Another cold day for a hike - but this time we went off the paved trail and into the woods. They've built a new trail that runs through the woods next to the paved North Little Rock River Trail, near the Big Dam Bridge. Laedyn got to have her first ride in the backpack. I thought Brandon would be mad that he didn't get to ride, but he surprised me. He says he prefers to walk!
The trail is a loop, and it's not too terribly long, but I had my camera with me so it took quite a while. We found all kinds of abandoned objects for me to photograph. You can see some of the shots at my Flickr page (the link is over to the side...)
Here I was off the trail taking pictures of a freezer chest that had "FRESH FISH" painted on the side of it. While I was doing my photography thing Brandon was practicing his Limbo skills under a vine. Eventually, Jennifer came over and pushed the vine lower to make it more of a challenge for Brandon.
Nick was showing off a potential walking stick to Brandon. It was actually a long piece of vine, so we called it a jiggle stick. Brandon found a Brandon-sized one for himself too. It wasn't very sturdy though, and pretty soon it broke in half -- much to Brandon's dismay.
Brandon did get tired a couple of times and Nick had to be Super-Daddy. It's much easier when we're using the stroller because Brandon can ride on the front or on Nick's shoulders. Obviously that's not an option here... and he's getting HEAVY!!!
Check out this cool vine "swing" I found along the trail. Brandon had a great time swinging once he got the hang of how to hold on and not slide over the side! Well, he was having fun until Nick looked up and wondered how much weight the thing could hold. Then Brandon became concerned & was ready to move on. No one else was willing to test the weight capacity of the vine, but it was pretty sturdy. I pulled on it pretty hard before putting Brandon on it in the first place.
Look at the poor baby...she was leaning over the whole time to see around Nick's head. eventually she fell asleep that way and her nose dripped snot all over the backpack. YUCK!!!We finally couldn't stand the sight of her all tilted over with her neck at such an angle, so out of the backpack she came. Jennifer carried her for awhile, and then I took her. She fell asleep while I was carrying her. Finally she got too heavy for me, and Nick took her again - but not in the backpack ... Brandon had taken that seat for himself immediately upon Laedyn's vacating it! We've all agreed to stash the backpack back up in the attic until Laedyn's a little older - maybe she'll be ready by early March. Then we'll go looking for some more off road trails to explore.
Our excursion this day ended with a much brisker walk across the Big Dam Bridge and back. Before we did that though, we traded the backpack for the stroller - much to the relief of Nick's back, I'm sure!