Fabulous Army Life

We decided to try a new hiking trail today near Stillhouse Lake. The park is easily identified and the trail is great. We even got to cross over a suspension bridge.  The boys loved it and took turns re-enacting Shrek and Donkey's journey to the castle over a suspension bridge ... "Shrek! I'm looking down!!" Too funny. It turned out to be a really fun hike ... and only about an hour and a half longer than we'd anticipated. Because we were trying to locate a cave by way of grid coordinates (from a blog I found online), we weren't exactly staying on the pristine path created for hikers. One thing I learned about land navigation is that grid coordinates don't account for the actual topography of the land. Sure, it may be just to the right a few meters according to the GPS ... but you may have to cross a lake, a small mountain and a couple of barbed wire fences to get there. In the end, we made it to the cave and took a few photos for good measure. I...

Tonight we decided to take a picnic dinner to Stillhouse lake to relax and unwind from the week. The boys begged to wear their swimsuits even though I told them that the water would be enitrely too cold to get in. As soon as chicken tenders, corn-on-the-cob, fried okra, and rolls were consumed (a la Golden Chick), both boys marched right into the frigid waters. Nate stepped into the shallowest of waters and announced to the boys that drowning was not an option for tonight as no adults planned to get into the lake.  Leo was beside himself watching his two precious boys being swallowed up by the lake so we let him run and jump into the water. He checked on both boys then immediately swam for the shore, obviously the wisest choice of the three. Leo says, "My boys!  My boys!  Are you okay?"  And quickly decided, "It's cold!  It's cold!  It's cold!" It was a fun night and thus far, there are no signs of pneumonia among any of the boys....