The J6 Journey: Year 2, Day 298: We did it!

We actually got a nature hike in at the PEAK of fall foliage season! Ok, back up for a second. Why is this important to me? Well, it's because I grew up where the local people depend partly on fall tourism because of the fall foliage. And I have always missed New England in the fall. Always and forever. PEI was in more beautiful with the red dirt roads. So, now, every year, yes, I get jealous watching my PEI peeps post their fall pictures. I have several friends who love going out in nature almost daily, so the pictures come over social media very often. So, when I got a second chance this week to go out and enjoy it, I dropped everything and made it happen. Well, not everything. We did get our work done today, too.

It was a gorgeous day, perfectly crisp, but not too cold. No one overheated while we walked the trail, but we weren't all bundled and freezing either. And no one else was around either. But the kids made enough noise to make up for it though. They are such city kids and don't know how to simply be quiet so they can hear what the woods really sound like. Maybe I'll take each one back there by themselves and really teach them how to soak in the woods like I used to at my friends' house where they had 40 acres, and only lived on 5 of those acres (maybe). It had a large creek, beaver dam, rocks, and we were allowed to explore on our own. I think we were like 8-12 years old or something. Anyway, I love it! But kids are noisy, and they fight, and they just want to play on the man made playground because they aren't used to anything else. I make them sound bad, but we did have some great moments as well as I'll explain below. I'm just saying that we have very city-fied kids despite my efforts to take them to every farm and natural experience I can. I was city-fied and grew up in a suburb kind of area, but my mom loved the country and we were often enough in other less suburbia towns where we could enjoy my friends' land or horses or the hills of Deerfield and Candia and Raymond, including the Deerfield Fair (New England's "state" fair, which is held on the first weekend of October for the last 120 years or so). Oh well, I try. The kids will thank me later.

And yes, school is much more routine and has actually surprised me this week that they kids have buckled down and made some significant progress. So, that makes my heart happy, too.

And we finished off the day by watching "Spiderman: Homecoming" which we got at the library on Tuesday from the "Lucky Pick" shelf near the checkout counters. They put some copies of the newer movies there that you can't put on hold or renew. Wonder Woman was there, too. But, sshhhh, we will most likely getting that for Christmas, so I can wait to watch it again then. Spiderman was one of the best Spiderman films out there. Super, super funny! Even Jared laughed! And Benaiah even remarked that this is the way Spiderman is portrayed in the actual comic books because Peter Parker really is just a 15 yr old kid like Benaiah in a lot of ways. I loved Tony Stark's involvement in it as the Dad figure. And yes, it has swearing, but it was here and there and not all at once. And yes, I wish they had said something else other than the "p" word when the "computer guy" friend was looking at computers in the computer lab. Keturah wasn't allowed to watch it, and Justin has already had "the talk" and we gave him a heads up so it wasn't a shocker. I'm not sure if we'll own it someday, but it was a really great, funny, light hearted movie, just like another Marvel movie coming out in 8 days! (Thor:Ragnorak for those that aren't into comic book movies.) Remember, Marvel is the lighter toned more family friendly comic book movie franchise and DC is darker, deeper, more serious comic book movie franchise. Love them both! So, I give this movie a two thumbs up with a warning to my friends with younger kids that haven't been exposed to swearing and the other element.

Now, for the pictures of the day. I wish I had time or even knew how to edit, but, hey, at least I have a decent camera and know kind of how to use it. All of the pictures I upload on here are raw data files, no editing. I don't think I would have the creative skill for that either. Onward!

Squirrel! Justin was way down the path when we saw it though, so we had to call him back. Huge squirrel and it moved a ton! Not terribly afraid of us and it went over our heads to another tree! Even Abishai saw it!

Ah yes, perfect day for a nature hike! I don't make them get down and try to identify things. I can't even identify poison ivy. But I do say, "Oo, look at the shape of this leaf! Look at those flowers! What do you think lives there?" I'm just not the best "Charlotte Mason Nature Study" kind of person. And that's ok! Just being out there is the important part and being excited about what's around you.

Where did you go Mr. Squirrel?

Not as many different colors as New England, but there was a cloudless beautiful blue sky as the backdrop for the greens and yellows!

I see this backdrop most often from my friends who come down here. We've been down here once or twice way long ago before going to Canada. Obviously the creek, which is Buck Creek, is at one of it's lowest points for the year since it's fall. We should come back in every season to mark the changes.

Big leaf!

There's some colors!

Testing the water to see how cold it is! Even Abishai wanted to touch it, but barely. He was OCD about not getting muddy and wanted us to carry him. Our last nature walk was on vacation through some extremely muddy woods and he was carried the whole time.

The water was pretty clear though and it was flowing well.

I'm sure one of my friends can identify this, and I'm pretty sure it's a large seed like acorns but they were everywhere! I just have no clue! Maybe I need to get some field guides for Indiana. Hm,...that's something to add to the Christmas wish list.

Tree growing out and then up to catch the sunlight and avoid the water.

Keturah did an excellent job of investigating what could have been a den of some kind. She noticed a big hole in there and said maybe it belongs to a rabbit or something. So, they do know some things about nature!

End of life for these flowers.

I should have gotten a closer picture. These were a nice light purple flower, but I don't think they were lavender, lilacs, or lupines and I didn't think to check them.

Well, I guess we do have an official nature hiker that was a little too adventurous. Keturah went down to the creek several times. This time, she thought that she was going to step on solid ground underneath the moss, which was really algae, and instead, her boots sank into a foot of water! Whoops!

Yes, we did pour water out of her boot! Then she proceeded to go barefoot for the rest of the trail! And she didn't complain! Good on her!

Come on, Sissy! Abishai wanted us to keep going and like I said, he was afraid to get too close the water and get muddy. He felt he needed to push on though.

One boot on and one boot off. Yes I let my daughter walk barefoot in the woods. Be adventurous!

Mini waterfall.

Sunshine!

Justin wanted to carry Abishai, so he did for a little bit.

This position actually did not work out well. Abishai is used to being up on shoulders and not carried like a backpack. He didn't know how to hang on or pull himself up. Oh well, at least they tried.

The trail is one big loop I think around our huge Southeastway Park. In fact, when I looked it up on maps app on my phone to get our bearings from the satellite image, it looked like we were going to end up next to a farm field. So we turned around. There were a couple of other trail heads, too. And there's a regular bike path around most of the park. It's a gorgeous park with like a dozen picnic areas, two big playgrounds, and lots and lots of fields to have picnics and get togethers in. They even have a sledding hill! And an educational building. It's the park where we had our wedding reception and had a few get togethers with friends from college all the way through currently. It's a hidden gem for sure.

Ta da! Selfie! With kids in the background!

The tree canopy.

There's some red leaves. I think it's because Indiana has soft maples that most of our maple trees have yellow leaves. I miss the reds though of Canada and New Hampshire.

Practicing her gymnastics bar skills!

It's at this very same park that we brought Benaiah to at approximately Abishai's age or maybe a little older and we had to coax him to go up this very same element. Abishai didn't climb it today, but he has climbed one that is very similar to it in the past. Benaiah screamed bloody murder and Abishai scales all the elements without fear. This one keeps us all on our toes with his antics. In fact, it was hard to watch the movie because he wanted to fight over dancing on the coffee table. We had to have the subtitles on so we could understand the movie, too. And he'll turn around and give us an evil laugh as well. He's a handful!

Today I got to sit on the bench for the first time because I wasn't afraid that Abishai was going to fall off of the playground! That's a big step in the life of toddlerhood when Mommy can finally back off and not shadow him around. He as pretty please that he could scale the ladder by himself and quickly!

Go, go, go! "I did it! Look at me, Mom! I did it! I'm big!"

Look, he's actually wearing jeans AND a belt instead of gym pants! And he's barefoot, too, because the boots he wore are winter boots and very heavy. And he now gets to wear the "MooTube" shirt from Cows Creamery on PEI.

Around and around she goes, barefoot!

Boo!

I'm Captain Adorable and Trouble with a capital "T"!

Uh oh, Missy got a time out like a toddler because she was fighting like a toddler and even said something very unkind within the earshot of a little girl. We all need to work on character development.

Up the ladder, down the slide, and repeat.

Barefoot Justin.

Got my "feet in a pile of leaves" box checked off! If you aren't on social media, then that won't make any sense. But this a typical shot that someone will take and put up on Instagram (which is what I'm using mostly now). I tried to get the kids to play in the leaves but they wouldn't do it.

3 kids, all independently playing on the man made playground. At least they got some fresh air!

The first thing he told Daddy when Daddy came home tonight was that he got to swing at the park. He swung for like 2 minutes. But beautiful backdrop!

Typical color of leaves around here.

He's got such long skinny feet and limbs!

I'm a big boy!

Like I said yesterday, Benaiah was at school and the rain is coming tomorrow, so I got what I could. I totally forgot about doing "first day of school pictures out here. Oh well, maybe I'll get some against our own trees in the backyard. No, it isn't the first day of school, but I did take some nice photos one year at the Beech Grove park with the boys leaning up against the tree and posing just right. I take so many photos, what does it matter, anyway? I'll put it on the list for next week.

Abishai ran straight across the green space so he could sit on a rock! And jump from it, too! It was really late, so I didn't make him do any fancy poses.