Freakishly Cool!

We decided to go on a hike! Mariah & her friend Sloan, Gib and I finally decided the time had arrived to see what is at the top of the highest hill in Cool Springs behind our house. What made it the right time? Well....there aren't any leaves yet, so I could find my way home with about 99% certainty, no ticks out yet (guess again...found one crawling up my jeans...yuck!) and a nice, sunny day! The bonus was a friend to go with us!

Here are the photos from our grand adventure. They are not in order, but oh well, this is as advanced as I get with point & click-ability. There was 2 steep parts and pretty much only a deer trail, oh and probably a patch of poison ivy, and the golf course to guide the way!

All during the "hike" Mariah's friend kept commenting on what a cool mom I was, and my absolute favorite was at the top of the hill, after a particularly funny mountain raisin joke (aka deer poop), she whispered to Mariah...."your mom is FREAKISHLY cool!". The hike was a mile or two and 5 rest stops, 31 golf balls, a pile of bones from which we salvaged a jaw bone & 2 leg-looking bones, and a rock with a built in "raisin" holder. Oh yeah, we also brought home 2 flat rocks about the size of dinner plates to add to our rock garden. At home we ended up with 3 kids soaking their feet in my bathtub until I relented and let Mariah & Sloan get in swimsuits for a bubble bath (with Gib & Taryn terrorizing the girls). We were tick free and hopefully washed off any potential poison ivy. We had french fries & pigs in a blanket for dinner. It was the best day of Spring Break! The girls did alot of girly stuff this evening that revolved around you tube funny videos, Candy Mountain, and American Idol and Paula & Simon's kiss. It was Freakishly Cool!




Almost home....too tired, can't go on....which way should we go? Oh, follow the golf course sidewalk?! There's a clue.



View from almost-the-top - the kids elementary and middle schools are right above golf course pond in the hills...look for a green roof on a red brick building. Sloan's house is in the corner of the shot (somewhere around there anyway...a golf course is between our houses).



Off on our adventure! Got plenty of water, crackers, nuts, a camera, gloves, sunglasses, hiking sticks, insect repellent, chapstick, you know, girl gear!

Water break #1 - about 100 yards into the hike



Snack break on a log in the sun...what a wonderful day! This was probably stop #3




This was at stop #1 when I foolishly let the kids collect all the golf balls they could find. I ended up with over 30 in my backpack! I thought two things 1) There must be alot of bad golfers and 2) I wonder how safe it is to be walking around here!

Rest stop #2 came with seating!



Off again - on our second hill to get to the highest point in all of Cool Springs!

BTDT

Going up the hill....about 4 rest stops

Coming down the hill....just this one!