and scurried off but, I'm pretty sure we were being watched.
Then we noticed these little plaques all along the trail that told about many of the trees in the woods. It showed what kind of bark & leaf a certain one had. Well this was a scavenger hunt in the making and a pretty good lesson on nature while we were at it! Logan loved trying to identify the different trees by their leaves. Then he would have to find that leaf on the ground and store it in the stroller to take home. "This is like an awesome treasure hunt, " he exclaimed!

Our last stop was to the West Fork River overlook that was .5 miles from our You Are Here location. We pass more plaques, spiders, squirrels and falling leaves and finally make it. We parked the stroller/bike and hiked down to the river bank. There were small stone steps for this part. It was VERY muddy from the 3 weeks of rain but Big Brutha loved it and declared it him and his dad's new fishing spot. So it shall be.

Now remember our up-hill battle? Yeah, we gotta go back down. Imagine me, back arched, heels to the ground holding a stroller carrying a 22 lb. baby with one hand and trying to help Logan steady his bike with the other. I am sooo glad we went out early during a week day and no one could witness this. Although, that also means no one was there to witness my amazing multi-tasking skills! This all happened on Monday and my legs are just now feeling the wrath! Ohhhh the pain!

We did have a blast hiking through nature though. It's nice to get back to that quiet, peaceful one with the world feeling every once in a while. I'm hoping to instill that into the kiddos as well.
This is just a shot of B from My Point of View. She loves to kick back and relax in her stroller! Must be nice;)

Dear Ann...

See that? Those blogs over there to the right? Those are for you. Your welcome. And Ann (and anyone else un-aware of this awesome site), let me let you in on a little secret. It's called Google Reader. It's amazing and the organizational side of me looves it. I know yours will too. Here's a screenshot of my Google reader. You can click on the pic for further details.
Basically one would want to do this so they don't have to keep checking individual sites daily to see if new content has been posted. Just go to one site and manage all your subscriptions there and IT lets you know when new content has posted. Pretty convenient huh!

Brynn, you are NOW a toddler!

So Whatcha up to these days??

You will dance to almost any & every song you hear! And girl you've got some rhythm! None of this white-man shuffle thing. You've got full on shoulder, hip, twist and SHOUT action.

You love airplanes! Anytime one flies overhead you yell and point, say HI and then BYE and blow them kisses. It really is fascinating to watch you.
You are FAST!! Why just the other day in Barnes & Noble you almost had a fit over an Elmo doll. When I finally snuck it away from you (the thing was $15 for a small plush toy for pete's sake) and walked to the front of the store you did the arms up back arch move to slide out of my arms and took off full speed to the back of the store to retrieve your Elmo.
I had to SPRINT to catch you!
Elmo & Eebee are your favorite charcters although you're not really into tv.

You have many serious-face moments.

You can almost see the wheels turning trying to figure out this crazy world we live in.
Me Too Girl!

Your hair has gotten much lighter over the summer and I see some ringlets forming back there. All I really wanted (aside from health & happiness of course) was for you to have good hair and I think it's beautiful! Your eyes are a warm caramel color that reminds me of a favorite cappacuino and your skin is olive.

A perfect combination.

There is nothing you won't try. Especially if you see Big Brutha doing it first. Jumping on beds, couches & cushions is a big hit with you. Speaking of Logan, he adores you and you him. Watching the 2 of you interact is usually the best part of my day. People at the parks are amazed at how well you can do and go and climb for yourself.

I think the elder sibling has helped with this sense of adventure.

You can find your

Eyes, hair, ears & nose

Belly, hands, fingers & toes

You have mastered climbing UP the steps and are well on your way to sliding yourself

(on your belly) back DOWN the steps.

Your vacbulary is expanding daily.

Family:

Mama, Dada & Bobo (logan)

Mimi & Poppy

Nana, Pop, HayHay,Cway & Minny (Clay & Vinny respectably)

Kiki, ZaK, TayTay, Addy

Animals:

Cat, Dawg hose, frog, duck, coooow, efant

Manners:

Peez (please)

DaDu (thank you)

Random: Hungy, by-by, HI, hewoow (hello), hug, A Dun (all done), Dumpy (jumpy) & baby

Just to name a few.

You make animal noises too.

You have a mouth full of teeth. The last 2 sets you needed were your upper and lower incisors. Welp, I noticed the top ones breaking through just today.
Finicky, Toddler-like eating is creeping in and

I'm battling with all my might to keep you a Good, I'll try whatever, kind of eater.

Your Hugs & Kisses are plentiful! All day, every day.

And let's not forget the Hi-Fa's (high fives) & the blowing of kisses...even to strangers.

Well, I don't actually think you've EVER met a stranger.
You love to slide and...

Love to swing but...

The thing you love most right now is ME!

Keep on Growing baby

And never stop Experiencing

Cause I'll always be one step behind
Learning right along with you.

A Little Light Reading

To stop me from having to say:
Logan put your dishes in the sink
Logan dirty clothes go in the hamper
Logan have you brushed your teeth
Logan you need to pick up your room

50,000 times a week!

I made his very own Chore Chart & printed it at our local Kinkos.

So now all I have to say is

Logan, have you checked your chart??

This makes mama very happy.

He's done fairly well with it so far. Only lost a few coins here and there (even a whole dollar at one point for some not so good behavior). After he saved for about 3 weeks he was finally able to purchase the book his little heart has soooo been desiring

Can we say OBSESSED!! Pokemon is alll up in this house right now! I am very glad I didn't try to re-do his room with touches of Mario here and there cause that character is out the window. I must admit, I thoroughly enjoy playing Pokemon on his DS and find this massive Pokemon Guide very useful for my adventures. It's HUGE!

With all the excitement from his new purchase I need to make sure he finds time to read something a tad more important:

I had gotten a letter from our church stating that they'd be giving Bibles out to all the new 3rd graders with their names inscribed on it. Well I tried to call the office and let them know we'd be there but didn't reach anyone and then *gasp* I forgot all about it! When Sunday rolled around we got ready for early service (late service is smack in the middle of someone's nap) and off we went. It wasn't until I walked in and saw the lady I had tried to contact sitting at the front. Oh crap! That's this Sunday! Poor guy's gonna be the only kid not getting his very own Bible today! Mrs. Touchton immediately walked up behind during the first song and let me know she's ordered him one just in case we made it and that we needed to go up with him when it was time.
It was a great service and touched on a few things that I really needed to hear. Josh & I ushered him to the front for the presentation and prayers from the preachers.

Logan started looking through it as soon as we'd made it back to our seats. It has the look of a regular bible for adults but as we looked through it I was pleasantly surprised how geared toward children it was! It has some really cool colorful pictures and maps throughout it and tells you the story you're about to read at the beginning of the chapter (very handy for me).

He seemed to really like it but, something tells me,

he's a little side-tracked with another good read at the moment.