If you’ve read my blog for a while you know we love to hike in the winter! This wasn’t my favorite hike ever and probably won’t be one we go back to BUT we had a great time with my parents and that’s all that matters!
The best part of hiking is letting the kids explore off trail (or over) – in spring/summer when things are blooming it’s harder to go off trail (poison ivy anyone? yuck!) which is mostly why I love spending time in the forest in the winter.
We came to this trail because Vilander Bluff is the highest point over the Meramec River and we had just had epic flood here so we wanted to see how high it was – by the time we got there on Jan 2nd it had gone down a lot, but regardless, it was beautiful!
Everyone kept a tight grip on Gray! Love Bailey holding on to him!
I love that my parents like to hike with us (and so does my sister, Chris and their kids). My kids might not remember every single hike we went on but they will remember hiking with their grandparents. They will remember watching for birds with PawPaw and finding walking sticks with Grandma. They’ll remember how Aunt Abbie knows all the names of bugs/flowers/moss they encounter and that Daddy always has good snacks in his backpack for them. I’m sure they’ll remember me carrying my camera and all the games they invent with one another. If most of their childhood becomes a blurry memory I hope memories of hiking sticks with them and gives them a love of nature.
Happy Friday friends!