Up the trail

On Saturday, Julian had a visit with his grandparents. The rest of us went on a little walk. Just a stroll up the trail behind our home. Instead of continuing up the straight path, we turned to the left, just to explore somewhere new. We discovered a special treat growing there. When Julian arrived home after going to Holy Mass at his grandparents parish, then dinner and a sleepover and a morning visit to GrandMemere's. His brothers and sister whisked him off to a little trek up the path.
They could not wait to show him all of the BLACKBERRIES. As As we approached the first brambles we began to sing.. One Berry, Two Berry, Pick Me a Blueberry.. (from a favorite book, Jamberry by Bruce Degan)...Clickety Clackberry Pick Me a Blackberry! (I am so glad our children are too young to tease me for this sort of thing).

After foraging for berries, while leaving most behind to give them a chance to fully ripen, we were off to continue exploring the trail. It had been two years since we were on this particular part of the woods surrounding the little lake which is across from our home. In spring and fall, the ground is rather wet and much of the trail is impassable.

Since, we have been blessed with a bit of dry weather, we only had a tiny bit of "muckymuck" (as referred to by Pier-Jérôme) to navigate around.

Further on, we discovered a tranquil stream and I maneuvered my way around the trees with Elaina in the backpack, until we arrived at the basin that deviated from the path. When we caught up with Daddy, Elaina was transferred to his back as I did not want to push my luck. I couldn't believe I remained vertical while winding around the trees bordering the stream below.. nevermind while wearing a two year old.

And, yes the bridge without hand rails did give me anxiety. Just thankful no one fell in.

We have lived in our home for a little over three years
and had no idea what was right in our backyard.

Fall Foliage already?? Autumn is spectacular in these parts, however, we are still soaking up every moment of summer, thank you. It just flies by, doesn't it?

And finally after our hike which circled our little lake, we were on our path home. Timothy helped out with the backpack, making a sprint for home while Maximilian led Elaina for the rest of the way.
Sleep was restful for all that evening.