Sunny days in Colorado are glorious for two reasons :
1. There are always new places to explore
2. If it's 60 degrees...it feels like 70 (me likes to be warm...very warm.)
Brady can't handle "walks." They bore him, him feels agitates....he just isn't into them. After about two years of feeling like "my son needs exercise, he needs fresh air...he SHOULD enjoy this because MOST people do" I've finally changed my thinking to "He can get fresh air playing in the backyard, I'll give him extra vitamin D, and he isn't MOST people." So, we will let him sit in the car and read or play the ipad (God bless the iPad) or we will leave him in his room for about a hour or two with the instructions that he needs to stay in his room. Brady is an avid rule follower so he does what he's suppose to do, and he loves texting us while we are gone.
This allows the rest of the family to get out a little bit more and for my other three kids who adore the outside to run and play without listening to their older brother growl and spit in the background. Win win ....every one's happy. Work with what you have instead of coveting what you can't right? I would love for Brady to love nature walks...I'm a nature lover - I almost cry if I see a tree's reflection in water or light on tall brown grasses - Brady sees something that isn't exciting, and the sun hurts his eyes. That's fine - he is who he is...but I will always be who I am - so sometimes we will just have to do different things. :)
With all of this being said...I give you my pictures of our family walk at the local nature arsenal. This area is about 10 minutes from our house and is just miles and miles of prairie and has a lake, little bridges hear and there, lots of paths for kids to run down - and the afore mentioned "brown grasses and tree reflections." The top picture is of a grass call "Granny Blue" or something - I loved it. It reminds me of something that a little mouse family would live in ... you know the ones...the mice with the thimble cups and the matchbox beds. So lovely and cozy and homey and the perfect grass.
Trinity was stoked that the weather was warm enough for a tank top and skirt. This is what I'm saying - 60 degrees but tank tops and skirts totally wearable.
I wish I could know how old this tree is. Unfortunately the only way for us to know it's actual age is to murder it - not a good option. I like to pretend like I know the age of trees, my kids think I'm cool when I say "Oh yah, that baby was certainly around during the civil war days --- probably even shaded a family moving out west in a covered wagon from time to time. " Who knows, but it sounds good.
The lake with it's lovely reflections. I wish I could paint - I would bring my easel and little case of oil paints and set up right there on that dock, and paint....
This. At least I can take pictures.
“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
Trinity worked on her photography skills (I edited. ) We had to find her a little hill to perch on so that the pictures wasn't just a few of our nostrils (lovely as they may be...no one wants to look up someone else nose.)
Don't you just love Tristan's little chipmunk face peering out from behind Zac's shoulder....or how about Trin's awesome choppy bangs? We are still in the process of letting them grow. I love it - some people might view this picture as precious little angels - I see mischief. Lots and lots of mischief. Can angels be mischievous? Oh...seems I just answered my own question - never mind.
More of the lovely plants that make me cry. I know, I know...I have issues. Loveliness just makes me happy.
And then...a deer - one large deer (well, buck?) I was able to get rather close to him. He stood as still as stone, just watching me inch closer and closer - he never moved a muscle. I was making sure I would be able to run back to the car in case he decided to charge (where hopefully Zac would be ready to video me on his IPhone - just imagine how many "likes" Brady could get if he put
THAT on YouTube?!As long as I'm gorged for the sake of love and entertainment...) At the same time, I didn't want to get to close where the poor guy would feel "unprotected" in a nature reserve....so I got my shot and we drove on.
Isn't it weird looking in the side mirrors as you drive away from somewhere or someone - a clear "past." As in... "wow, those trees were in my past. If I turn around they will be in my future...if I go and stand under it it will be in my present." A girl could make herself positively edgy thinking this way all day "these dishes are behind me right now as I walk towards the dining room table...grr...back to the kitchen for a glass of water, they are no in my 'here and now.' "
And then...Zac with his keen deer spotting eyes found this baby --- unfortunately those tall grasses are in the back ground (as lovely and as eye misting as they may be) so his antlers don't stand out as much as I would have liked in the photo. He was just beautiful...his face all snowy white and his body a muscly grayish brown. He was lovely. And...I don't mind saying...I want a set of white antlers for my wall. Just white. Preferably the "rack" would come from a deer that died of old age, not the hunted variety.
Seeing a deer makes Zac very happy - seeing an elk makes him happier. There were no elks, but he did get to hug a Koala for free so that's something!
Then, to finish off our adventure...a tree, loaded with starlings. We had our windows rolled down so that Tristan could feel the "refreshing "(his word for breeze.) The birds were all perched on the bare branches, soaking up sunshine and singing and harmonizing with one another....
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
My thoughts exactly George...they were just too restful for such a lovely autumn day. So....we honked the horn.
And they flew.
