Shenandoah National Park

Peyton used my camera to take some pictures today. She thought that was cool.

As this deer crossed the path both kids started to run! It freaked them out a little bit!

I took the kids to SNP today for a short hike. I was hoping to do the entire Story of the Forest Nature Trail, which is a 1.8 mile loop, but after getting started, there was no way we could do the whole thing. I don't know what I was thinking expecting a 2.5 and 4.5 year old to walk almost 2 miles. Liam was begging to be held and whining that he was hungry after about 15 minutes on the trail, but Peyton was a trooper. She was looking for deer and other wildlife, mainly bears, which secretly she really wanted to see.

We saw 5 deer and 2 chipmunks, and heard lots of birds. We also saw a bunch of people on the trail, including a group of school children on a field trip. Peyton and Liam enjoyed throwing rocks into the creek and looking for nature. Peyton even went behind a rock to pee in the woods! We ate lunch at the Big Meadows' wayside and then walked out into the meadow just to look. It was pretty late in the day and Liam was a mess, whining and complaining, so we took off for home. We only saw one deer on the drive back to Harrisonburg. I'm hoping to do more stuff there this summer, camping, hiking, picnics, etc. I just need to get them to stop whining when we've only walked for 10 minutes!