A Local Discovery

Hello friends! I am constantly on the hunt for local hiking spots and since we are by the beach, the focus tends to be more on the shore and less on the trees and wildlife inland. I spent a long time googling "hiking trails" and seeing some that were 30+ minutes away, but I kept coming across one natural area that claimed to have a trail and was only a few minutes away. I had taken Mabel there before and looked around but hadn't come across the trail.  After dropping Evelyn off at school, I decided to take advantage of the coming warmth and get outside, deciding that we would try this natural area one more time before I accepted that what passes for a hiking trail is a paved loop that has a handful of trees in the center. 

I am so glad I gave it another chance! I took Mabel down to the dock to let her toss pebbles into the lake and when we were coming up off the dock we decided to take a fisherman's trail along the water. Somehow this led to the trail that I didn't believe existed! We walked for a good two miles, stopping at times to rest, explore a plant or the ground, drink water and take some photos. At one point we came across a fallen tree and Mabel climbed up on it and refused to get down until she had walked its length a few times. I hadn't thought about it before, but she really is in her element when she is able to set her own limits. This tree wasn't too big, so it wasn't too high up and the ground was soft and cushioned with leaves and pine straw. 

We hiked for around an hour all told, finding beautiful views, petting many dogs and just enjoying each other's company. Mabel asked a lot of questions and I was surprised by how much she was taking in. I tend to view her as my little baby a lot, but she really is a full two years old and change and learning every second of every day. Spending this time with her was really special and I decided I need to have days like this much more often. The winter had kept us inside for so long, I got comfortable with not going out. But the fresh air, sunshine and peace of the great outdoors was too tempting to stay in today!

 

After hiking we stopped by the grocer's to pick up some produce for the evening meal and then came home for lunch and an afternoon rest before picking up Evelyn. She had had a wonderful day at school, where she played in house and got to see her friends. Gavin had suggested that we go look on the beach to find a smooth stone for Stone Soup since yesterday didn't turn up much so we dropped off Evelyn's book bag, picked up the nature baskets and  walked down to the shore.  

Down at the water the girls chased seagulls while I scoured the sand for a good-sized, smooth rock. We came across a family that had brought some sand toys and they invited us to join them. Once I found our soup stone I brought the girls back to sit and we made friends with the three children and their mother. There was a little bit of a language barrier for the kids, but that didn't stop the kids from having all the fun. I was eager to befriend this mom who was so kind to us, but she told me that unfortunately they were moving to Georgia at the end of the week. This happens to us so often, it's not even funny anymore. 

I am about to get real about one of those depressing mom moments:

We have lived here for a year and a half almost and I've made exactly one friend. She lives down the street and we barely talk because I feel so awkward having gone so long without adult interaction other than Gavin. I never would have thought that social skills were a "use it or lose it" thing, but here we are. There have been many false starts, where I thought someone was really awesome and they never texted me back or where I would really hit it off with someone and they'd let me know that they were just on vacation (beach life, sigh) or were moving due to their military orders. This has been really hard on me. But I'm not about to give up, because somewhere out there exists my people! 

Okay, back to the day now. :)

We brought the stone home and began to make dinner, but realized we didn't have a potato! The ones I had in the pantry had gone bad and I didn't want to go all the way back to the store for one potato, and it was for stone soup, after all, so I messaged my neighbor to see if she could spare one. She invited us over to chat and pick up the potato and the girls spent some time playing on her organ before we came back to finish dinner.

The soup turned out a little bland, since we followed the recipe from the story with not a lot of our own seasoning, but I enjoyed it anyhow. 

All in all, this was a really good day. Its supposed to rain tomorrow, so I'm not sure how our day will go, but I am trying to keep in mind the mantra there is no bad weather, only bad clothing. 

Thanks for reading and let me know what you've been up to! What outdoor activities do you do in the rain?