On Thursday night, our local early childhood group had an event for families at the local wildlife refuge. Ram was planning to go with us, but one of the churches had a voter's meeting change the date so he was unable to go. My family never did much hiking or any camping, so I feel out of place on events like this.
We arrived early and I took a bunch of photos and this one turned out the best.
Each family brought their own picnic. We had a simple picnic (PB&J, grapes, etc.) compared to others, but I brought a real picnic basket unlike others. My boys only lasted a few minutes on this blanket, they wanted to go explore!
This big rock was not too far from our picnic area and the older Lambs played up there. Lamb 3 played in the dirt at the bottom of this area. A scavenger hunt (look for animal tracks, birds, leaves, etc.) was planned, but before they passed out the info on that, the Lambs wanted to go for a walk. And walk...hike... we did. Lamb 3 lasted about 2 minutes before I had to carry him. Lamb 2 made it the whole time (there was no way I was carrying him!), but after about 20 minutes he looked red in the face and tired. So we sat down here on this rock and took a short break. I spent the rest of the walk encouraging him that it was only a little farther even though I knew it was quite a bit farther!
Lamb 1 could have gone another 1/2 hour and didn't get tired at all. I tried to remind myself that I did the hike with an extra 25 lbs and it was steep uphill for 1/2 of the hike, but I felt really out of shape after a 1/2 hour hike. The mosquitoes were just starting to get bad when we got back to our picnic area. We picked up the scavenger hunt papers and recorded what we saw on our hike even though we weren't specifically looking for what was on the papers. Lamb 1 was excited that he saw a deer and I was glad he knew how to spell deer and write it on his paper. The group gave out kites and other outdoor prizes to those who attended. There were about 9 or 10 families so it was pretty good attendance. When we got home I gave all the Lambs complete tick checks. The night was successful and I felt like a good boy mom to do all that by myself. It gives me sympathy for those who are single moms all the time.
We arrived early and I took a bunch of photos and this one turned out the best.
Each family brought their own picnic. We had a simple picnic (PB&J, grapes, etc.) compared to others, but I brought a real picnic basket unlike others. My boys only lasted a few minutes on this blanket, they wanted to go explore!
This big rock was not too far from our picnic area and the older Lambs played up there. Lamb 3 played in the dirt at the bottom of this area. A scavenger hunt (look for animal tracks, birds, leaves, etc.) was planned, but before they passed out the info on that, the Lambs wanted to go for a walk. And walk...hike... we did. Lamb 3 lasted about 2 minutes before I had to carry him. Lamb 2 made it the whole time (there was no way I was carrying him!), but after about 20 minutes he looked red in the face and tired. So we sat down here on this rock and took a short break. I spent the rest of the walk encouraging him that it was only a little farther even though I knew it was quite a bit farther!
Lamb 1 could have gone another 1/2 hour and didn't get tired at all. I tried to remind myself that I did the hike with an extra 25 lbs and it was steep uphill for 1/2 of the hike, but I felt really out of shape after a 1/2 hour hike. The mosquitoes were just starting to get bad when we got back to our picnic area. We picked up the scavenger hunt papers and recorded what we saw on our hike even though we weren't specifically looking for what was on the papers. Lamb 1 was excited that he saw a deer and I was glad he knew how to spell deer and write it on his paper. The group gave out kites and other outdoor prizes to those who attended. There were about 9 or 10 families so it was pretty good attendance. When we got home I gave all the Lambs complete tick checks. The night was successful and I felt like a good boy mom to do all that by myself. It gives me sympathy for those who are single moms all the time.
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