End of May

I (Molly) decided to take the kids hiking, to get out some of that famous energy while Ryan and Chris were in the Bahamas. We were heading to the VIC in Paul Smiths when looming rain clouds (coming from that direction) caused me to head the opposite way- to Lake Placid- instead. Austin, Aaron, Garrett, Betty and I decided on the Peninsula trail- an easy trail that leads to the lake where it overflows into a creek. (Micah didn't get a say in the matter.) It was Beautiful! The leaves were just starting to come in and we found ourselves under a forest canopy. While looking at spring flowers, the kids found a gardener snake. Aaron tried to convince me that he should be the one to pick it up, but it was decided that only Dad's allowed to do that. Once we made it to the final bridge, we finished the rest of the roll of film (I know I'm old-school, but i prefer it to digital) and the kids threw sticks into the creek as boats. I think they all asked me if they could jump into the water. Funny how the cold climate seems to have no effect on them now- the outdoor temp couldn't have been much more than 60. We just started heading back when the rain started. The kids would run ahead and then wait for me to catch up, as I couldn't run with Micah strapped to me. So they'd pop out from behind the trees and try to scare me. It's pretty hard to get scared when they pop out from every tree on the mountain trail! So after about 5 minutes of trying to frighten mom, i just encouraged them to run to the van as it was then pouring. When back at the van, the kids all said, "Thanks mom for taking us hiking in the RAIN! Dad never does that!" Typically mom's don't try to do that either.

The second story of that day was a conversation I had in the car with Austin. He was trying to figure out who that woman was- "You know the one who says if you don't want your baby you can just kill it?" I was trying to drive and figure out what on earth he was talking about. "You know, mom, she has blond hair and says that if you don't want to have a baby anymore that you can just kill it? She-" Aaron leaned over and cut him off, saying in a serious tone, "I don't think you should be having this conversation in front of Micah." I thought that was pretty funny.