Wednesday, February 16, 2005

The AtHomeTrio Goes Exploring

Our neighborhood park has a couple of miles of hiking trails that follow a creek through a small canyon. This morning, while we at the park, The Talker wanted to go exploring in the trees near the playscape. So, off we went, through the trees on trails that the older neighborhood kids cruise frequently. The Talker leading, and AtHomeDaddy carrying The Princess.

He wore himself and me out, hiking through the trees, looking for "animals and stuff to smell." Yes, he occasionally stooped the hike to ask, "Shhh, what do I smell?" We saw a deer, a Jack Russell Terrier dragging his owner down the trail, heard lots of birds and we found a shortcut to the creek.

But the best part of the exploration, echoes. The boy discovered how to make echoes this morning. First while we were exploring a concrete drainage tunnel and later as we were at the top of the canyon in the park. And now that he found a great spot for echoes, I feel a little sorry for the people who live next to the canyon. 'Cause I bet they will be hearing The Talker yelling "HELLO, ECHO!" for a long time.

1 comment:

Chip said...

I loved hiking with the kids when they were little. And what's amazing is that when they were 5 and 6 they could happily hike steep 5 mile trails without a problem. Now that they're older, they can barely walk down the street to the store without complaining how tired they are and asking why we didn't just drive.