A Walk on the Wild Side

We love living in where we are  due to the fact that at the end of our street is a 1,700 acre park with 27 miles of hiking trails.  The terrain includes volcanic rock formations, several canyons with sycamore and oak trees, two year round streams, and two waterfalls.  Almost every Sun. morning "dad" takes the kids, and myself on one of these hikes.  Today was no different.  We woke up, had some not so good homemade cinnamon rolls and off we went.  The kids love looking for lizards and chatting as we walk.  Avery likes to annoy us by asking hundreds of questions.  We usually head down to the waterfall where the kids skip rocks and then try to cross the stream without getting their shoes wet.  Dad likes to climb off the trail and worry us that he will fall.  On the way back we stop at the tee pee, have a drink and head home.  Today unfortunately Aubrey's shoes did not stay dry.  We also didn't get through the hike without a little drama.  On our way back dad decided to take us on one of his "shortcuts" (how is it that his shortcuts are always longer??)  By this time we have tired kids and one with very wet shoes.  As we are hiking up a VERY steep hill on a trail we had never been on  I noticed a wasps nest in a hole in the ground.  Down the trail a little further Aubrey starts screaming that she has a thorn in her shorts.  As I got closer to check it out I realized it was a very mad wasp that was biting her repeatedly.  So now with wet shoes and wasps bites you can imagine she was not a happy hiker.  We made it home 2 hours after our hike began.  Now we are all clean and enjoying watching general conference together in the comfort of our home!  I am worn out.........but happy.