A Day With The Boys

I took the oldest three boys, Tritter, B & Trouble, for a hike today. The temperature reached into the 60's with clear, blue skies and hardly any wind. So we're in the car on the way there only to find out Tritter and Trouble forgot their water bottles. So they get a short lecture from me on responsibility and listening. See, they were told at least three times, "Fill your water bottles." Tritter was on the internet & Trouble has the attention span of about 4 seconds. A very minor setback which didn't ruin more than a moment in the car....you know, the moment where it enters the left ear, but before it exits the right ear.

We had a very nice hike - saw some deer quite close and a few bright red cardinals whose color jumped out at you in the bare, dull trees. The sight made me think of Michigan and all the birds we had on our property.

"Afternoon Sunbeams"



The boys had fun and we only had one minor injury, and it happened to B. He's slightly accident prone, which is odd because he's so athletic. From behind me I hear a yell and turn around to see him holding his face...nothing around him but a tree so it takes about one second to put two & two together and like a good Mom I start laughing...hard. Who runs into a tree? The photo does not do it justice. His cheek was all red and ever-so-slightly puffy, the top of his nose a nice shade of crimson, the side of his nose scraped and bloodied and a nice wide stripe down the middle of his forehead with a couple of little scratches. It wasn't a very big tree. He was looking at the owl they have in outside cages and evidently it did not occur to him to watch where he was walking. Never mind how many hundreds of times (he in particular) has heard those words.

I stifle my laughter somewhat and hand him my cold water bottle to cool it off and keep the swelling down. There was clearly no real damage except perhaps his ego. As soon as we started walking again he said in a quiet, shaky voice, "I know Dad's gonna come up with some good jokes on this one." More quiet belly laughter from me. (I'm not a bad person, it just appears I've inherited a slightly dark sense of humor. Who knew?)


"Blasted Tree"



Only Trouble can show this much enthusiasm as I take the last photos of our afternoon hike - My three boys, all lined up with happy, somewhat tired grins on their faces. And then Trouble takes his emotion to a whole new level.

"Oh Yeah!"



So we throw our backpacks in the trunk, and I tell the boys to drink their water as we get loaded in the car. We're all buckled in and driving slowly out of the park when Tritter comments in his serious, somber voice. "Ya know, I've never seen anyone run into a tree. But they show it on T.V. all the time." (More silent laughter from depth of my stomach.) Also in a serious tone, B responds from the back, "Yeah, now I know why. It's easier than I thought." No sound escaped my lips, but my body continued to shake in the driver's seat.