Family Time at Stearns Woods

Sundays are supposed to be church days, but since the kids can't be in the daycare (because of the peanut allergy, it is too risky), we've decided instead to devote Sundays to being family days.  (We do devotions at home, so we still are able to get in our time with God, too.  And our pastor's weekly message is available for listening online, which allows us to hear him without being there. He's amazing and I miss getting to attend church each week, but it is just too risky for the boys at this age.)  We've been really trying to make each week something special and different that we can really remember as time with one another.  This week was no different, so we decided Sunday was the perfect day to take the kids hiking.

Hiking with three under three is pretty slow; Joel likes to search for bugs, and Evan likes to stop and examine anything that catches his eye (which is pretty much every single thing around.)  Luke was actually the quickest of the three, and at times, getting stuck behind his brothers, was pushing them, trying to get them to move faster. (Finally he was able to escape from behind them and took off, leading us the family the rest of the way.)  Though it was slow going, we had a great time, and I can't wait to bring them out again. 

Luke and Daddy

Freedom makes Luke happy

Always trailing behind, but this time they found something! 

Acorns, just like Tinkerbell uses!

Evan found a beautiful mushroom

Near the end, two of three are worn out; 

Joel is never worn out.

It was a lot of fun, but hopefully next time we'll not have to contend with nearly as many mosquitoes. We loaded ourselves up with OFF (yuck) before and during the hike, but even so, ended up with swarms following us and biting the few spots we had apparently missed.  Joel is allergic to mosquitoes (surprise, surprise), so he's got a few swollen spots today, but I think even he would agree that a few pesky bites are worth the fun we had on the trail.