In Pursuit of a Hike

Goodbye lazy days. We (and I, especially) will miss you. The boys don't go back to school for a few weeks, but I'm back in the office already and slowly transitioning back to full time work. I'm not complaining, believe me. I don't take take my summers for granted for one second. I know how fortunate I am to spend 3 months out of the year with the boys. I also know how fortunate I am to have a job that I love in a district where my kids attend school. It's all about balance, amIright? Every summer has its own unique personality. Some years, summer is all about the big vacation. Other years, it's about day trips and bucket lists. This summer has been all about full time lazy days and days at the pool. We've spent more time at the pool that any other year, and have also made two trips to a water park. This summer has been about lounging in the sun, catching up on Netflix, and checking out giant stacks of books at the library (mostly cookbooks, some memoirs for...

So last week, I wrote about the  first day  of our 3 day hiking adventure at Eagle Bluff Conservation Area over Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday, we actually had plans for a cookout at a friend's house early afternoon. But the second we woke up, we could not wait to go back out on the trails. So we packed up early and headed back out. We started out back in the actual conservation area because there was one road we had missed the day before and we wanted to see if we could spot any eagle nests (we didn't).  Lucky for us, it was another beautiful day in the low 80's. We found this little secret spot to explore. Looks like a secret hideout, right? As it turned out, it was actually a duck blind with this quiet view from the inside. The boys of course had to check it out. We were chased out by a wasp, so we decided to go back down to the river to see how much the water had risen. Another view of the area. And finally, ...