our first nature walk of the year.

I have decided to be more diligent about getting out for nature walks this year than I have been in past school years.  I even committed a chunk of time on the schedule each week, hoping that will help me be more consistent.  It helps that the bigger kids can now read the schedule, and can harangue lovingly remind me when I forget or feel like putting it off.

So on Friday, I decided to get all "Exemplary Charlotte Mason Mom" and take my kids for a trek through the woods near our house.

Except, I didn't realize that 'the woods near our house' was little more than just a blazing-hot pedestrian highway cutting through subdivision development and people's backyards.  Oh, well.  Still plenty to see.

We started off on a good foot.  Everyone was in good spirits, but I knew our time was limited because it was over 90 degrees, the sun was high and it was hot.  There turned out to be very little shade along this trail, and I have a couple of Hyper-Sweat-ers (or Sweaties, as I just now have started to call them).  Laurelai pours sweat any time she even looks out the window at a sunny day, and Finneas turns all red and splotchy and swollen.  (About fifteen minutes into our trip, he was so swollen his lips were turning white.)  Fortunately, they're both pretty good-natured about it.

Finneas got pretty hot, so he had to sit down and rest on this memorial bench.

I took a second to read the memorial plaque next to the bench, and I am not kidding you, it said something pretty close to, "Janet Whatever dedicated her time and energy to protecting the property values in the Ridgeway community.  Though it was rarely an easy battle, her tenacity won out."  So, in blunt terms, it seems Janet Whatever spent her life badgering her neighbors and city government into keeping the riffraff and the malcontents off the streets until she died.  RIP, Janet.

I bet this is the most joy this bench has seen in a while, though as I was taking this photo, I did wonder if the lingering energy of our riffy-raff presence might negatively impact the property values in the surrounding Ridgeway neighborhood...

A few other highlights of the walk were the time I got to spend with my koala-baby …

Her countenance here is deceptive -she really did love the walk!

… this 'fig' (read: black walnut) Penelope found …

… and the feeling of pure accomplishment I felt knowing that we had not only gone on a nature walk for once, but that I also got the added benefit of a whole hour (and a whole mile) of movement and exhaustion into the kids before coming home for nap time and quiet nature journaling time.  We spent the rest of the afternoon looking up our wildflower finds in our field guide, pressing flowers, and documenting our walk in our nature journals.  We all honestly had a great time.

I always put stuff like this off, thinking it's too much of a hassle.  But now that the kids are a bit older and easier to load up quickly (our neighborhood has large hills, busy streets, and no sidewalks, so we have to drive to the entrance of a trail any time we want to go walking), and now that I seem to have found a window of time during the day when it doesn't interrupt anyone's nap time, I really do think this is sustainable during tolerable weather.  I'm really looking forward to our next outing!

We'll probably try a different trail next time, though - one with more shade, fewer houses, more actual nature, and no bummer benches.  If any of you reading live nearby and want to go walking with us some week, just holler!  We'd love the company!