Out and About in Nature…

Yet another thing that Matt and I used to do A LOT… hiking.  But as the number of kids has increased, the number of hikes we’ve done has decreased.  Dramatically.  To the point that this was the first ‘destination’ hike we’ve done all year. 

I say ‘destination’ hike because most of our ‘walks’ around our home could be considered hikes to some.  But today, we actually drove up the Molalla River and ended up at Joyce Lake.  Matt strapped KadeyKade on, grabbed a fishing pole and off we went. 

 

Cooper took it upon himself, as his personal duty, to clear all big rubble off the trail.  This made for slow going.  Just fine for out-of-shape, me.  But it also made me pretty nervous because he’d throw some of the rocks and branches so hard, he’d nearly throw himself off the edge of the trail, too.  

We’d never been on this hike before, so weren’t exactly sure what our destination would be… but once we got close we could sense it.  As we climbed higher and higher, the boys often times crawling on their hands and knees up the inclines, we knew we were getting close to the end.  And suddenly the trail petered out and through a few sparse trees we saw this small clearing and carefully maneuvered out to it. 

I liked my view from ‘back here’ quite a bit… of all my guys gazing out in quiet amazement at the wonder of God’s creation.  Once I took in this view for a moment, I had to come up to the edge to see what shocked each of them into silence… 

We could see for miles and miles.  Nothing else but trees and sky. 

Though beautiful, our stay at the top lasted only a few minutes because I couldn’t quite breath watching my 3 year old get oh-so-close to the edge. 

Much of our walk back down looked like this to me… trying not to trip over Cooper who found himself sliding on his bum, most of the way.  I don’t know how many times I heard him mutter, “There’s another bruise…”  or “This is pretty dangerous…” or “Whoops… that’s what happens,” to no one in particular. 

Our hike brought us back down to Joyce Lake where we decided it would be good place for some fish catchin’.  And some lunch.

Matt prepared the boys for how it would go… “I will cast, and Gage will reel in.  Then I will cast, and Cooper will reel in…” (repeat).  Taking turns is STILL not one of their strong suits. 

So, they each took a few turns reeling it in, and then thought it best to just wait until there was actually a fish on the line.  And so they waited patiently.

And waited. 

And waited some more. 

And Cooper emptied out his sandal for the 57th time on our trip.

Nothing yet, but we could SEE the fish out there… only a matter of time…

A little more waiting… passing the time by playing with an empty bullet he found in the water… 

And with sticks… (it is unbelievable how boys can find entertainment out of nothing,yet at other times, be surrounded by ALL their toys and be SO bored.)

By the way… how manly is this guy I married?? Fishing with a baby in the front pack?? And yes, he has a gun in his pocket.  You just never know…

 

Anyway… FINALLY!  Matt got one on and handed it over to Doot, to reel in his first fish.  A little beauty that was joyfully returned to the lake after getting nose to nose with the boys. 

(Gotta give credit where credit’s due… Matt took the following picture of Gage, because I was nursing Kaden.  Go figure!)

And thank the Lord, Matt hooked another one shortly after, so Cooper officially caught his first fish today, too.  We NEVER would have heard the end of it had he not. 

And the only thing that could have made this outing even more wonderful, ACTUALLY happened… all three boys slept the entire drive home.  This is our kind of a sunny, Summer, Sunday.