Long Walk with Joshua

Last Monday I didn't have to go anywhere (for once in long while), and I contemplated doing housework, but decided I didn't want to pick up whatever disaster Joshua came up with to amuse himself while I cleaned. So I decided to take Joshua on a walk on the hiking trail near our house.

I push Joshua down to the trail in the stroller because I don't want him running around in the road. Once I get to the trail head I let Joshua out and park the stroller. Here we are getting ready to start. I put the backpack on Joshua because he likes to pick up pine cones, acorns, and sticks, and likes to make me carry them for him. This way he can carry his own treasures.

There is this log on the trail that Joshua absolutely loves to climb over. He gets so excited when he sees it. Look at all the sticks he has

I could tell that we were the first ones on the trail that day, because I kept running into spider webs. For some reason they were chest level on me, so Joshua could run right underneath, and they would get all over me. I had to brush off several spiders that landed on me.

When we got tired we found a rock wall to sit on. It was kind of uncomfortable, then I looked right across the trail and there was this great stump that we moved over toThere we enjoyed our snack before heading back.

On the way back Joshua was getting tired and wanted me to carry him. I was still pregnant at this time (it was the day before Minna was born). I wasn't about to carry him, but I figured out if I started singing "de dum" to different songs he would sing "de dum" with me. I wasn't allowed to sing the actual words to the songs though. But he walked all the way back himself.

On the way back Joshua found a giant stick and started attacking a tree. Its hard to see the stick, but its about twice as tall as he is. Here he is taking care of the tree

When we got back to the stroller Joshua was really tired and after lunch I got a wonderfully long nap out of him. It was a wonderful time, and I was glad to have this time with him before Minna came.