Places We Go: Hiking by the Platte

For Mother’s Day this year we had a chance to revisit the hiking trails along the Platte River near my parent’s house. The last time we went was almost four years ago, and well, it could have been better (and it could have been worse).

This time was great. We underestimated our boys’ attention span for throwing sticks and rocks in the river, and I underestimated my desire to linger and take a billion pictures, so the biggest complaints we got, really, were that it was time to head back too soon. The kids loved collecting rocks and sticks and pine cones for their “nature backpacks.” I said no to bird feathers. I’m not sure if bird feathers are okay to collect or not? I always fear we’re going to die of some birdy disease. Jason said no to what I’m pretty sure were perfectly good morel mushrooms, citing that one book where that guy died in the wilderness because he misidentified a plant. Better safe than sorry, I suppose. But boo.

I love that it just gets more and more fun to do things with the kids. It takes a little of the sting out of how fast they are growing up. A little.