The boys love to take walks together. In all kinds of weather, and for quite a long time. And when they discover really cool stuff, or an especially pretty trail, they like to show the rest of us. So one Sunday afternoon, Chris and I set out with Nick and Noah as our fearless leaders to go on one of “their” hikes. It’s nice having kids who are old enough that you can do this sort of thing. Really, really nice. 🙂
We set off up the hill behind our house that leads around the edge of the forest. Of course, the boys quickly veered off the trail so we could forge our own path. So much more fun that way, especially in the snow. It was definitely gorgeous.
A lot of the fun also involves finding sticks, hitting other objects that you see with those sticks and generally making everything into a sword fight somehow. 🙂
At first, our little foray into the wild was very nice, and the going was easy. We even met up with another trail again and everything was lovely. And then the boys veered off again.
This picture doesn’t show the steepness I was faced with quite as accurately as I would have hoped. It was kind of scary, but I told myself that if Noah could do it, so could I. I really do love that we have such beautiful surroundings right outside our door.
As we traveled along, we saw lots of funny footprints in the snow. It was also fun trying to guess what was under all the strange mounds along the way.
We had been walking pretty steadily for quite a while, when the boys decided to liven things up a bit. 🙂
I think at this point, it was a light saber, and he was trying to melt through all the snow…
We finally got near to the hill they wanted to show us the top of. But first we had to blaze a trail through some very deep snow in the field.
I got lucky and just walked in the boys’ footsteps. Poor Noah had to lift his feet up really high to clear the snow. I think a lot of it ended up inside his boots. 🙁
And then we climbed straight up to the top. It’s funny, because we have been walking past this hill for years, always speculating on what caused it. Maybe it was a pile of old tires covered by dirt, maybe it was a pile of bodies, maybe it was a giant compost pile, on and on it went. Turns out during social studies Nick learned that it was caused when the top of Aeugsterberg slid down and landed on the side of the mountain. Oh, well, that’s nice to know, but I think our theories were much more interesting. 🙂
Hmm, this makes the previous bit of steepness look flat as a pancake. But onwards and upwards, yeah? And what do you know, we all made it!
And then more silliness ensued.
Well, Noah silliness, anyway. The climb was definitely worth it. What a gorgeous view. Thank you, boys, for sharing with us.
On the way back to the house, I got a silly idea of my own…
And then I made a snow angel, and it looked so fun, others wanted to join me.
I was completely covered in snow, as was Noah, but it was definitely good to completely act like a kid again.