Saturday "Hike"

This past weekend we had some gorgeous weather so I thought we'd head outside for an afternoon. We headed to Patapsco State Park around lunchtime with a picnic in tow and a short hike in mind. When we got to the park, the kids immediately ran to the playground to play while Tony and I got lunch set up. It was apparent that the kids needed some time to run outside because I hadn't seen them that happy in awhile! Its amazing what some Vitamin D can do for your mood!

Once we'd finished eating the kids spotted a rock wall that they NEEDED to climb. The "wall" turned out to be what was left of a very old bridge, but either way, that thing was getting climbed.

Once the wall had been sufficiently explored, we set out on our "hike". I'm using the term very loosely here because much of what we walked on was a closed off road. They're doing some major reconstruction projects within the park this year and the trail I had in mind was beyond what they had blocked off. It was open to walking, just not cars, so I thought we'd just walk up to the swinging bridge and then go on our hike. Well, the swinging bridge is actually MUCH further up the road than I thought (about a ten minute drive or 50 year walk with 2 young kids) and we never made it to the swinging bridge. We got close but after an hour of complaining, we turned around and headed back to the car. We passed a few trails on our way but it was extremely muddy and I wasn't prepared for all that mess with the kids. They would have enjoyed that much more than what we ended up doing but we'll have to try again when they're much older...like in their 30's. 

The water looked really pretty with the snow and ice slowly melting off and the kids thought it was kind of neat that the trees had writing on them! I explained that they didn't actually grow with writing on them...

So, our family "hike" pretty much turned into a long walk with Tony and I repeatedly asking the kids to stay to the side of the "blocked off" road so cars wouldn't hit them (cars were ignoring the barricade). The kids were either whining about their legs hurting from the walking or fighting over whatever they could think to fight over. (Tony wasn't much better, he whined too.) I even got video and the face Dakota makes when she realizes I'm talking about her is priceless!

While we were out all day the crock pot was at work cooking some beef stew. It was a really good recipe and if you're looking for a tasty beef stew recipe, you should give this one a chance!