EXPLORING!

Within a mile of our house there is a beautiful wooded loop-path that the kids and I have done a lot of running/walking around.  Multiple times I have thought how fun it would be to take the kids hiking there!  It is a very small area (maybe 2-3 square miles?), so it is perfect for little feet to traipse around off the beaten path and never get lost.  It's been a bit chilly (40's) but a perfect way to get energy out!  Twice this week we have gone hiking there, and it has seriously been SO much fun for all of us!  Each kid brought a bucket to collect "treasures", and there are so many fun logs to climb over, places to explore, and interesting things to look at.  Here are a few pictures and videos.  Also included is  a "mystery" item we found that was super cool that I had never seen before...after seeing a few we finally have a guess as to what it could be...but I would welcome any comments if you think you know what it is!

GIANT leaves

Woah its bigger than our faces!

 First experience with moss...according to the kids: "Its soft like our pillows!"

Giant Mushrooms

Giant Trees

Berries

The first mystery item we saw...it looked like a HUGE egg...I had NO idea what it was!

But is was soft and squishy ... the inside looked like the inside of a kickball...

Giant marshmallow? ;)

We then found a similar item but it was brown...it looked just like a giant baked potato...flakey on the outside and soft on the inside.

Here is the first video of us exploring it...





Here is a video of the second brown one we found...






Here is a video of us discovering what we think it is...



The kids LOVED poking them and playing with them and we were on the constant look out for more!  All in all, we saw four, two white and two brown.

Here is a quick video of Tucker - he literally RAN the whole hour and a half that we hiked!  He is such a good dog because he only runs a few hundred feet away and comes right back.  He stayed with us the whole time and I never had to call him.  He, of course, loved running and exploring!

Cuties on a log

Lots of fun logs to climb over

Beautiful

Hiking

I love the crunch of fall leaves

My hiking buddies and me

This was the perfect find to explain that logs are just tipped over trees...

We followed the "tipped over tree" to see if it still had leaves at the top

The kids loved "popping" the little mushrooms and watching the "dust" come out.  Yes, I know we disturbed nature but it was pretty fun!

Digging out the roots of a fallen tree

Larkyn loves the Bjorn

The kids had fun carrying their treasure buckets on the end of their walking sticks...they looked like little Hobos!!