Friday Afternoon in the Trees

They came home from school and we headed to Hartley Park to climb some trees.  Sadly, we hardly managed to get out to our favorite set of climbing trees all summer long, so we were ready for some heavy duty climbing.  Mr. Trouble on Feet didn’t climb much, but he had the most marvelous time running back and forth from the path to the tree to “give” the tree handfuls of gravel.

We ran into some neighbors heading off the hiking path and they spent some time climbing trees with us.  There were lots and lots of kids going bananas in the trees, and that’s when a professional photographer came over with a couple to take engagement pictures and politely kicked all the kids out of the tree.  Banned to a different climbing tree, my kidlets had quite a few things to say about the practicality of the bride-to-be who was wearing a fancy silk tank top and high heeled shoes as she was climbing (and falling out of ) the tree.  The photographer and her clients zipped away to some other location  and the kidlets were back all over both trees.

A little rain shower came through, which sent our neighbors off scrambling to their car.  I asked the kidlets if they were ready to leave, and they said, “No way!”   They suggested a hike to the spooky pine forest, and they were so enthusiastic I had to say yes, of course.

He loved running back and forth on the boardwalk parts of the path.  Mr. Trouble on Feet seemed to have a boundless supply of energy.  He hiked the whole way to the spooky forest, up to rock knob and back, and was joyous the whole time.  What a trooper.

It was an afternoon well spent.  Everyone had lots of energy.  Everyone wanted to be climbing trees and exploring.  It was a great start to the weekend.