This past weekend was Blizzard's birthday - #11 for those of you keeping track! I forgot about making special dog cookies to celebrate (even though Hayden remembered, once I told her it was Blizzard's birthday) so we decided to go for a family hike. Despite getting up there in years (the dog kind or otherwise), Blizz still likes a romp in the woods. And since I had been wanting to get back out there into nature, it seemed like a win-win.
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| Smiles at the beginning of the hike - love E's face looking at Hayden. |
Of course, that meant taking 3 small girls with a tendency to whine out into the wilderness- with limited stuff because I didn't want to carry it - would it be a win-win? Thankfully it was!! It was a beautiful day, we didn't even run into many people so Blizz got to stay off leash for all but a couple minutes, no one (not even Eliza) got hurt by nature*, and everyone had a good hike! I was not on the top of my photography game, so pictures are a bit 'off' in various ways, but I think they still capture the fun of our hiking adventure.
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| Almost to the bluffs, holding hands to keep E upright! |
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| H surprised me with her enthusiasm, hurrying on ahead for much of the hike! |
We headed to the bluffs trail in Duke Forest, a place I have been to many, many, many times before. The trail to the bluffs is fairly short, although it is downhill, and then there would be fun rocks and such to climb by the creek. The trail was indeed short enough for small children, but I neglected to think about the combination of rock climbing + small children who fall over while standing still. There wasn't really any trouble, but I did have several mom panic moments.
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| Checking on the view - hold those hands tight! |
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| The birthday girl on the bluffs |
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| Good hiking so far! |
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| Let's head down there! |
After checking out the view, we headed down the side trail to the water, then backtracked under the bluffs by scrambling over rocks. The girls (2 footed or 4 footed) had a great time climbing up and down and around the water. H and E wanted to go farther, but I was worried about how they would do heading back up to the car.
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| Blizz gets her drink on. |
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| up and over! |
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| hold still Eliza, until we get up there too! |
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| Blizzard wasn't always so patient at waiting her turn. |
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| Waterfall! (mini-sized) |
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| such a lovely day for a hike. |
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| rocks are always fun to climb. |
After exploring by the creek, we headed back up to the bluffs for a little snack. Got our picture taken by the first people we had seen all morning, and then headed back up the trail to the car. There was a little bit of "I'm tired" whining on the way up, but we pointed out the pretty leaves, sang some songs, and played twenty questions. (Twenty questions is a current favorite -our version: one person picks an animal, then answers questions to have the others figure out the mystery animal.)
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| I got the monkey off my back during snack time. |
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| a great family photo! (Molly was fascinated by their small dog.) |
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| spacing out in front of pretty leaves |
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| E and her hair in front of the leaves |
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| this pic doesn't come close to capturing the gold! |
So that was our hike. It was a big success. I hope we can do it again soon! And Happy Birthday to our beloved Blizzard. Hard to believe you are 11 years old! You have been with us through so much! Love you!
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| As a teeny puppy, maybe on her first hike! |
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| at the beach this summer |
