Friday.

Friday afternoons are awesome.
No one  has to go anywhere after 5pm, so it's just all of us.  Together.  Relaxing. 
It's really nice.  
This afternoon is brought to you by the "Walking with Dinosaurs" BBC series and Landshark. 

Grammy and Grandpa sent up a box of hats and mittens this week.  Nate has adopted a hat in the box as his "Adventure Hat"- mostly because I think it's like the hat that Nigel Marven wears.
Either way, it's adorable. 

We're not entirely sure why Benjamin picked the hat he did. 
It takes a confident boy to pull off plaid.

We had a hiking debacle yesterday.  I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and take the kids to hike to the local duck pond. 
It was right after school, so everyone was a little grumpy.  That resolved as soon as we were out and moving in the sunshine. 
About 20 minutes into our hike, Benjamin started complaining that his feet were cold. 
I assumed it was because he was stomping in puddles and carrying on like any two year old should. 
Then I looked down. 
He didn't have any shoes on. 
It was 50 degrees.  No wonder his feet were cold.
*FACEPALM*
I'm glad I have a dumbphone and didn't have my camera so the event couldn't be documented pictorially. 

So, in an effort for redemption, we had some extra kiddos today and decided to adventure at the Blue Blazes Whiskey Trail up at Cactoctin Mountain National Park.
After making sure everyone had their shoes on, we ventured into the forest.
The trail was more snow and less mud, but we were able to find deer, dog, racoon and cross country ski tracks.  The older kids looked for "clues" and the youngers stuck close to me, looking at the creek and making trails with sticks.
I had some anxiety that the kids wouldn't tolerate the cold and that Ben and Timmy were too young to enjoy themselves.  Today, the anxiety turned out to be unfounded.  It's all about adjusting expectations.  We went .6 miles in an hour and had a lovely time.  

Before our adventure started.  Note how clean their shoes are. 

Every so often we had to stop and look at the map to find out where we were.  I didn't have the heart to tell them our location wasn't on the map they were looking at.  According to them, we were hiking in West Virginia.  Or Calabama.  Whichever. 

Not many things are more fun than throwing chunks of snow into the creek. 

Unless, of course, it's throwing snow chunks into the creek from up on the bridge. 

Decidedly more muddy.  I think they will sleep well tonight.