Dear Friends and Family,
What a week! We have had beautiful weather in the 70's and 80's (a rare treat for August) and we've taken advantage of the great weather to go fishing and hiking! The dad's took a boat trip this weekend with all the kids on Saturday! WHAT FUN (for them to go out on the water and for me to get the house to myself)! I took this group photo and sent it to all the Moms and Dads and as a result we all got periodic updates on the fishing trip. Claire caught five fish and Will caught seven! They had so much fun that we decided to try fishing again from the pier.
After all that fun we decided to test our luck at the pier. On our way to the pier we saw two of the day lily destroyers skip across the road and into the marsh:
Winnie was excited to go for a walk and see the kids fish!
We keep the curtains closed either because the sun is on that side of the house or if Winnie gets excited about neighbors walking on the road behind our house. I was joking that when she peeks through the curtain she looks like a nosy neighbor spying to see what's going on! "Honey, look! The neighbors got a new car!"
Me and my sweet Winnie!
Claire caught a croaker! Here's Claire telling you how you know you caught a croaker: https://youtu.be/x4WWUCNqqbk
Will caught a spot fish! Very exciting!
The jellyfish are still out! Here's a big one floating by the pier!
Ooo! Claire catches another!
On the walk home, I couldn't resist this picture of a boy and his puppy!
My birthday was a rainy day so we decided to reschedule a birthday hike for Tuesday. Before I tell you about the hike I need to share this funny story. Chris and Claire went out on my birthday morning (in the rain) to see if we caught any crab from the day before and overnight. They came back soaked and announced that we caught seven crab! Wow! Chris promptly loaded them into the big steamer pot and about 15 minutes later we had crab. However, while Chris was pulling the crabs out he noticed that he only had six crabs! I saw Chris dash out to the garage and then walk back in with a puzzled look. I said, "What's up?" Chris said, "I could have sworn we got seven crabs but I only pulled six out of the pot!" I instantly had visions of a crab hiding in my car waiting for the just the right moment to pinch my ankles! I jumped up and ran out to the car with my phone flashlight and started looking. I looked everywhere and no crab! I even sat in the car (with my feet up) and listened for any clicking sounds! No crab! So we guess that no matter how unlikely, Chris miscounted. But we keep coming up with ways that "Lucky Number Seven" got away. If Winnie seems to be barking at nothing in the house or the yard, we say, "It's probably Lucky Number Seven!"
I knew we were going to go hiking for my birthday, but I didn't know where until that morning. Chris took us to Patapsco State Park just outside of Baltimore. It was only a 45 minute drive! Once again, Winnie was a great adventure pup and for the most part the kids did great. This hike was DEFINITELY more challenging than Calvert Cliffs last week. After all the climbing and rock hopping, I didn't have to do my daily squat and lunge workout.
As we made our way along this somewhat difficult hike it made me think about when I hit challenges in my life. Sometimes the challenges can look intimidating but the fact that we are facing the challenge is beautiful too. Looking around to catch my breath on the steep climbs reminded me that we don't always have to keep our heads down and power through the hard spots. When we pause, we can find beauty in those moments too. I remember looking up at the canopy for a moment or looking back at the climb I'd just finished and feeling proud of that accomplishment and the new moment or place it brought me to.
Another treasure along the trail was the discovery of a silicate called Muscovite. When the larger rocks break they come apart in sheets of this shiny and yet translucent material. When we started our hike, we noticed the trail was very sparkly! We joked that it must be fairy dust. Then as we were hiking we thought someone was breaking mirrors and leaving the pieces in the dirt. On closer inspection (since we saw these "broken mirrors" everywhere) we discovered it was a rock that was flaking into these shiny pieces. The kids instantly impressed began taking samples right away! When the samples became bigger rocks I told them to stop filling my backpack and carry the rocks themselves! However, if you squeeze the sheets and crumble them, they become a very fine shimmery dust. Hence, the sparkly trails!
Claire put a bandanna on Winnie because you can use a bandanna about 100 different ways (says our Girls Scout)! She also looked really cute!
I came up with a project that involved pulling out all the things under our stairs and organizing. It's quite a mess! But we found lots of things like Chris' microscope (the kids can't wait to look at their rock and water specimens from our hike) and we found Chris' old LEGO sets. Will's eyes popped out of his head at the sight of them!
Near the first waterfall! It's hiding behind Chris! But there were many places along this mostly uphill climb for the water to fall and pool. It made for a beautiful view.
We could have walked right past this adorable photo op! The art of nature is amazing!
God gave us stairs to make the climb a little easier and more interesting!
See? Not an easy hike!
We found a family sized boulder for a snack break!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!
Love,
Bethie
Beautiful pictures!! I have never heard of a croaker fish! Thanks, Claire!
ReplyDeleteLove you all.