Going Losting XIV - Part II

Ok, so here's the rest of the pics from our last going losting trip. We did a bunch of fun stuff, and really loved this spot, and therefore got an insane number of pics, and I had the hardest time narrowing it down. All total between the two posts I think I did 32 pics... and that was a painful elimination process to get that low. So, anyway, here goes for the rest of them, and I then I'll be blogging about other stuff, I promise.

The second creek crossing was fun. We were hot at this point, and it was so dark and shaded in there, and therefore wading through the lovely melted snow creek was DEEEEE-light-ful. We took a few minutes to splash around in it. And soak our heads.

I love tumbling forest creeks. One of my favorite things.

Me and my girls.

A handicapped butterfly.

My favorite flower shot from the whole trip.

Two tired hikers... three miles, not too shabby for 5 and 4 year olds.

Hiking with kids can be more mentally exhausting than physically exhausting. You have to maintain and project an extreme attitude of cheerfulness, and keep them moving constantly. Encouraging them, telling them they're doing great, and yet not letting them get away with any bad attitude at the same time is challenging, but it's also a great time to converse with them without having any distractions. Just us, and the forest. Makes for some lovely conversations that wouldn't necessarily be had around the house.

After all that the girls were so excited to get back to the campsite and go back to the creek, dubbed "Kiki's Kingdom." So we headed down and spent the rest of the afternoon back there.

The dog felt compelled to be exactly right next to us, where ever we were. She was a little nervous about the girls being in the water. There was definitely a current through the whole thing, but it wasn't very strong at all. Just enough to keep the mosquito's from being bad.

Kiki embraced this place with everything she had--Kiki's Kingdom "is full of delight and nature treasure!". If we can ever find a piece of property with a creek area like this on it, we will be jumping all over that, it was wonderful. Next is three pictures that show the sisters in action. One was the leader, and one was the follower. Debris is very accident prone, and that makes her ridiculously cautious in situations like this. Kiki is very agile and calculating, and that makes her confident, and almost never accident prone.

A sweet sister's moment, makes me miss mine... :-) Follow the leader.

Keeping an eye on the kids always...

Catching minnows.

Kid looking for minnows. Dog looking for chipmunks.

At about this time the kids had stripped down to their underwear, and were throwing huge rocks in the water. I'm not going to be sharing any pics of that on my blog, but it was pretty cute. The dog was ever watchful, and regal on her lookout log.

And, my last two favorite scenery shots...

Friday night we got joined by other campers in the campsite. It started to smell like Seattle around there, haha! (No offense to my West-side readers. Just saying. :-) They were very nice, we just don't camp with other folk. And, these particular ones didn't really approve of my children's violent (Oh, the humanity!) civil war bayou fighting, mad ninja skills, Cowboy&Indian style playing business in the creek area. Although their children delighted greatly in it, which made me snicker. I happen to think playing like that teaches kids a lot of valuable lessons, consequences, cause & effect, victory, strategy, camaraderie, teamwork, etc., as opposed to forcing them to not play that way, which while nice in theory, can create unrealistic expectations. Children who are aware of the painful consequences of playing war are more capable of coming up with solutions to avoid it in real life, and more capable of fighting to win it if they do have to go to war. Just my mini-soapbox for the day--I will now commence shutting-up. I respect your opinion on this, whatever it might be. :-)) Anyhoo, we're very much looking forward to visiting this spot more and more, especially in non-tourist times like May and October. :-)

Peace out!