Girls Day Out

As you know, hiking is one of our favorite past times. Today, we invited our friends Shirley + Mila to join us. It was their first hike together, so we had intended on an easy hike; however Brooklynn accidentally chose the more challenging path. Whoops!

Shirley + Mila were such troopers!

After an hour hike uphill, we found a cluster of large boulders for our break. Here we enjoyed some snacks and the breathtaking view. The kiddos were pretty amazed to see how far we had hiked in just over an hour. They felt accomplished (and excited to go back down).

While we all rested on the boulders, we found an abandoned metal box hidden in between the rocks. It had been covered up with brush. We contemplated whether we should investigate the contents of the box. Shirley preferred we leave it alone, but the girls insisted this was an adventure...

After weighing the pros + cons of opening the box (pro = fun, con= boring) we removed the box from it's hiding spot and opened it up. I must admit, that I was a bit anxious as we were opening the thing. I'd never forgive myself it it were some human fingers or a dead animal carcus. I know. I watch too many movies.

To our surprise, the contents inside the box were... TOYS! Jacks, some baseball cards, etc. We assumed it belonged to a boy based on the baseball cards. That perhaps they accidentally left it behind. We decided to close it back up and leave it where we found it just in case the boy came back for it. At the very least, another set of hikers could experience the adventure of finding it like us. *smile*

We headed back down the trail, which we thought would be considerably easier. But because the hike up was so steep, the hike down was fast and took a lot of dexterity and control to manage our footing. By the time we reached the bottom, our quadricepts were BURNING!

Nature rocks!

Brooklynn + I enjoyed having Shirley + Mila with us today. The two of them have been close friends for years now. It's nice to know that even when life gets busy we still make time for loved ones. Both B* + myself hope this is the first of many hikes together.

xoxo!