We have been spending as much time as possible on the trails this year and we are loving it! I'm kind of bummed that we're all so busy right now, but as soon as cross country and soccer and my busy season are over we'll be out there again. So far we have hiked a couple of times at Shades State Park, once at McCormick's Creek State Park, every mile of trails at Turkey Run State Park, and Garden of the Gods and Rim Rock Trail in the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois.
It's been so much fun to spend this time together and to see the kids enjoying nature and each other. We've seen some really cool places and had a lot of good workouts and talks along the way.
Shades State Park is awesome, but in the summer it gets very buggy (tons of gnats!) so we usually only go there in late winter or very early spring.
Whenever we have time we let the kids play at the playgrounds after a hike. State park playgrounds are usually cool wooden structures and they always have a lot of fun!
It became kind of a tradition this year for the kids to climb this tree by the nature center every time we went to Turkey Run State Park. We made it a goal to hike each and every trail there this year and we finished up early in the summer. Trails 3 and 9 were clear favorites and 4 and 8 were our least favorites.
The kids had a fabulous time climbing rocks.
On this particular Sunday afternoon, there was rain in the forecast but we went anyway...and ended up hanging out under some rock overhang for about 20 minutes so I wouldn't get my camera wet. Lesson learned!
Right after I took the photo below, Jonah slid and fell in the mud. Not just a little mud, it was pretty epic.
I think they got a little tired of posing for photos, but...oh well.
A rare photo of Joey smiling. He tends to make goofy faces for photos or just gets annoyed with me. It's like he's 13 or something. Haha.
Abbie just got her first phone so she was all about taking photos too.
The photo below is one of my very favorites.
We drove down to McCormick's Creek State Park one Saturday in July. We tried to go through Wolf Cave but it was flooded so we didn't make it very far. Far enough to remind me how much I hate tight places though.
One of my favorite days this year was our trip down to Shawnee National Forest, even though we had a flat tire on the way and didn't get home till well after midnight. We went to Garden of the Gods and the Rim Rock trail and both were amazing. I can't wait to go back again. It's totally worth the drive!
See that red shirt? That's Joey way out there. It was quite a feat to get out there and he was so excited he actually asked me to take a photo.
SO MANY STAIRS! I think I probably complained about them more than the kids, but you know what? After a while, they were a lot easier. I can now go up the 70 steps at the end of the Turkey Run trails without stopping, so that's an improvement anyway. Still a long way to go before I'm ready for the Manitou Incline though!
