Sometimes we will skip church and spend the Sabbath enjoying God's nature book. Due to the panic the last few months and closed churches, we've had ample opportunity to do a bit of exploring and learning of nature. A few weeks ago we took a new trail called Pete King Creek. It proved an excellent family hike. When the whole family goes we only hike as far as the littlest one along. Baby VAR was still in a front pack, so toddler set the pace for the hike. At three years old he can do four miles before he starts lagging. We've found that the boys are good for about a mile or so for every year old. Until eight or nine and then you can at least double that. The three oldest boys have all done 20 miles in a day.
Anyway, back to my story. Pete King Creek was awesome, nice flat logging road with an ever so slight up hill climb. A good-sized creek ran along the bottom of the draw. The wild cherries, and chokecherries, apple blossoms and new leaves were all coming out and it was a feast for sight and smell.
After we hiked a couple miles, we came to a nice meadow area, and found an old, old, cabin sight. We stopped and let the boys have lunch, explore, and give their energy levels a chance to come back to normal.
The boys were exploring along the creek after lunch and JW1 came back with the largest trillium I have ever seen!
Of course we had to have TW show it off, but even so it was still about the size of his head. The purple flower would probably have fit in my hand!
He was quite striking in his sunshade!
Father and daughter sat and watched the boys playing and exploring.
JW1 takes time out to bring Sissy a pine cone treasure.
An inside joke being shared between brothers. It is always interesting how the boys will pair off day-to-day. Some days they are best friends, the next day the same two are mortal enemies.
When conditions are extremely wet and safe the boys are allowed to hone their survival fire-making skills. They have become quite proficient with flint and steel.
Once the fire was established and going we mentioned that maybe the backpacks that had contained our lunches and extra clothing should be gathered up and placed in one pile to make sure nothing was forgotten.
It was then the boys learned a lesson in not leaving their backpacks unattended, especially with foodstuffs or smells around.
When PW went to retrieve his pack, he discovered some bees claimed the contents of his pack and were not about to let it be taken! He came back to his brothers and enlisted their help in solving his problem.
Now when it comes to bees, the boys have an ongoing vendetta against them! They are all mildly allergic to bees and have come to the conclusion over the years that all bees, minus honeybees, should be eliminated. They take every opportunity to cause destruction to fall upon them. I actually think it may have something to do with not allowing something so tiny to get the better of them, and it is a challenge to see if they can destroy a nest and not get stung.
Can someone please explain the thought process that makes boys pick up sticks when going to battle against bees!? REALLY?! A BEE, you really think you are going to hit a bee with a stick? Eventually they decided to use the stick to try and get the backpack away from the bees.
CW was finally able to flip the pack onto the road but the bees came with it. Next, they decided to smoke them off the pack with a little green grass fire next to the pack.
The bees left temporarily, with the boys hurriedly retreating ahead of them! But then the fire would die out and they would have to rekindle it and repeat the process.
This advance and retreat tactic went on for quite some time, with different variations tried. Eventually it was getting close to time to head home, and little progress was being made. Finally I offered the incentive of making chocolate chip cookies when we got home for the boy brave enough to pick up the backpack and make a break for it.
Finally, after a few false starts, MJW and PW rushed in!
PW succeeded in snatching the prize -
And making a record 50-yard dash!
At one point I checked on the bees and they were a tiny little bee, kind of like a sweat bee, but not quite. I don't know if they would have stung anyone. But a little caution is always preferred!