We've had several rainy days recently (praise the Lord!) and the last rainstorm also brought some cold weather. Very cold weather! The past 2 days, the highs were around 40 degrees but it felt like 32 or lower outside with the wind chill. Brrr! Most people -- me included -- would prefer to stay inside their warm houses all day with temperatures like that. But, the 6 month old was very fussy, the 3 year old was going stir-crazy and driving me bananas, and the 5 year old wanted to see how high the creek was, so we all bundled up and went out for a long hike on the trail.
We had a really fun time! Oliver and Buttercup got to wear their warm hats and waterproof gloves, and Theodore got to wear his dinosaur bunting and fleece-lined jeans (I knew they would come in handy!).
After walking and running about a mile, we ended up in an area with lots of smaller rocks just the right size for the kids to throw in the creek. Of course Oliver rolled down the embankment (on purpose) a couple of times and was covered in mud within 5 minutes. Buttercup surprisingly didn't get too dirty, except for her jacket and face. :-) Oh, and I love their waterproof gloves. I bought them at REI earlier this year (I think it was around the time that it snowed), and although we didn't get to use them then, I can imagine that they'll get plenty of use this winter! They're thick, sturdy, and kept the kids' hands warm and dry -- even when they were "accidentally" splashing in the water. :-) 
Theodore looks disgruntled in this picture, but he wasn't -- he was just staring really hard at his big sister. :-) He had a good time sitting in the stroller and watching his big people racing ahead of us on the trail. And he was the warmest of all of us! I was worried that he would be cold, but if anything, he was probably a little too warm in all of his layers. 
Oh, and I wanted to take a picture of Buttercup and this rock so I wouldn't forget in the years to come (or next week, ha ha). These days when we're at the creek or exploring or whatever, she loves to choose a rock and carry it around like her baby. She talks to it, puts it in time out, pretends to push it in a stroller, feed it, etc. It's adorable. :-) 
This afternoon we didn't have any plans, and the natives were very, very restless, so we hopped in the car to head to a then-unknown destination. For some reason I threw Buttercup's bike in the back of the car, just in case we ended up at a park with lots of sidewalks.
Well, after about 3 minutes of driving, we decided to head to the end of the trail to explore. It's not far at all (only about a 15 minute drive from our house) but we just hadn't been in a while.
I wasn't sure how long everyone would last on the trail since Oliver was on foot, Buttercup was on her bike but there were a few steep grades on the way out, and Theodore was teething and didn't get a good post-lunch nap, but everyone did great. We ended up a little over a mile down the trail before we stopped to turn around, and then we stopped to rest and explore on the way back.
We arrived at a part of the creek that was actually high enough to float sticks and leaves. So we stopped to do that, and that turned into Oliver and Buttercup trying to get rocks out of the creek from the bank, which turned into muddy arms and legs, which turned into "let me just rinse off in the creek," which turned into 2 little people having a grand old time getting soaking wet. :-)
I always keep a bag of dry clothes in the back of the car, for such occasions. Sadly, the bag was only used once over the summer (the previous summer, it was more like once or twice a week!). I'm glad that it got some use today. :-)
