A Dirty Dirty Day

Sometimes I go to bed feeling just as clean as when I got out of the shower in the morning.

Yesterday was not that day.

Josh works this weekend (including the 4th) so we decided to do something fun yesterday. But also we're a little broke, so "fun" also had to mean "free".

We started our morning with a little hike around Silver Lake. We originally thought we'd also go out to Lake Solitude and enjoy some peace & quiet, but we remembered what sissies we are, and how short Tommy's legs are and how many of the pinecones he insisted on picking up along the way (100%) and that while Tommy had a jacket "on the off chance it's a little chilly", neither of us were dressed for hiking up through the snowpack. And it was COLD. 52 degrees cold. So, we stuck to Silver Lake.

Remember last year when we hiked to Donut Falls through the snow and Tommy was barefoot? It was slightly better than that. All of us were wearing shoes & Tommy was dressed the most warmly. See? I'm learning how to be a better mom!

First Daddy showed Tommy how to splash in the water.

That's why we had to drag him out of every puddle along the trail.

And why he ran looking like this toward every "next one!"

Click to blow up this picture, if you don't think it's adorable I'll give you all your money back.

It was cold, and he was wet, and I was seriously (over)concerned about him getting frostbite.

But before long, he discovered the joy of a dock. I think he would've stood out on the dock making fishy faces and throwing in every stick and rock in site for the rest of the afternoon if his parents weren't so mean (and cold).

Josh we excited to teach "the boy" about worms. Tommy was excited that he could make his mom go "eeeeeewwwwwww!!!!" and shriek anytime he wanted.

Tommy's favorite new game has to do with pinecones and throwing them over the edge.

Josh's favorite new game has to do with making sure Tommy doesn't fly over the edge with the pinecone.

I was there too.

There were "revegetation" signs all over the place to keep troublemakers *cough*Josh*cough* off the stuff. But even Josh wasn't tempted to "travel beyond this sign".

The ducks however were a different story.

By the time we got back to the car, we were ready for our picnic, and the sun had come out. So we got comfy on a picnic table and shared our lunch with squirrels.

It was a beautiful walk around a beautiful lake.  Just what we needed.

But hiking followed by the zoo followed by a trip to the downtown Walmart makes for a DIRTY DIRTY day. I came home feeling 100% disgusting and ready for a bath!