October 7 - The Day We Adventured

The original plan for this day was to get the heck outta dodge. Or, Fort Worth. Whatev. At first, it was family camping, but with dropping temps and sick family members, that got scrapped. Since the following day was a holiday for husband and I had already taken off from work, we toyed with the idea of just picking up and heading to Austin for an impromptu adventure. It should be noted here that I love the idea of being spontaneous, but the trait is rarely applied to actual living. So, naturally, the more I thought about how messy my house was, or my empty fridge, the less inclined I was to "escape", just to come back to the mess I already had. So, we stayed put and settled for making a pact to a) clean our house, and b) get out of said clean house.

We decided to hijack the husband's littlest siblings and take them hiking at a nearby state park. These two are close in age, best friends, and always carry the potential of giggles & messes (usually together). We don't get to spend as much time with them as we would like, so outings like these are fun (and slightly unpredictable). So, we walked through the woods, letting them be our trail guides. They are pretty dang good navigators, though we did have to have a discussion about not choosing paths only fit for those under 5 ft tall (read: Jon and I ran into some tree branches). We headed back when it started to rain and it took less than 10 minutes before they were conked out in the backseat. I love the sound of giggling kids. Also love the sound of sleeping ones. :)

We capped off the night with a movie with my side of the family & staying up late watching something (?) on Netflix. It was not all that spontaneous, but it was still an adventure. I'll take it.

Highlights:
1) Lunch at Cracker Barrel - finally satisfied my craving for those Dumplins! (YUM.)

2) Underestimated the seriousness of chilly temperatures. We made fun of the kiddos for their extreme layers and gloves, but I think we were a bit jealous by the end of our hike. In an effort to keep warm/show I'm still cool, I raced the kids. They won (but then I was warm, so really, I win)

3) It seems Miles can tell the difference between squirrel poop and raccoon poop. Best advertisement for the Boy Scouts of America? Yup.

Love & Close-to-home Wanderlust,

K