Fun-filled day full of firsts

The morning started with me finding dirty little paw prints that had been in the shower and drinking out of the toilet. I checked and all the cats were outside. Having been asleep when Ryan came to bed, I assumed a cat snuck in during the day and he threw it out while I was sleeping. Imagine our surprise when we came home from church and after playing on the old hay rake with my joyful little girl...

we found this:

Bethany found the cookies on the floor and scattered on the counter. I informed Ryan that something was inside the house and told him about the paw prints. He wondered how you catch a critter that you don't know what it even is. Bethany called Grammy to inform her that she needed some new cookies. All of the above ones had the frosting licked off and partially eaten.

After lunch, I took these two wiggle worms outside for 5 minutes of swinging before they had to take naps.

With the littles tucked in bed, I headed outside to play in the skid loader. I've never driven one before. Before I was much experienced in driving it, I thought I'd make our garden twice the size by removing the top 6" of grass and soil, hoping for a clean seed bed.

After naps, we jumped in the truck and headed to Echo Valley State Park to enjoy being outdoors as a family together. We don't get to do that enough. Our stroll down the trail wasn't without lots of complaining from 3 little kids. I knew it would be worth it if they would just endure the journey cause I knew what was to come. Oh, how that reminds me of our journey with God... he knows what plans he has for us, we just need to enjoy the journey.

We did a little stream stompin'

Hung out on a log checking out the stream

showed momma their muscles

checked out the fish, or frog, or some other type of eggs on the bank

Dug our fingers into the mud in the bottom of the stream bed

while momma enjoyed watching the kids have fun

and daddy enjoyed the scenery

My least adventurous kiddo splashed in the water

and while we explored a short section of stream, there were some non-photo moments too. A boy learned to water a tree in the timber, a girl decided she wanted to sit her butt in the stream and asked if she could just take her shorts off and take a bath, another boy lost his flip-flop multiple times, and no child wanted to leave. So, a while later when no one wanted to leave such a fun place, we reminded them that ice-cream at DQ would be waiting for us. Oh yes, that's how to BRIBE your kids to do what you want. And this momma didn't just want to walk up the hill listening to more whining so I challenged, not another bribe, Scott to a race. For each checkpoint that he could beat me to, I'd give him money. Oh yeah, we ran the whole way back up the hill to the truck.

After dinner and ice-cream at DQ, we got home just in time for Ryan to capture this.

I love sunsets. One thing I love about them is that it means it's bed time for our little ones. Daddy bathed them and I tucked them in. What a great day!